Porter Wagoner - The Bottom Of The Bottle & Confessions Of A Broken Man '1966, 1968 [2013]

Tracks list

Country music is all about drinking. Even songs about heartbreak or cheating
spouses or the one that got away, somehow end up in a bar, or an alley or the
bottom of a bottle. And no one did drinking songs better than Porter Wagoner.
Weve raved about this country legend on past lists, besides being an incredible
musician with a clutch of amazing songs, he was also a total nut, who whipped up
some of the weirdest country songs ever. Hes the man responsible for the Rubber
Room after all, a little ditty about mental illness, and as we mentioned in
other reviews, almost every record, no matter how seemingly mainstream, always
featured a track or two with seriously unseemly subject matter, murder, revenge,
arson, suicide, prison and of course DRINKING.
So here we have two more classic PW albums, reissued by the fine folks at Omni,
the first of which is an ode to country musics favorite past time, getting
drunk, and of course, searching desperately for that next drink. Just a quick
look through the song titles says it all: Wino, Daddy And The Wine, The Bottom
Of The Bottle, In The Shadows Of The Wine, The Bottle Let Me Down, One Dime For
Wine, Bottle, Bottle, you get the idea, drinking, drinking and more drinking. Oh
and a jaunty little ditty about a spurned woman who burns down her lovers
favorite roadside tavern, which is also sort of about drinking…
But the sound is of course fantastic, lots of amazing guitar playing, wild
slippery slide guitar, Wagoners distinctive voice, the songs crazy catchy, and
pretty dang weird in places. Wino begins with the sound of footsteps, then trash
cans being dug through, the yowl of an alley cat, before unfurling as a Ken
Nordine style bit of beatnik jazziness, which is soon augmented by some moody
piano and swirly slide guitar. Thats the weirdest track, but there are moments
throughout, and of course, even when the music sounds like classic country,
Wagoner will deliver some insane lyrics like it werent nothing.
The second record here, Confessions Of A Broken Man, of course features some
drinking songs, but for the most part focuses on the dark side of life, somber
songs about folks down on their luck, the misunderstood, the forgotten, the
dying and despondent, and the broken hearted. Gorgeous stuff, and a good
companion to the more over the top drinking record that precedes it. As always,
totally fantastic. And like every Omni release, gorgeously packaged, with tons
of rare photos, and extensive liner notes in a big booklet. –Aquarius
Records


Tracks:

The Bottom Of The Bottle (1968)
1. Wino
2. Daddy And The Wine
3. Swinging Doors
4. The Bottom Of The Bottle
5. In The Shadows Of The Wine
6. She Burnt The Little Roadside Tavern Down
7. The Bottle Let Me Down
8. One Dime For The Wine
9. Wine
10. Turn The Juke Box Up Louder
11. I Threw Away The Rose
12. Bottle, Bottle

Confessions Of A Broken Man (1966)
13. Men With Broken Hearts
14. I Just Came To Smell The Flowers
15. May You Never Be Alone
16. Skid Row Joe
17. Take Me Back And Try Me One More Time
18. How Far Can I Go?
19. I’m A Long Way From Home
20. Confessions Of A Broken Man
21. My Tears Are Overdue
22. I’ve Been Down That Road Before
23. Thy Burdens Are Greater Than Mine
24. My Last Two Tens

Bonus Tracks
25. Banks Of The Ohio
26. Sing Me Back Home
27. The Silent Kind
28. The Alley
29. Mama
30. When I Drink My Wine
31. I Judged A Man

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