Blaze Foley

• Live at the Austin Outhouse [Lost Art, 1999]
• Oval Room [Lost Art, 2004]
• Duct Tape Messiah [Lost Art, 2011] B+

Consumer Guide Reviews:

Live at the Austin Outhouse [Lost Art, 1999]
"Clay Pigeons"

Oval Room [Lost Art, 2004]
"Oval Room," "Springtime in Uganda"

Duct Tape Messiah [Lost Art, 2011]
With Foley's posthumous albums patchier than need be, this documentary soundtrack is where to pay your respects. Before he passed at 39, Foley's resonant voice had been roughed up by alcohol and the crusty life, but his easy flow was always something to hear. Without the five keepers it shares with the Morlix tribute, its slow ones would be hard to take--"Our Little Town" makes six minutes feel like a sermon so long the roast gets burnt--but Morlix doesn't do "Let Me Ride in Your Big Cadillac," "Living in the Woods in a Tree," or "Cosmic Doo Doo," and all are candidates for canonization. Too bad both records pass on "WW III," "Oval Room," and the jokingly, shockingly sadistic "Springtime in Uganda." Foley clearly never thought living in a car diminished his citizenship one little bit. B+