Shopping > Music > The Del McCoury Band > It's Just The Night

The Del McCoury Band - It's Just The Night (CD)

It's Just The Night
$8.83 - $13.99
5 out of 5.0 stars 1 Rating (1 Review)

Album Details: It's Just The Night

Release Date:08/12/2003
Label:Mccoury Music
UPC:829305000122

User Reviews: It's Just The Night

  • Overall:

    Lyrics:

    Music:

    bracing and novel, yet still respecting tradition

    By Joe Ross  Oct 13, 2003

    Pros: Great Playing and Singing

    Cons: None

    The band's signature sound is best described as bracing and novel, yet still respecting the sideboards of traditional presentation. I'd sure like to know more about their song selection process, and how they decide what songs to adapt to the...ir bluegrass presentation. In keeping with a past winning formula, this project, their first on their own new McCoury Music label, opens and closes with two Richard Thompson love-gone-wrong pieces, "Dry My Tears and Move On," and "Two-Faced Love." And whoever would've thought that they'd cover Delbert McClinton and Gary Nicholson's "Same Kind of Crazy As Me," but why not? The song emphasizes the blues in bluegrass. Young country musician and excellent songwriter Shawn Camp co-penned the spirited "My Love Will Not Change" with Billy Burnett. Other numbers come from various other well-known Nashville musicians and songwriters like Austin Cunningham, Verlon Thompson, and Charley Stefl, and ones I know less about like Ron Smith, Linda Gifford, and H.R. Cook.All of us baby boomer bluegrassers should be able to relate to Smith's waltz-timed "Let An Old Racehorse Run," and Del's modulation to a higher key reinforces the message and shows that he still feels his oats too. A perfect song for Halloween, the slower title track appears a third into the album, and the Fairfield Four's spooky vocal fills contrast to Del's confident assurances. It's nice to see the band's solely instrumental barnburner, "Hillcrest Drive," come from the pen of their own Ronnie McCoury. And with a strong nod to tradition, Don Reno's "I Can Hear the Angels Singing," showcases the band's dynamic quartet. Solidly contemporary bluegrass in styling, but lacking something unique, is "I'm Afraid I Forgot the Feelin'" that comes from Dan Presley and his son, Jeff, guitarist with the Virginia-based bluegrass group, Shenandoah Blue. "Mill Towns" comes from David Francey, a Canadian folk singer and songwriter/storyteller, and it tells of many industrial towns' demise as residents moved elsewhere in search of work. Lyrics for all songs are included, but it's interesting that we never find the band members credited within the album jacket. The entire record gives us an inspired musical journey from some entertaining bluegrassers with adventurous tastes. You couldn't ask for much better playing and singing. It's fun to hear a familiar old Gospel number as much as it is to hear them deliver, with impeccable musicianship, tunes from contemporary country, bluegrass and folk songsmiths. That may be partly why we're seeing this group in front of different kinds of audiences from performing art centers to mixed bag festivals, jamgrass events to traditional festivals. The Del McCoury Band has been seminal in the continuing stylistic interpretation, definition and growth of present-day bluegrass music. That may be the best reason why this album belongs in your collection. (Joe Ross, staff writer, Bluegrass Now) Read more Less

Pro Reviews: It's Just The Night

  • All Music Guide

    It had long been presumed that bluegrass patriarch Del McCoury could do no wrong. From his days with Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys through his work for Rebel Records in the '70s to his contemporary work with his sons in the Del McCoury Band, every release has had the same consistent attention to quality to match his crystalline high tenor and his bandmates' unparalleled musical skills. On the 2003 release It's Just the Night, something seems to have changed. The pickin' and a-singin' is still pretty strong, but the song selection seems to be uneven, and it almost feels like there's a lack of the usual passion in the performances. The solos lag where they should really rip (even the lightning fingers of Ronnie McCoury seem oddly distracted throughout much of the record), and the deep rich harmonies usually evident in the gospel numbers seem less dynamic than they have in the past. Even the packaging on the album seems to be a broad departure for the band: usually smartly dressed in a re...laxed atmosphere, Del and the boys are now thrown into a psychedelic, computer-generated environment which might be more suited for a rave hosted by Tim Burton. All of these factors are disappointing, since Del McCoury albums have been an unflagging example of consistent quality in the contemporary bluegrass scene. Still, even when the band's not at its best, they're still pretty darned good. The opening track, "Dry My Tears and Move On," chugs along like a mountain freight train, and Ronnie's blistering instrumental "Hillcrest Drive" serves as the high point of the record. Unfortunately, the handful of sparks that the band throws off here and there don't match the beauty and intensity of their earlier releases. - Zac Johnson, All Music Guide Read more Less

Compare Prices: It's Just The Night

Store Store Rating Price Notes/Coupons

Amazon.com Marketplace

29 Ratings

(17 Reviews)

Write a review

$8.83Total Price N/A New Item fantastic prices with ease & comfort of amazon Go to Store

Amazon.com Marketplace Used

51 Ratings

(11 Reviews)

Write a review

$4.60Total Price N/A Used Item fantastic prices with ease & comfort of amazon Go to Store

Amazon.com

1376 Ratings

(627 Reviews)

Write a review

$13.99Total Price N/A New Item get free shipping on orders over $25! Go to Store

Rate & Write a Review: It's Just The Night

All fields marked with * are required
0 out of 5.0 stars
0 out of 5.0 stars
0 out of 5.0 stars
Maximum of 4,000 characters
Cancel

Rate & Write a Review: It's Just The Night

Thank You. Your review has been posted.
View your postClose

Biography

Del McCoury

Among the most distinguished practitioners of traditional bluegrass, for over three decades Del McCoury's voice was the epitome of the "high lonesome sound." Born Delano Floyd McCoury, he was raised in Bakersville, North Carolina. In 1941, he and his family moved to Glen Rock, Pennsylvania, where he got his start as a five-string banjo picker with Keith Daniels and the ... Read more