Steve Goodman
was dying when he recorded 1985's
Santa Ana Winds
, and he knew it.
Goodman
had been fighting a long battle with leukemia through most of his career, but his condition had grown worse in the early '80s and he was determined to make the most of what time he had left. It's anyone's guess just how much
's imminent mortality informed his creative process while making
(his collaborators say he never brought it up), but the album was noticeably more downbeat than the two collections that preceded it (1983's
Artistic Hair
and 1984's
Affordable Art
). That's not to say
's trademark wit was missing from the album; his homage to female bikers, "Queen of the Road," and the wary view of low-level decadence in "Hot Tub Refugee" both easily prompt a smile, and there's no hiding the joy in his voice as he sings a version of "The Big Rock Candy Mountain" that merges bluegrass and jazz. (And "Answering Machine Tape" is a more subdued but similarly pointed variation on a theme
Paul Westerberg
explored on
the Replacements
' "Answering Machine.") But
is closer to a country album than anything else
would ever make, and the sad tales of "The Face on the Cutting Room Floor," "Fourteen Days," and "The One That Got Away" are the ones that carry the most weight. But if
was somber when he recorded this music, he wasn't sorrowful; his vocals are subtle but fully engaged, his band fills these songs with great picking and plenty of soul, and the final track, "You Better Get It While You Can (The Ballad of Carl Martin)," is a celebration of both life and music that reminds us how precious they truly are.
didn't live to see
released, but despite that it found him ending his recording career on a high note with an album of gentle strength that speaks from the heart. [In 2019,
Omnivore Recordings
brought out an expanded and remastered edition of
as part of their reissue series of
's albums for his own
Red Pajamas
label. The audio is certainly improved from the previous releases of this material, and along with the original ten songs,
Omnivore
has included eight bonus tracks, six of them previously unreleased. Most of the extra tracks are solo acoustic and find
delivering strong, emotive performances, while the studio takes of "Homo Sapiens" and "Outside of Nashville" are up to the level of the album they accompany. The disc also includes liner notes from
Lee Zimmerman
that offer valuable insights on
and the making of his final album. All together, this is the definitive edition of
and will almost certainly stay that way; it was clearly put together with the same kind of love
put into his music.] ~ Mark Deming