The Cowboy Junkies - The Best Of The Cowboy

Since their home-produced Trinity Sessions scored big in 1988, delighting critics with their radical reworkings of "Blue Moon" and "Sweet Jane" (both included here), the Cowboy Junkies have recorded half a dozen studio albums and a couple of live sets. True, much of their material sounds samey, and even Margot Timmins' haunting voice can grate after a while, but lyrically they travel amazing territory (see "A Horse In The Country") and are capable of variety: "Southern Rain" is a "Day Tripper"-ish rocker, "To Live Is To Fly" is a hootenanny delight and Townes Van Zandt's "Cowboy Junkies Lament" is positively jaunty. If you need a second Cowboy Junkies album, this is probably the one.

Rating: 3 / 10