Compass Point/I've Got Something to Say

by David Allan Coe

Overview

The pairing of Compass Point and I've Got Something to Say is the oddest of the two-fers issued by Bear Family as volume five in their David Allan Coe Columbia retrospective. On his ninth and tenth albums for Columbia, Coe was still looking for respect from radio program directors in Nash Vegas and nationwide -- and wasn't getting it, despite the ace production team of Billy Sherrill and Ron Bledsoe. Compass Point is the most reflective of Coe's albums in the sense that it seemingly constantly looks back to the previous, and most of that isn't pretty; in fact, it's full of regret and remorse, but the determination to transcend as well. The percussion tracks are straight out of Jimmy Buffett's classic records and the atmospherics are pure Sherrill -- phased guitars and accordions and fiddles shimmering in and out of the mix. Two of the finest songs on the album are "Gone (Like)" and "Loving Her (Will Make You Lose Your Mind)." I've Got Something to Say is Coe's star-guest album -- a blatant attempt for radio airplay (it says so in the liner notes) that doesn't work at all. From the re-recording of "This Bottle (In My Hand)," with George Jones (given that this was recorded in 1980, when Jones was a recently recovering alcoholic, it's tasteless) to the re-recording of "Take This Job and Shove It," done as a reaction to the film of the same name, the songs are more boisterous than inspired. "Take It Easy Rider," with Guy Clark, sounds more confused and lost than anything else, and "Hank Williams Junior-Junior" with the Allman Brothers' Dickey Betts and Kris Kristofferson is a bad -- no, make that terrible -- novelty song. This is the only case in which it is too bad that a very decent outing like Compass Point was paired with such a poor one. ~ Thom Jurek

Product Details

Release Date:	05/02/1995
Label:	Bear Family Records
UPC:	4000127158413
Rank:	53592

Tracks

1. Heads or Tails
2. Three Time Loser
3. Gone (Like)
4. Honey Don't
5. Lost
6. Merle and Me
7. Loving Her (Will Make You Lose Your Mind)
8. The Fish Aren't Bitin' Today
9. X's and O's (Kisses and Hugs)
10. I've Got Something to Say
11. Back to Atlanta
12. I Could Never Give You Up (For Someone Else)
13. Take It Easy Rider
14. The Great Nashville Railroad Disaster (A True Story)
15. Hank Williams Junior-Junior
16. Get a Little Dirt on Your Hands
17. If You'll Hold the Ladder (I'll Climb to the Top)
18. This Bottle (In My Hand)
19. Take This Job and Shove It Too
20. Lovin' You Comes So Natural

Album Credits

Performance Credits

David Allan Coe   Primary Artist,Guitar,Vocals
Bill Anderson   Vocals
Ladysmith Black Mambazo   Vocal Harmony
Larry Jon Wilson   Vocals
Dickey Betts   Guitar
Pete Drake   Pedal Steel
Boomer Castleman   Banjo
Rattlesnake Annie   Vocal Harmony
Dale Seigfreid   Guitar
George Jones   Vocals
Kris Kristofferson   Vocals
Buddy Spicher   Fiddle
Guy Clark   Vocals

Technical Credits

David Allan Coe   Producer,Composer
Billy Sherrill   Producer
Bonnie Bramlett   Composer
Dickey Betts   Composer
Rafe Van Hoy   Composer
Buzz Rabin   Composer
Gerd Weiler   Artwork
Phil Wells   Transcription
R.A. Andreas   Illustrations,Photography
Sylke Holtrop   Artwork
Ron Bledsoe   Producer
Bobby Braddock   Composer
Willem Makkee   Mastering
Richard Weize   Reissue Producer,Tape Research