Musta Notta Gotta Lotta/Hi-Res

Personnel: Joe Ely (vocals, guitar); Mitch Watkins (vocals, guitar, synthesizer); Eddie Beethoven, Judy Price, Mark Hallman (vocals); Jessie Taylor (guitar); Lloyd Maines (steel guitar); Ponty Bone (accordion, keyboards); Smokey Joe Miller (saxophone); Reese Wynans (piano, electric piano, organ); Bill Ginn (keyboards, synthesizer); Michael Ramos (synthesizer); Michael Robberson, C. Roscoe Beck (bass guitar); Steve Meador (drums, percussion); Robert Marquam (drums); James Fenner (percussion).
Audio Remasterer: Andrew Thompson .
Liner Note Author: John O'Regan.
Recording information: Pecan street Studios, Austin, TX.
Illustrator: Guy Juke.
Photographer: Jim McGuire .
Country radio didn't seem to know quite what to make of Joe Ely's intelligent songwriting and emphatic honky tonk music in the 1970s, so when rock fans began giving him a listen after the Clash took him on the road as their opening act, Ely took it as a cue to broaden his musical horizons a bit, and this CD from Beat Goes On Records features two albums in which he added stronger rock and pop flavors to his music. Released in 1981, Musta Notta Gotta Lotta is still very much a country album, but it's one informed by the raucous joy of rockabilly and the through-the-floorboards energy of punk, and Ely has no trouble finding room for both in these songs. "Road Hawg," "Good Rockin' Tonight," and the title track are as frantic as anything Ely has committed to tape, and he certainly added some added energy to his take on the Flatlanders' chestnut "Dallas," but "I Keep Getting' Paid the Same" and "Hard Livin'" show his cocky attitude was still rooted in the honky tonks, and "Wishin' for You" demonstrates he knew how to handle a song about love. Issued in 1984, Hi-Res was a significantly more radical departure for Ely; he was something of an electronics buff and decided to dive headfirst into a more tech-savvy style with synthesizers and drum machines prominent in the mix. While some fans thought Ely was trying to make a synth pop album, in retrospect Hi-Res has more in common with ZZ Top's then-recent flirtation with synthesizers, Eliminator, as it faces keyboards against big electric guitars and aims for a rootsy core beneath the polished surfaces. Unfortunately, Ely doesn't strike quite the right balance on Hi-Res; most of the songs are good and the electronics don't muddy the arrangements all that much (which, stripped of their synthesizers, feel about the same as most of Ely's stuff), but the album's pacing is faulty and it doesn't generate the same fire as his best music. Still, it's a better album than its reputation suggests, and paired with Musta Notta Gotta Lotta the strength of the best songs is obvious. Both albums sound great in this newly mastered edition, and BGO is to be congratulated for putting them back into circulation.