Is this really a concept album by
Asleep at the Wheel? Sho' nuff, and yes it is. And why not?
Ray Benson and company have already done a tribute to
Bob Wills, so what could be more Texan than to do one of songs about and related to the Alamo? In his tribute to one of America's greatest mythological battles and a cornerstone of the modern Texas consciousness,
Benson's research has paid off bigtime, in a wonderfully wrought, engaging, enlightening, and thoroughly delightful listening experience. Using traditional melodies ("Remember the Alamo"), old fiddle tunes ("Soldier's Joy"), and a mournful bugle call ("Deguello"), as well as nationalistic anthems ("Davy Crockett"), classic cowboy tunes ("Yellow Rose of Texas"), modernist hits (
Bob Wills' "New San Antonio Rose" -- you didn't think he was gonna leave Western swing completely out of the mix did you?), movie songs by
Dimitri Tiomkin ("Green Leaves of Summer" and "Remember the Alamo" from the 1960
John Wayne flick of the same name), and tunes written for the project itself (such as
Monte Warden's "Stout and High"),
Benson has woven his own fabulist universe. In it, he humanizes the Alamo for the listener, gives it faces, feelings, context, and a new kind of endurance that is certainly romantic, but is also far more realistic than most historic accounts.
Benson's sound world is one that crisscrosses time and space and employs many textures -- one is the Tosca String Quartet's embellishment on three tunes -- as well as his ready (corny) sense of humor (check the tune about
Ozzy Osbourne's wacko trip to the relic and pissing on it). It's a fine recording and one that will wear exceedingly well in the band's catalog. ~ Thom Jurek