Superstitious Blues | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 1991 | |||
Studio | Fantasy Studios, Berkeley, California | |||
Genre | Country folk, folk blues | |||
Label | Rykodisc [1] | |||
Country Joe McDonald chronology | ||||
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Superstitious Blues is an album by the American musician Country Joe McDonald, released in 1991. [2] [3] Although McDonald had played then-recent anti-Gulf War rallies, the album is made up of personal, not political, songs. [4] McDonald considered making Superstitious Blues his final album; it was his first album in 12 years to be distributed by a label other than his own. [5] [6]
Jerry Garcia played guitar on the album; Sandy Rothman contributed dobro. [7] "Eunecita" was written in 1971, but remained unrecorded for almost two decades. [4] "Clara Barton" is a tribute to the founder of the American Red Cross; "Blues for Michael" is about Mike Bloomfield. [8] [9] McDonald was supposed to sing at the 1991 American Red Cross annual convention, but was uninvited due to his Gulf War protest. [6] McDonald, in contrast to some of his peers, was happy to employ digital recording during the making of the album. [10]
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [11] |
Entertainment Weekly | C [12] |
MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide | [13] |
The State | [14] |
Entertainment Weekly called the album "both uneven and surprising," but acknowledged that the McDonald-Garcia "guitar team-up on the pretty country-folk tune 'Standing at the Crossroads' is a blissful pleasure." [12] The Boston Globe wrote that, "in backing McDonald, [Garcia] returns to fluid acoustic musings that evoke the Dead's American Beauty and Workingman's Dead." [15]
The Sun Sentinel determined that "the shift from broader politics to personal themes reflects McDonald's maturation both as an artist and an activist." [7] The Philadelphia Inquirer called the album "poignant, pretty and powerful, yet almost understated... Its songs range from the moody, moderately psychedelic instrumental 'Tranquility' to 'Standing at the Crossroads', a country waltz." [4] The State concluded that "the beauty of this disc is its simplicity ... McDonald combines those old bay area psychedelic sentiments with deep-rooted blues." [14]
All tracks are written by Joe McDonald
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Standing at the Crossroads" | 4:21 |
2. | "Eunecita" | 4:11 |
3. | "Superstitious Blues" | 3:48 |
4. | "Tranquility" | 3:34 |
5. | "Starship Ride" | 3:06 |
6. | "Cocaine (Rock)" | 3:46 |
7. | "Blues for Breakfast" | 3:35 |
8. | "Clara Barton" | 3:34 |
9. | "Blues for Michael" | 6:48 |
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