Robert Earl Keen Album Review:
Hidden Jewel at 2006-04-13
I bought this CD years ago, and continue to buy copies to give to friends and relatives. Id only heard of 3 or 4 of the bands when I bought this back then, its the best CD I own, bar none.Acoustic versions of every song - so good that even Rob Thomas (the ultimate spare) sounds good on the Matchbox 20 cut.Dont question me on this one, buy the freakin thing and thank me.


Robert Earl Keen Album Editorial:
The Zone - Zone Cuts Live // 1. Storyville - Good day 2. Matchbox 20 - Push 3. Abra Moore - Dont feel 4. Big Head Todd The Monsters - Please dont tell her 5. Jackopierce - Trials 6. Freddy Jones Band - Wonder 7. Sister Hazel - Wanted it to be 8. Robert Earl Keen - Over the waterfall 9. Trish Murphy - Concession stand song 10. Duncan Sheik - Barely Breathing 11. Tom Faulkner - Fried Chicken Skin 12.Old 97s - Big brown eyes

Robert Earl Keen Album Review:
not the ones id pick. at 2005-11-19
But the real reason for the low rating is that if you listen to any of Robert Keens discs through and full, youll see that there is a theme to each release. Hes chosen the order and selections for a reason which gives meaning and underscores the emotion of the songs. This includes the novelty type hits. If you care about the artists intent in this way, then just buy one of the three complete discs this semi-greatest hits release culls. When Robert plays a live show, he varies the set list each night and picks the songs after the tour bus unloads and he walks around and gets a feel for the place. To a far greater degree, he does the same with his cds. Why not hear them in the order he intended?
Robert Earl Keen Album Review:
Wit And Fun...Texas Style at 2005-04-12
Ive never heard Robert Earl Keen on any station excepting the local NPR station out of Lafayette, LA. I heard him on a show called The World Cafe. Normally, the NPR crowd is a little too out there for me, but The World Cafe cranks out some good stuff every once in awhile. Keen fits perfectly on NPR because he isnt one of those plastic country artists we hear on the country stations, but hes ten times as talented as most of them are.So why is Keen so unknown outside of Texas and NPR? Because he does his own thing, and thats what I love about this album. It compiles some of his better known tunes(or so Ive heard, since Ive only heard two of his tunes)and has a few live performance moments as well. Those live moments are what won me over. Id love to see this guy live. My favorite songs on this album include Copenhagen, Mariano, The Five Pound Bass, and the wonderful live version of The Bluegrass Widow. If you enjoy Texas artists such as Gary P. Nunn, youll love this guys music. Some argue that his voice is lacking, but the instrumentation and lyrics of each song are pure perfection. Hes sort of like Jerry Jeff Walker in that his voice isnt the best, but it gets the message over in such a way that you are captivated into listening to him talk about things like Texas Pride beer and the wonder that is Copenhagen. Youll laugh your way through most of this tunes, but certain songs, especially Mariano, stick out as some of the most serious country music around these days.Robert Earl Keen is pure Texas fun and pure Texas proud, and this Louisiana boy highly recommends this album.
Robert Earl Keen Album Review:
5 star at 2005-08-18
My very first Keen cd. Will buy more and am going to go see him live.
Robert Earl Keen Album Review:
Dreadful Selfish Crime, not to own this CD at 2005-10-28
When I look for a CD of a favorite artist, I first try to find one that will have most of the songs that I enjoy the best. Then I look for the number of tracks it has, you know, I have to get my monies worth. I also check whether it has live or non-live recordings. When I found Robert Earl Keens, The Road Goes on Forever, I discovered that its content had all of those features and was pleasantly surprised to find much more. With songs like, `The Front Porch Song, Merry Christmas from the Family and `Gringo Honeymoon, you get to know how well of a storyteller Robert E. Keen is while enjoying the music. The songs on this CD are meaningful, words we can relate to, theyre funny and fun to sing with. I think Roberts talent is big and I think his voice fits perfect with the cool songs that he sings...I said cool songs, this isnt opera. I think his style has style. Im thankful for KPIG radio, for introducing his music to me and stores like Amazon.com for making CDs like this available for me to buy. I highly recommend this CD of Robert E. Keens. Listen; let it take you away, sing with it, laugh and may the party never end.
Robert Earl Keen Album Review:
At the price a stellar introduction at 2005-08-05
The usefulness of this CD is restricted almost solely to those who are just getting into Robert Earl Keen. This CD also only represents one side of REK, but considering the wealth of essential material the neophyte has to wade through this is only fitting. As the title would suggest, this is a collection of his more uptempo anthems, primarily life affirming singalong tunes (though often death and heartache lurk right around the corner). From a marketing standpoint this had to be a no-brainer. The average newbie is probably going to get into Keen through either his oft-covered The Road Goes On Forever or the cheeky Merry Xmas From the Family. What this collection wont show you is that Keen also has a more introspective, plaintive side, but again: theres enough classics in that idiom to fill a future volume of their own. And this is not to say that Keens more rocking country songs are completely mindless: even the aforementioned Merry Xmas..., which is often passed off as a Dr. Demento-worthy novelty track, is a perceptive cross-section of your prototypical Texan dysfunctional family. Similarly, Road Goes On Forever, despite its singalong chorus and racing fiddles, is at minimum the country version of Smugglers Blues, an empathetic tale of two down-and-outers and a botched drug deal which would have set them for life. Ultimately, the main reason to buy this CD is the sell-through price: unless you somehow - incredibly - dont like what REK has to offer, youre going to find yourself seeking out the rest of his CDs sooner or later anyway. If you feel adventurous might as well dive right and start with Gringo Honeymoon or No Kinda Dancer.

Robert Earl Keen Album Review:
R.E.K. mails it in at 2006-03-20
This album was very disappointing, particularly coming on the heels of such great records as Picnic and Walking Distance. The tell-tale track here is the awful remake of REKs signature song, The Road Goes on Forever. Robert is clearly drunk as a skunk on this track, slurring his way through the opening and finishing the song with a manic repetition of the title phrase. Undoubetedly, he has done the same thing live a hundred times, and the fans probably eat it up every time (I know I do). But that just goes to show how complacent this once-great singer-songwriter has become. He knows he can fill a room almost anywhere in the country with fans who are thrilled to slur right along with him, so long as he plays this song and a few others from No. 2 Live Diner. While he as certainly earned the adulation, its a shame that he isnt pushing himself as a songwriter anymore. Maybe he needs a Rick Rubin, a la Johnny Cash and Neil Diamond, to break him out of his current rut (newer albums Farm Fresh Onions and What I Really Mean are equally disappointing).As for other tracks, Not a Drop of Rain is an inferior take on a musical theme already brilliantly explored on Walking Distances Feeling Good Again and Billy Gray. Walking Cane isnt half as fun as That Buckin Song. Other tracks range from fair to foregettable, with the title track coming in at just plain awful. Until I hear that REK is back telling his brilliant musical stories of American life, Ill content myself with his early albums.
Robert Earl Keen Album Review:
How could you go wrong? at 2005-09-28
This has been one of my favorite Keen listening experiences. With covers of Cash, Townes Van Zandt, Terry Allen with several really good Keen originals, how could you go wrong? Keen seems to be really comfortable with his role as a really good song interpreter (hear Walkin Cane) balanced with his own songwriting abilities. Hence the opening song: My Home Aint In the Hall of Fame. Keens own songs Hello New Orleans, Wild Wind and Not a Drop of Rain sound very good interspersed with the fantastic covers that he performs. My only reservation is the title song and the seemingly unnecessary remake of his own The Road Goes On Forever, which comes off sounding like Joe Elys cover of it. So for tracks 1-10, this is a great CD.
Robert Earl Keen Album Review:
Bring Back Duckworth at 2005-09-15
Overall a good, solid album. I agree with another Reviewer on here that the title track is in fact, complete garbage. However, with Hello New Orleans and his throaty renditions of Not a Drop of Rain and I Still Miss Someone. His cover of Snowing on Raton is wonderful as well. In fact I could list all the songs as great and wonderful, except for the one previously mentioned. Great REK.
Robert Earl Keen Album Review:
Probably the sleeper in the REK catalog at 2005-08-08
All the initial signs showed this album to be the one to prove REK was losing it: an unusual reliance on cover tunes (Hall of Fame, High Plains Jamboree, Snowing on Raton), an early single which was far from Keens best work (Walking Cane), and worst of all, a remake his own most popular tune, The Road Goes On Forever. Well, these initial impressions arent entirely offbase (hence only four stars) but they point to a more dire forecast than what a seasoned listen to the album over the course of a few spins will eventually obviate.First of all, lets get the criticism out of the way since its already been broached. The re-do of Road... is imminently competent, but is a virtually note-by-note re-recording and there is absolutely no reason to prefer it to the original. Similarly, the title cut, which precedes the re-recording, the two of which close out the album, is a bizarre tone poem which to some degree indicates a certain kind of literary pretension which is otherwise alien to Keens work (aside, perhaps, from The Armadillo Jackal off his first album, but that song worked; this one doesnt). Since those two tracks close out the album they are single handedly responsible for docking this CD at least a half-a-star, although without those two songs and in place of them perhaps another solid Keen original, Id have been more inclined to give it a full five stars, something Ive done with other of his albums which had a few lackluster songs but were redeemed by the excellence of their peers. In this light, the third from last tune, Snowing on Raton, could also be considered the start of the albums decline, at least if youre familiar with the Townes Van Zandt original, which one cant help but prefer. Upon letting it set in, its really not that bad a rendition, even if it is fairly predictable and, once again, inferior to some degree. That Walking Cane also falls in the latter half of the CD only confirms the mediocrity of the second half, but fortunately there is enough on side one to stake some sort of claim to greatness. The covers of Hall of Fame and High Plains Jamboree succeed primarily because they have no legendary original renditions to compete with (although Jamboree did appear on Terry Allens must-have Lubbock (On Everything) LP, Allens writing is better than his singing [subnote: despite all this, Allens version of Amarillo Highway is arguably better than Keens, primarily due to the more laidback, self assured pacing]). Not a Drop of Rain disappoints initially as it sounds like a virtual rewrite of Keens earlier Feeling Good Again, but subsequent listens embue it with an identity of its own, and Hello New Orleans is just the kind of wistful antidote to invoke some sort of reckoning of brilliance between the two. Ultimately, Keen has had albums like this with just a few brilliant tunes and a number of misfires, and hes had albums that were consistent throughout but with no truly excellent songs, and for my money Ill take the former over the latter. Gravitational Forces, while not the best REK album, places somewhat higher than Pieces of the Sky and Farm Fresh Onions for just that reason.
Robert Earl Keen Album Review:
About every 3 years I come across an album I like this much. at 2004-03-20
My brother in law gave me a copy and I cant stop listening. To be honest I know next to nothing about REK but listen to a lot of similar stuff - Guy Clark, Lucinda Williams, Emmy Lou, Jerry Jeff,... This ranks with the best of their stuff.


Robert Earl Keen Album Editorial:
Robert Earl Keen always delivers his quota of rambling songs. The beautifully crafted IGravitational Forces however turns around stories of guys whose ropes have run out. On his first album in more than three years the singer-songwriter often backs down from the bravado of past blurts like Whenever Kindness Fails. Not that its absent in the breakneck remake of his signature The Road Goes On Forever or even the cover of Joe Dolces homebound Hall of Fame. Yet he dwells more on the troubled side of his drifting characters lives: the wrong-side-of-the-law losers of Wild Wind the homeless loner of Not a Drop of Rain. Keen tweaks pavement-bound verities even further on the Dylanesque Goin Nowhere Blues and the deadpan spoken-word title track which takes out his frustration with a half-day sound check on the clubs puzzling decor. If this debut for the Lost Highway label raises Keens profile even further the attention will be well deserved. Rickey Wright