Guy Clark/The South Coast of Texas/Better Days

BGO's 2015 three-fer combines the three albums Guy Clark recorded for Warner: 1978's Guy Clark, 1981's The South Coast of Texas, and 1982's Better Days. Only the latter charted -- it went to 48, the same position as 1976's classic Texas Cookin'. That and its 1975 predecessor, Old No. 1, may be considered Clark's two best albums, but these three were also recorded in his prime, when he was writing songs that became standards and was also given a bigger production budget that often suited him. Whatever missteps there might be -- and if there are missteps, they're small, easily forgettable ones -- this amounts to a rich body of work that's even more alluring when packaged as an affordable two-disc set such as this. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine