Chip Taylor - Unglorious Hallelujah [2 CD]

His name ain't Chip Taylor; it's James Wesley Voight. You might have heard of his brother Jon or his niece Angelina. You might also have heard of some of the songs he's written in the last 45 years: Wild Thing, Try (Just a Little Bit Harder), I Can't Let Go, Angel of the Morning, and dozens more. Recently, he's had a series of alt.country/blues solo records and some better-known records with sultry singer Carrie Rodriguez.

Now, at age 62, Taylor has come out with his most ambitious album ever, Unglorious Hallelujah, a 24-song, 86-minute monster. That's too long for a lot of people with short attention spans and very narrow definitions of what an album should be - but not for Chip Taylor, and not for me. Because these are some damned fine songs here, and not too many of them could be left out of the album's design.

In these two discs, we get a full-on tour of the 62-year-old mind of one of the great American songwriters. It's like a gift that none of us deserve, and that only a bare fraction of the population of the world will ever care about. But some of us are going to care about it very deeply indeed. ~ Full review at Pop Matters

CD 1 :

• I Don't Believe In That
• What Would Townes Say About That
• James Wesley Days
• Unglorious Hallelujah
• This Old Town
• Christmas In Jail
• Daddy, Why'd You Take My Guitar Away
• Hellelujah Boys
• Jackknife
• I Need Some Help With That
• Michael's Song
• Thursday Night Las Vegas Airport

CD 2 :

• Red, Red Rose
• One Thing I Wanna Tell You
• Bippity Boo
• If I Stop Loving You
• Little Darts
• One More Lousy Picture Show
• The Trouble With Scientists
• Magic Girl
• It's Different Now
• Santa Cruz
• Bride In Pink
• I Don't Know Why I Love You (I Just Do)

More information about Chip Taylor can be found at the Train Wreck Records website