My most favorite-est band, Cowboy Mouth, is coming to DC on 4/1. My new BF has agreed to go to the show with me, but he’s not familiar with their stuff so I want to make a “best of” CD for him. Here’s what I have so far:
[ol]
[li]Jenny Says ~ Are You With Me?[/li][li]Easy ~ Easy[/li][li]How Do You Tell Someone ~ Easy[/li][li]Everybody Loves Jill ~ Easy[/li][li]Let Me Hold It Open ~ Easy[/li][li]Get Out of My Way ~ Easy[/li][li]Run to Me ~ Easy[/li][li]Why Ya Wanna Do Me? ~ Mercyland[/li][li]Drummer Man ~ Mercyland[/li][li]Whatcha Gonna Do? ~ Mercyland[/li][li]Only One of Us ~ Mercyland[/li][li]Tell The Girl ~ Uh-Oh[/li][li]Friends ~ Uh-Oh[/li][li]Uh-Oh ~ Uh-Oh[/li][li]So Much The Better ~ Uh-Oh[/li][li]Better ~ Uh-Oh[/li][li]Be That Way ~ Uh-Oh[/li][li]Bad Girl ~ Uh-Oh[/li][/ol]
I only own the one song from Are You With Me, and the rest are from the three albums that I have. This equals just under an hour of music, which I figure is a good enough intro to the band – if he likes what he hears, I’ll get him the full albums.
Other Cowboy Mouth fans: Are there standout songs from other albums that I should download (legally, of course) and add? Did I skip your favorite from one of the three albums that I have? In short, what do you think?
Cowboy Mouth is the greatest band you have never heard of. I’ve seen them over 20 times now at a variety of venues. You WILL come out of a Cowboy Mouth show knowing that you’re better than when you went in.
Misnomer, before I give you the list…bear in mind that the version of ‘How Do You Tell Someone?’ from Are You With Me? is infinitely better than the one on Easy. Go get it. You won’t ever regret it.
So here’s my list:
From All You Need is Live:
Love of My Life
The Ballad of Cowboy Mouth
Hurricane Party
From Are You With Me?
How Do You Tell Someone?
Jenny Says
Louisiana Lowdown
New Orleans
God Makes the Rain
From Easy
Easy
All American Man
Everybody Loves Jill
Marianne
From It Means Escape
Everyone Is Waiting
Hitchiker
Irish Boy
From Mercyland
Why You Wanna Do Me?
Crazy Bout Ya
Lovers or Friends
Drummer Man
What’cha Gonna Do?
From Uh Oh
Tell the Girl
Uh Oh
Invincible
I’ve seen them, bought them beers and shaken their hands. I once called their agent to see what the cost would be to get them for a party (answer: too much!).
They have a new live CD out, too, called ‘Live at the Zoo’.
I can’t express how much I love this band … I’ve only seen them a handful of times, but one of my goals in life is to be able to go on the Rock Boat with them some year. I’m a little disappointed that they picked “I Know It Shows” as the single they’re trying to get played on the radio … I think it’s one of the weaker songs on Easy (and why not promote something from Uh-Oh?).
I’ve been kicking myself for some time for not owning Are You With Me, so I’m downloading the album off iTunes right now. I listened to the clip of “How Do You Tell Someone,” and it sounds … I don’t know … cleaner than the version on Easy. I think you’re right, that I’ll prefer it.
Thanks for your list! Just one question:
Is this version different than the one on Mercyland?
Maybe we could pool our resources sometime … it would be one hell of a Dopefest!
Yeah, I’m on their mailing list, so I knew about this: I don’t really care for live albums, even from bands I love, so I’ll skip this one (and will probably never get All You Need Is Live, either). Unless someday I find myself with a bunch of extra money, in which case I will order everything that I don’t already have.
Light it On Fire is good. But I was trying to limit myself.
Honestly, Misnomer, Are You With Me? is the definitive Cowboy Mouth CD. The stops were all pulled out there on their major label debut.
And you MUST get All You Need is Live if only for The Ballad of Cowboy Mouth. The melody and structure of the song is taken from a song on the Hurricane Party CD that their record company refused to release. So Fred wrote new words about dealing with record companies. Heh.
The version of Everyone is Waiting on It Means Escape is much rawer and more powerful with slightly different words. I think it’s better.
I was listening to it on my way to and from class tonight, and was surprised by how consistent their sound has remained: I feel like I could listen to Are You With Me? back-to-back with Uh-Oh and not be able to tell which was recorded first.
I’m still getting used to the different version of “How Do You Tell Someone.” It’s one of my favorite songs on Easy, so I’ve listened to that version a hundred times and it’s what I know and love. I do like the “simpler” sound of the Are You With Me? version, though, and I’ve only listened to it a couple of times so far, so the verdict is still out.
Ok, I guess maybe I can break my “no live albums” rule for these guys…
My new BF has agreed to go to the show with me, but he’s not familiar with their stuff so I want to make a “best of” CD for him. Here’s what I have so far:
