Pure Prairie League - Back On Track
Pure Prairie League Records
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It doesn’t seem possible that it was some 52 years ago that I first came across Pure Prairie League, a resilient country-rock band, that has somehow made a return to the studio after an almost 20-year break. It’s safe to say that Pure Prairie League have undergone their fair share of globetrotting and line-up changes in their 55 years together, all the while refining their zig-zag path from chart-busting country-rock icons to cult-hero underdogs. The only original member in the current line-up is steel guitarist John David Call, who is joined by Scott Thompson (drums, vocals), Randy Harper (keyboards, vocals), Jeffrey Zona (guitars. vocals) and Jared Camic (bass, vocals). Also featured are special guests Jenifer Wrinkle (fiddle), Jeff (Birdman) Kirk (alto sax), Mat Britain (steel drums, percussion) and former PPL member Gary Burr (vocals). The band has quite an impressive roll call of past members, including Vince Gill, Craig Fuller, Rick Schell, Al Garth, Fats Kaplin, Curtis Young, Jack Sundrud and George Ed Powell, PPL’s pedigree is pretty solid.
They’ve still got what it takes; the session isn’t the best produced of their career, but the harmonies remain right on target, David Call’s gorgeous pedal steel is often at the forefront, as they continue to stretch the boundaries of country music, and the genre is richer because of their efforts over the past six decades. I do have some reservations about the album which, frankly, probably says more about me than about PPL. The band has performed at such a high level for so long that a few good, but not great songs here, have a certain sounds-like-I’ve-heard-them-before sameness that makes them all run together. That said, if your worst sin is that you’ve mostly matched the high bar set by your previous work, sleep should come relatively easy. The Ohio-based band continue their jangly, wiggy voyage into who knows where, while packing more hooks into its 40 minutes than other bands manage in entire careers. Simultaneously nostalgic and modern, BACK ON TRACK is a lesson in cataloging and remembering, of career-longevity, that recalls both the 1970s country-rock heyday, but also the beat-heavy mainstream country of the 1990s, that flowed out of the Nashville studios.
Opening track, The Beginning, could’ve been lifted straight off a 1994 mainstream country radio playlist, alongside the likes of BlackHawk, Lonestar or Restless Heart. Their characteristic rich, up-beat orchestration really does tap into that old PPL sound, giving a tangled-but-comforting backdrop for the lyrical positivity that shines through so brightly. Such a tune makes it easy to imagine what a live show might be like for this record, a record made simply out of a mutual collaboration just for the purpose of creating great music. Undulating driving acoustic guitar picking highlights the easy-going Picture Perfect Life, with pedal steel guitar and swirling organ dancing around each other, in this spritely reminisce of good times out on the road. Dreamy reveries, soft warm vocals and a stirring guitar arrangement run through I Believe, creating an elusive sort of magic, enhanced by the exquisite harmonies and ethereal pedal steel.
Elsewhere, they’re exploring uncharted territory, at least for them. The haunting heavy rock of Modern Problem mourns a collapsing relationship. The arrangement evokes ceaseless, restless movement, the atmospheric pedal steel that’s not taking the track from point A to point B so much, as creating an anti-gravity field within the song, making the tune feel like a floating—but purposeful—swirl of sounds, with echoey vocal harmonies that dig in deep. On Price Of Love, they lament the cost of a broken heart, the verses backed with a Caribbean lilt, enhanced by steel drums, riding out into the country, as the most delicate twang takes shape in the background, supported by smooth vocal harmonies.
There is something especially intriguing about the way the band melds so many unlikely musical influences, letting the vocals and clean and clear instrumental backdrops meld it all together into that unique Pure Prairie League sound. The loose dynamic comes as no surprise, and on songs such as Skipping Stones and Six Feet Of Snow, the melodies meander as much as the song titles would seem to suggest. This is the whole point of the band: They’re 1970s country-rock; they’re California soft-rock; they’re AOR rock; they’re Southern-rock; they’re 1990s mainstream country. Now in 2024 they are the sum of their parts as a band and as an emotional whole developed through time. What’s not to enjoy.
December 2024