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Music CD - Ray Wylie Hubbard: Snake Farm
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Music CD: Snake Farm
Artist: Ray Wylie Hubbard
List Price: $14.98
Our Price: $10.76
Your Save: $ 4.22 ( 28% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Sustain Records
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Tracks:
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1. Snake Farm
2. Kilowatts
3. Heartaches and Grease
4. The Way of the Fallen
5. Mother Hubbard's Blues
6. Rabbit
7. Pole Cat
8. Old Guitar
9. Wild Gods of Mexico
10. Live and Die Rock and Roll
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Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 0854956001020
Label: Sustain Records
Manufacturer: Sustain Records
Number Of Discs: 1
Publisher: Sustain Records
Release Date: 2006-06-27
Studio: Sustain Records
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: SARDONIC HUMOUR AND VISCOUS GROOVES - 'DARK' MUSIC FROM THE NETHER REGIONS
Comment: On first listening, you might think that this is simply an album of 'grooved out' Texas swamp-rock (are there many swamps in Texas?), but there is more to the music than just this. As much as anything, it's the sardonic humour of RWH's lyrics (often delivered with an air of nonchalance) that will command your attention; 'Ramona's got a keen sense of humor', but she's not the only one - RWH also has his moments (in fact, a good few of them). Also, the songs can be thought of as a series of mini character studies covering an assortment of individuals (including the Devil Incarnate) with dubious backgrounds, questionable morality and less than honourable intentions.
A couple of reviewers feel that many of the songs sound the same. To an extent, I'd go along with this; whilst the songs are infectious, I wouldn't describe them as melodic - you can't whistle along to these tunes (not that you'd want to anyway), their tempos range from slow to medium slow, they have fairly similar primaeval rhythms, and they are all smeared with RWH's world-weary drawl - punctuated by the occasional groan. However, all of these ingredients combine to produce music which I find quite mesmerizing. Also, it is the lyrics, and the fashion in which they are delivered, which raise this album above the ordinary; this is not background music, it is music to be LISTENED TO. 'Snake Farm' is an album that I enjoy listening to in 'slices' of 3 or 4 songs, rather than all the way through from beginning to end. Another reviewer makes a comparison with ZZ Top - and I couldn't agree more. The music originates from the 'same place' but, whilst ZZ Top veered off towards mainstream 'southern rock', RWH stays closer to his roots by placing more emphasis on 'groove' with a bluesier edge (his lyrics are more 'colourful' also).
The guitar solos are fairly short and, if you are an 'aficionado' of electric guitar technique (which I'm NOT), forget fancy fretwork and speed breaks - instead, immerse yourself in the chilling sounds which Gurf Morlix extracts from his instrument. RWH plays acoustic guitar and, on a few tracks, electric slide also. Rhythm is provided by some emphatic 'no frills' percussion (Rick Richards) and funky bass (George Reiff). There are several guest musicians who bring added instrumental variety to the proceedings (harmonica, mandolin, 2nd electric guitar, 2nd acoustic guitar,); also Ruthie Foster lending some soulful backing and harmony vocals on 'Resurrection'. Purely from a personal point of view, I would have preferred a little more in the way of instrumental soloing.
Based upon music samples, RWH's earlier albums are not for me - too country flavoured for my tastes; but the sound on recent albums, culminating with 'Snake Farm', has become progressively greasier and denser, and the mood has become increasingly 'darker'. If this trend continues, who knows what his next album will be like - the mind boggles.
The music on 'Snake Farm' will not be everyone's 'cup of tea' but, within its genre (whatever this is!), it must be one of the best albums around - it's so 'bad', it's good. Much to my surprise, I found my wife, a woman of some refinement (or so she keeps telling me), secretly grooving along to the title track - surely, this must be the final accolade?
If you like this album, check out Growl also, similar vibe - but I think a little 'smoother' and with more of a country blues flavour.
Customer Rating:
Summary: It's the Night People's Job to Get the Day People's Money
Comment: Witty lyrics embeded within hard-driving blues, southern-rock and country music. RWH is one of those great musicians who defies classification and therefore finds little audience on commercial FM radio. In the vein of Robert Earl Keen and Steve Earle, this is music you gotta explore to find, but will never loose sight of once you do. Check out XM12 - Cross Country, thats how I found RWH. This is an amazing album, period.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Hubbard, Bingham, McMurtry
Comment: I've been listening to Hubbard for quite a while and enjoyed every note. Ryan Bingham has similar roots to Hubbard. His video is on You-Tube. James McMurtry has a more Dylanesque bent in his songs with some comedy. (Condi, Condi.) Thanks for the comments.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Good blues
Comment: I saw him at the music festival in Lake City, Colorado but he didn't have any albums for sale at the event. So I had to pick it up later from Amazon. Look, it is what it is. You cannot compare him to the more noted musicians out there making millions and flying around in personal jet planes, but the songs are worth hearing when in the mood for it. I would have been just as happy to listen to a recording of his performance at the music festival as I was to listen to the polished version done in a studio. Actually, for this kind of music, I'd have preferred it. On the other hand, Snake Farm is still in the CD player after a few weeks so...
Customer Rating:
Summary: Dirty dancing....
Comment: I like this cd, I like the way he sounds, dirty, nasty bad boy! Thats just his music and I like it. I have been listening to Ray Wylie since the 80's and he is still great! Keep em coming!
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Editorial Reviews:
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To listen to Ray Wylie Hubbard's Snake Farm is to enter an eerie netherworld populated by dark and fascinating characters, some of whom are creepy enough to give you the shivers. The sandpaper-voiced Hubbard, a Texas songwriting legend, works a primal, greasy groove with these bluesy portraits, starting with Ramona, the dancing, tattooed reptile-house worker of the unforgettable title track. "Snake Farm" hypnotically mixes slithering images of sex, fear, revulsion, and humor, especially when Hubbard lets out a shimmering and menacing shudder of disgust. ("Snake farm / It just sounds nasty / Snake farm / Purty much is.") Guitar gunslinger Seth James sharpens the fine point on the stiletto that helps make these songs so lethal, but throughout, Hubbard strives for a tone of decadent elegance, whether evoking polecat love or the sideshow thievery of "Rabbit" ("There's two kinds of people in the world / The day people and the night people / It's the night people's job / To get the day people's money"). Produced by the masterful Gurf Morlix, who keeps things lean, foreboding, and roadhouse rough, the album sounds as if it were recorded in a room lit only by a naked 90-watt bulb--the perfect atmosphere in which to conjure songs of sin, deceit, and subterranean shenanigans. By record's end, redemption appears in a gonzo-ized telling of the Christ tale ("Resurrection"). But the Devil holds center stage until then, particularly on "The Way of the Fallen," inspired by Dante's Inferno, and on the Joseph Campbell mythology of "Wild Gods of Mexico," which involves a graphic canine sacrifice. Like Reservoir Dogs, the Quentin Tarantino classic Hubbard references in another humorous--if complex--example of women, sex, and revulsion, Snake Farm is not for the faint of heart. But fans of lowlife chic and exemplary Texas songwriting should lap this up quicker than cold longnecks and hot chicken-fried steak. --Alanna Nash
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