| Long Gone Dead | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1984 | |||
| Genre | Roots rock [1] | |||
| Label | Slash [2] | |||
| Producer | Jeff Eyrich | |||
| Rank and File chronology | ||||
| ||||
Long Gone Dead is the second album by the American band Rank and File, released in 1984. [3] [4] Founding member Alejandro Escovedo left the band prior to the recording sessions for the album. [5]
The first single was "Sound of the Rain". [6] The album was a commercial disappointment. [7]
Recorded in Austin, the album was produced by Jeff Eyrich. [8] [9] Stan Lynch played drums on the album; Richard Greene played fiddle. [10] [11] The band made a point of engaging with any musical idea that came to them, rather than sticking to one style. [12]
"I'm an Old Old Man" is a cover of the Lefty Frizzell song. [13] "John Brown" is about the abolitionist. [12]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [10] |
| Robert Christgau | A− [14] |
| The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [8] |
| MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide | [15] |
| The Philadelphia Inquirer | [16] |
Robert Christgau wrote that, "in a disquietingly cerebral way the music is very moving, with the Kinman brothers' wide-spaced close harmonies adding a unique sweet-and-sour lift to their defiantly doomy tunes." [14] Trouser Press opined that, "lacking the first LP's lost and lonesome prairie feel, Long Gone Dead is appealing but disappointing." [9] The New York Times stated that the band "should stick to country-rock, at least for the time being; the closer they get to authentic country music, the more plastic they sound." [11]
The Washington Post concluded that "Rank and File is certainly pleasing enough as a pop band and sincere enough as a country act, but the band needs to rediscover the link between the two." [17] The Philadelphia Inquirer determined that the songs "too often sound like parodies of country songs rather than the homages they apparently intend, and the vocals are frequently dolorous drags." [16]
AllMusic wrote that, "while a more ambitious and musically diverse album than Sundown, Long Gone Dead just doesn't have the same tight focus and sharp impact of the debut." [10] MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide called the album "a vitally important [document] of the rebirth of an entire genre of American music that, watered down and pasteurized, resurfaced later in everything from John Mellencamp's first post-Cougar releases to the entire current crop of alterna-twangers." [15]
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Long Gone Dead" | |
| 2. | "I'm an Old Old Man" | |
| 3. | "Sound of the Rain" | |
| 4. | "Hot Wind" | |
| 5. | "Tell Her I Love Her" | |
| 6. | "Saddest Girl in the World" | |
| 7. | "Timeless Love" | |
| 8. | "John Brown" | |
| 9. | "Last Night I Dreamed" | |
| 10. | "It Don't Matter" |
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