CD reviews: Mark Olson & Gary Louris – Ready For the Flood – Review – 75

It will probably slip past largely unnoticed, but the rapprochement between former Jayhawks frontmen Mark Olson and Gary Louris certainly gets my vote for most welcome reunion of the year.

Along with a small handful of contemporaries such as Uncle Tupelo, The Jayhawks spearheaded the alt.country movement, not only paving the way for the likes of Ryan Adams, but also creating the space for roots-based Americana now filled by Band of Horses, The Hold Steady and numerous other critics’ darlings. Frankly, Ready For the Flood, Olson and Louris’s first full album together since the Jayhawks’ 1995 masterpiece Tomorrow the Green Grass, should at the very least be heralded with its own trumpet fanfare.

It won’t be, of course. That’s partly a reflection of the increasing obscurity of the pair’s careers. But it’s also a result of the low-key music on this disc. There’s an intimacy to this small-scale, largely acoustic album that’s entirely charming, the feeling of two old friends/adversaries reconnecting over a few beers, filling in the lost years by simply sitting on the front porch and strumming guitars. And, happily, Ready For the Flood is full of the heart-tugging melodies and soaring harmonies Olson and Louris patented with their old band.

What’s lacking, however, is the sense of scope, the sweeping grandeur of The Jayhawks. Ready For the Flood is a beautiful country-folk album by two hugely talented artists. But at their remarkable best, The Jayhawks made you feel glad to be alive.

Mark Olson & Gary Louris

Ready For the Flood

From: New West/Elite/US

Genre: Country-folk

Music: 4/5

Sound: 2.5/5

RICHARD BETTS

This review is from Tone issue #75.