Customer Rating:  
Summary: This CD kicks it
Comment: It was great to see this music availble again, bringing back some good memeories of being a DJ in college radio. Only thing wrong with it is the tracks are mislabled, so the "Ferver" tunes are actually first on the CD. The tracks are also mislabled if you're running them on a computer program. But at least the music is there. Minus one star for the glitch.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Cowpunk Pioneers!
Comment: The "Fervor" album was an incredible, though short, venture into the realm of "cowpunk". I wore out the grooves on that LP! Glad to see it revived on CD. The Dylan cover "Absolutely Sweet Marie" and the well-penned "Help, There's a Fire" are stand-outs. The follow-up album, "Lost & Found", had a few gems but was not as wholly enjoyable. Well worth the price to get these 2 on one CD.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Cow Punk Masterpiece
Comment: In 1965 the Byrds created folk-rock with a revelatory cover of Bob Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man." Nearly twenty years later, Jason & The Scorchers blow the doors off Bob Dylan's "Absolutely Sweet Marie" melding punk swagger with traditional country sensibilities. Their 1984 7-track EP FERVOR was twenty-two minutes of raw energy, and now rereleased with their 1985 full-length album LOST AND FOUND is available for the first time in more than a decade.
Jason & the Scorchers sound owes as much to Hank Williams as it does the Rolling Stones (both artists the Scorchers covered on later releases). Frontman Jason Ringenberg's vocals ranged from the hyper-energy of a track like "I Can't Help Myself" to the honky-tonk pleading of "Pray for Me Mama (I'm a Gypsy Now)."
Like many ground-breaking bands (The Flying Burrito Brothers, The Velvet Underground), their popularity never matched their influence. I was lucky enough to catch Jason & The Scorchers in 2002 when they briefly regrouped to perform a handful of dates. Ringenberg was still a powerful vocalist and lead guitarist Warner Hodges performed like some kind of whirling dervish. They were still as good as ever.
In 1992, EMI first rereleased these two recordings with the title ARE YOU READY FOR THE COUNTRY, adding five bonus tracks, including "Greetings from Nashville," that was originally released as the B-side of "The Golden Ball and Chain" single. The other four were tracks that previously had only been released in the UK, incuding live covers of "Honky Tonk Blues" and "Absolutely Sweet Marie." It would have been nice to see these rare tracks included here, but it's good to see these seminal recordings back in print. [Running Time - 56:47] VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
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