Uncle Tupleo - No Depression [FLAC] torrent

Review by Jason Ankeny

Uncle Tupelo's landmark opening salvo is the group's most rock-oriented album, steeped more in breakneck speed, punk crunch, and guitar dissonance than any of their subsequent efforts. Indeed, despite the presence of mandolins, fiddles, and banjos -- as well as inclusion of the title track, a faithful cover of the A.P. Carter classic -- the trio's vaunted country leanings are less musical than thematic on No Depression, thanks in large part to singers/songwriters Jay Farrar and Jeff Tweedy's acute depictions of rural, blue-collar life. Like the Replacements -- never more obvious an influence than on this LP -- Uncle Tupelo's songs paint grim, unrelenting portraits of aimless Midwestern existence, split between days working on the opening cut's "Factory Belt" and nights spent blurry-eyed and wasted ("Whiskey Bottle," "Before I Break"). Still, for all of the record's doleful cynicism -- virtually every cut nods toward dashed hopes, broken promises, and paralyzing fear -- there's an undeniable electricity afoot as well; by channeling the mournful clarity of country into the crackling fury of punk, No Depression brings new life to both musical camps.


01 Graveshift Yard Farrar, Heidorn, Tweedy 4:43
02 That Year Farrar, Heidorn, Tweedy 2:59
03 Before I Break Farrar, Heidorn, Tweedy 2:48
04 No Depression Carter 2:20
05 Factory Belt Farrar, Heidorn, Tweedy 3:13
06 Whiskey Bottle Farrar, Heidorn, Tweedy 4:46
07 Outdone Farrar, Heidorn, Tweedy 2:48
08 Train Farrar, Heidorn, Tweedy 3:19
09 Life Worth Livin' Farrar, Heidorn, Tweedy 3:32
10 Flatness Farrar, Heidorn, Tweedy 2:58
11 So Called Friend Farrar, Heidorn, Tweedy 3:12
12 Screen Door Farrar, Heidorn, Tweedy 2:42
13 John Hardy Leadbelly 2:21