Consumer Guide Album

Steve Earle: Copperhead Road [Uni, 1988]
This time, it isn't only the heavy beat, loud guitars, and wild-ass vocal mannerisms that make it rock--giveaway's the melodrama that rock set pieces substitute for the flat inevitability of the country variety. So my prescription is simple: more Tom T., less Bruce. Meanwhile, just say his vision of history is more convincing than his vision of personal relations. Which these days is another giveaway. B