Amazon.com

When you first heard that Billy Bragg and Wilco were teaming up to set some Woody Guthrie lyrics to music, you knew it'd be an interesting project. But did anyone realistically think Mermaid Avenue would also wind up being one of 1998's finest albums? That's exactly what it is, a distinction it pulls off by simultaneously honoring Guthrie and blasting away any folksy expectations we might have of his music. Walking Guthrie's World War II-era lyrics into the 20th century's second, rock & roll half, Bragg and Wilco's Jeff Tweedy take turns on lead vocals, and the entire group collaborates on a sound that draws on folk- and country-rock, from Bob Dylan and the Band to Gram Parsons and Uncle Tupelo. The results are nearly flawless, ranging from yearning laments and playful children's rockers to horny ballads and brave protest songs that are not merely political but also profoundly moral. Like all of Guthrie's work, Mermaid Avenue is music to live better by. --David Cantwell

Review

The combination [of Bragg and Wilco] feels nostalgic and contemporary at once, like a good rabble-rousing speech--or a snatch of Americana suddenly recalled years after you thought it'd passed forever from memory. -- Spin

Walking Guthrie's WWII-era lyrics into our century's rock & roll half, Bragg and Wilco's Jeff Tweedy take turns on lead vocals, and the entire group collaborates on a sound that draws upon folk- and country-rock, from Dylan and the Band to Gram Parsons and Uncle Tupelo. The results are nearly flawless. -- USA Today

With [Billy] Bragg ... and Wilco's Jeff Tweedy each singing seven songs and guest Natalie Merchant taking one, Mermaid Avenue can initially seem disjointed and unfocused, but ultimately its ramshackle approach proves to be the perfect channel for Guthrie's raucous and irrepressible spirit. -- The Los Angeles Times

[Mermaid Avenue] is a thing in itself, perhaps standing outside the stories told by the careers of its principals, as if already looking back on all their failures, saying this time you got it right. -- Rolling Stone

[L]et's charge on and state loudly and clearly that is a lovely record. That's "lovely" as in twisted, mental, weird, awkward and occasionally downright freaky. This album reveals Guthrie as much, much, much more than some one-track, no-fun, super-politically correct commie robot. It also illustrates just how timid and timorous so many of the current crop of scribblers and warblers are. -- New Musical Express

[The collaborators] succeed to wondrous effect, inventing enough lilting melodies and vocal arrangements to make Guthrie's songs sound like sing-along classics. -- People, ISBN13: B000007NC0 ISBN10: B000007NC0 Material Type: audioCD