Consumer Guide Album

Alvin Crow and the Pleasant Valley Boys: Alvin Crow and the Pleasant Valley Boys [Long Neck, 1976]
We can't be sure what it was like to hear Bob Wills's records as they came out in the '30s and '40s, but no matter what your Texas friends tell you it was a lot more exciting than this. For starters, Wills was an inventor rather than a flamekeeper, and he got clearer sound--he worked for major labels, after all. Also, Wills released singles, which means that unlike Crow he had to put out one A side for every B. Still, three or four A sides out of ten isn't bad. Just wish they were all as modern as "Nyquil Blues," in which Crow praises analgesics, decongestants, and antihistamines--by name. B−