Emmylou Harris - Luxury Liner

By 1977, Emmylou Harris's Hot Band had truly hit its stride, adding electric-guitar wizard Albert Lee to an already powerful core of Ricky Skaggs, Glen D. Hardin, Rodney Crowell, and Hank DeVito. Harris's mix of material remained eclectic, but surefire, with room for everybody from the Carter Family and the Louvin Brothers to Chuck Berry and Townes Van Zandt, who contributes his masterful "Pancho & Lefty." In addition to the requisite Gram Parsons tunes, Harris also gently tackles the country standard "Making Believe." --Marc Greilsamer Amazon.com

Another Great Album from Emmylou

I have so hard to try to listen to this album. I have carefully listened to it. I know many of you think this is a classic, and even her best album. I have now listened to it nine times, and it's 4½ stars but still not as good as "Pieces of the Sky" or "Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town". There's many great songs again: "Luxury Liner", "(You Never Can Tell) C'est la vie", and "When I Stop Dreaming" for example. Actually, all the songs are great, only "Tulsa Queen" sounds a little bit boring. If you like Emmylou's 70's albums, this is a must for you. Emmylou's voice is just perfect and very touching.
Stars: (You Never Can Tell) C'est la vie, Luxury Liner, You're Supposed to Be Feeling Good July 16, 2008

OPUS FOUR

Gee, it's been already 30 years that I bought this record. And I still regularly listen to it. I would say that, if you want to know why people like Emmylou HARRIS, there are in this album at least three songs which are little pearls of sensibility: Townes Van Zandt's sad ballad "Pancho & Lefty", then one of Rodney Crowell's nicest songs "You're Supposed To Be Feeling Good" and at last the late Gram Parsons's "She".

After Elite Hotel, LUXURY LINER is the second masterpiece in a row for this singer of whom we still wait for the CD release of her first album GLIDING STAR recorded in 1970. Highly recommended of course.

A CD for your library. Now. May 21, 2007

Her best, maybe

Actually, just about all the Emmylou Harris albums up until around 1980 qualify as her best. Whatever one I'm currently listening to seems at the time to qualify as her greatest work. But regardless of how it compares to her other albums, this is sublime country / rock of the highest possible quality. It's got all the elements that make her albums of this era great: top shelf musicians (including Ricky Skaggs), a couple Gram Parsons covers ("She", "Luxury Liner"), a Townes Van Zandt tune ("Poncho and Lefty"), and several classic country covers. Her version of "Making Believe" sends shivers down my spine and certainly holds up to Kitty Wells' original, and her versions of the Carter Family songs "Hello Stranger" is also great. The only possible criticism I possibly think to apply to this album is that it follows a similar formula to her other 70s albums, so in this sense it could be seen as "formulaic", but what a great formula!

Also, while I sometimes consider the practice of adding bonus tracks to a CD dubious at best (typically I would prefer to listen to the album in its original form and perhaps have a separate disc with bonus material), I have to say that the bonus track "Me and Willie" is one of my all time favorite Emmylou Harris songs. February 26, 2007

Lyrics poorly articulated

Although EMH is a favorite artist, this album may be good, but, I don't like to have to work to understand the lyrics. In this CD, she seems to mumble the words. I suppose that is an artistic style. I just don't like it. December 8, 2006

Emmylou's best , bar none...

This is Emmy's third album. In my mind Luxury Liner is the best collection for quality and diversity.
Once in a great while we get an album with one blinder after another. This is one of them.
The title track is a fleet-fingered potboiler that gets your attention from the opening note. Great covers abound in this album. Hello Stranger is luminous, When I Stop Dreaming absolutely soars, Making Believe is a classic, etc.,etc. You get the picture. Nothing even approaches filler material here.
The musicians, led by Albert Lee and Ricky Skaggs, are brilliant. Brian Ahern's production is first rate and the remastered sound is great. Today's modern country "stars" should listen to this album for eight hours straight in hopes that they might find a particle of soul. Do yourself a favor and buy this disc.
April 19, 2006

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