Search - Jason & The Scorchers, the Jason & Scorchers :: Both Sides of the Line (Lost and Found + Fervor EP)

If I was president, this CD would be free to all citizens

Stephen Cannon | Yokohama, Japan | 06/21/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The style of Jason and the Scorchers has been pretty well described as a mix of country and western and heavy metal, and I think that Jason and the Scorchers would be a good place to start for people raised on a rock and roll diet, but are curious about C&W.The CD of these two albums have many of the best and most energetic songs that the band has put out, including a rendition of Absolutely Sweet Marie that will rip you in half.There are only a few discs in my collection that I like every track, but these two records that are available on one CD throughh Amazon certainly are.Two of the best in my collection"

A little bit country, a little bit rock & roll

John L Murphy | Los Angeles | 07/27/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Great driving, in both senses of the word, music. I remember playing the Fervor EP when it came out around 20 years ago for my older roommate, a Dylanish hippie, and he was bowled over by the fine cover of "Absolutely Sweet Marie." What many may not know is that another song on the EP's by a well-known later and once nearly as studied in his obliquity, as Michael Stipe co-wrote "Both Sides of the Line;" curiously, Stipe doesn't sing backup on that song but on "Harvest Moon." Typical ambiguity. REM would have been a great double bill, in their old mid 80s Southern rabble-rousing period, with Jason & the Scorchers. You also might look for the "Reckless Country Soul" reissue of their earliest LP, predating even Fervor. It's not as well-produced, and more for those certain they like the band already, but worth finding.



Fervor really barrels along, although the second song, "Help There's A Fire" always seemed a little jokey, and throws off a bit the momentum of an otherwise strong EP. The album Lost & Found's more polished, if that works for a country-punk classic.



They aren't the more hesitant and more Western than Country predecessors Texas-to-LA's Rank & File--good but sort of bandwagon jumpers from Dils punk to the next flavor of the month; they also have better lyrics than other now-forgotten contenders like the Long Ryders, who were a bit too much Gram Parsons worshippers. X/Blasters side project The Knitters was a lark. Jason and his crack band were the real thing--those who'd grown up mixing C&W with rock all their lives. Lots of indie bands in the 80s started becoming influenced by Johnny Cash after the rockabilly craze subsided. Nothing bad at all with that. But Jason and the Scorchers tip their hats to traditions still lurking off the beaten track back in the hollers. Fans of the White Stripes today might take notice. Hearing this compilation, the strength of the band beyond their instrumental assault comes in the more tender moments too, often overlooked.



Jason sings well, and he interprets various lyrics by the band and by other songwriters intelligently. He gets you into the experiences the words describe and the music fills in. It's not a pose when he dramatizes the characters in his songs. This aspect at first may seem overpowered by the louder songs, but is heard to its advantage when the band takes it down a few notches.

Not perfect, and the pace lags on the album as it goes on a smidgen, but a fine record to be snapped up.



It's sad that the band predated--and undoubtably influenced--the teens who soon became Uncle Tupelo and who would head the alt-country movement. But even this reissue on the Lost Highway sub-label's a now decade-old reminder of this brief flourishing of what Jason and the Scorchers planted in the previous decade, when college radio accepted a band too rockish for C&W and too rootsy for rock marketing niches. This deserves another reissue. By the way, the CD sound is remastered on this 1996 CD to make it punchier than the old vinyl did."

Daddy, who were Jason & the Scorchers?

J. Dismukes | Cary, NC | 05/05/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I've been a longtime fan since I first saw them back in '86. When my son (who's now only 19 months) asks me one day,"Were they really that good?"..... I'll just play him this CD and let it do all the talking. Word of advice to ALL record labels out there... Do EVERY music lover a favor and re-release these recordings!!!"