RSSTerry Allen & the Panhandle Mystery Band [extended]
- Juarez [Landfall, 1975] C+
- Lubbock (On Everything) [Fate, 1979] A-
- Smokin the Dummy [Fate, 1980] B
- Bloodlines [Fate, 1993]
- Human Remains [Sugar Hill, 1996] *
- Salivation [Sugar Hill, 1999] ***
- Bottom of the World [self-released, 2013] A-
- Just Like Moby Dick [Paradise of Bachelors, 2020] ***
See Also:
Consumer Guide Reviews:
Terry Allen: Juarez [Landfall, 1975]
Cut to accompany a museum show by painter-sculptor Allen, who sings like a self-conscious Charlie Daniels, this explores Western-violence mythos with mucho grotesquery and nary a smile. Very, er, conceptual, as dissatisfied sculptor-painters like to put it. C+
Terry Allen: Lubbock (On Everything) [Fate, 1979]
Maybe Allen meant Juarez's overstatement to be funny, but it wasn't, because he wasn't. This time he sings like Kinky Friedman with a sense of humor, doing a lot better by his own words than Butch Hancock, the only lyricist in Texas (maybe anywhere) who merits a comparison. From football heroes gone wrong to noble floozies to farmers fiddling while Washington burns, he's a tale-spinning poet of the Panhandle, with local color provided by Joe Ely's homeboys. Like so many double-LPs--though a lot less than most--this could stand some editing. But since that would probably have meant omitting the songs about art, the one subject he knows better than Texas, I'll settle. A-
Smokin the Dummy [Fate, 1980]
Juarez, this sculptor-painter cum singer-songwriter's 1975 debut, was pretentiously half-assed mock mythopoeia; Lubbock (on Everything), his 1979 double, was genuwine laugh-a-minute highbrow-lowbrow. This time Allen's satire is a little thinner, and he undercuts his more sincere songs by playing them for comedy, the only vocal trick he knows. "Texas Tears," "The Night Cafe," and "Redbird"--plus some funny ones--are recommended to sideman Joe Ely, whose band has always mystified the Panhandle. B
Bloodlines [Fate, 1993]
"Gimme a Ride to Heaven Boy"
Terry Allen: Human Remains [Sugar Hill, 1996]
autumnal Austin ("Peggy Legg," "Crisis Site 13") *
Terry Allen: Salivation [Sugar Hill, 1999]
For an artist (visual division), a pretty good songwriter and a fine village atheist ("X-Mas on the Isthmus," "Salivation"). ***
Terry Allen: Bottom of the World [self-released, 2013]
I bought this on the strength of one astonishing song: "Emergency Human Blood Courier," which isn't just what the title makes you hope because the title can't make you hope enough--five minutes that hit harder than any hour of, just as a for instance, The Bridge. Elsewhere the singer-songwriter cum painter-installment artist holds forth with his usual droll soul about a dead dog, a dead banker, a boat, movies, and angels, the last-named twice if you count "Do They Dream of Hell in Heaven," which you should. A-
Just Like Moby Dick [Paradise of Bachelors, 2020]
At 76, this part-time singer still doesn't creak or croak, but he's never been quite the songwriter his major smarts and smartest material make you think ("Bad Kiss," "Houdini Didn't Like the Spiritualists") ***