Green On Red - BBC Sessions

Unhinged country blues from could-have-been contenders

These sessions cover 1989-92 and, sadly, chart the band’s gentle artistic decline. Their creative peak came and went during 1987-88, with the albums The Killer Inside Me and Here Come the Snakes, but such a crucible of creativity finished them.

By 1989 Green On Red were down to a duo, Dan Stuart and Chuck Prophet. The albums that followed had high points and, luckily, the band chose to record these for the BBC. The real mystery is why the Corporation took so long (eight years) before offering them a session. The clue might lie in singer Dan Stuart’s sleevenotes, where he recounts meeting a certain Mr Peel and begging him in a very unconventional way for a session. The result of the pleading and offer of a physical experience left the champion of the musical underdog bemused and horrified, and the men from Arizona without a powerful ally. Despite moments from the less inspired part of their career, as ever with BBC sessions, these stripped-down versions often allow the songs to breathe and resonate more than the originals.

Maida Vale | MVRCD 002

Reviewed by Mark Finnigan
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