Last Dance on the Wild Frontier

You've got your typical throwback albums and then you get this, probably the first CD I've heard in years that actually had me reminiscing of days gone by, when music used to be contained on those funny flat things pressed out of vinyl. This sounds like a record produced back when Cat Stevens' music was heard in movie soundtracks. Logan's magical folk rock tour comes by way of 1972, with basic acoustics arrangements and wry, stylized vocals.

It's the songs themselves that are throw-back to early Jackson Brown, CSNY, The Band or even The Silos stuff from the '80s. "Let It Roll (Let It Ride)" is a twangy sad ballad with big harmonies and a classic bridge that breaks into a forlorn guitar solo. "I've been trying to slow this world down /It spins too fast for me /Keeps me awake some times" sings Logan in his crisp, pure rock voice that we haven't heard on the radio in a long, long time.

Part of his throwback appeal comes from the fact that he's been doing this for a long time. The San Francisco native first recorded for Geffen as Little America in the late '80s. Now on his own, he's determined to reinvent the basics all over again. He does it, and does it well.

back to   Posted June 22, 2004. Copyright © 2004 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.