Live '72

Though probably of zero interest to anyone not already a fan, this set definitely has its virtues. The now-legendary Lubbock group lasted less than a year and played about a dozen gigs while releasing one barely distributed album before Joe Ely, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, and Butch Hancock split up to pursue solo careers.

Yet their recent reunion spurned enough interest to force to the surface this rather drab recording of an Austin show. What's most apparent is that this was Jimmie Dale's band--Ely gets minimal leads, Hancock none--and perhaps rightly so. Gilmore turns in a stirring cowboy rendition of Sam Cooke's "Bring It On Home to Me," for one.

And as that title indicates, this was an eclectic band for its era; they were into songs, period, and they went all over the musical map (folk, honky-tonk, country blues, Cajun, modern singer-songwriter) for 'em. The fact that they hardly cut any of these on their studio album or subsequent solo efforts makes this a bonanza for their already established following. --John Morthland