ALBERT LEE
Heartbreak Hill (Sugar Hill)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale

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Albert Lee has an amazing collection of recording and performance credits, including five years with Eric Clapton and work with Earl Scruggs, The Everly Brothers, Jerry Lee Lewis, Dolly Parton, Jackson Browne, Bill Wyman and an ever-growing list of luminaries. His breakthrough gig, though, in terms of public acclaim, was his mid-seventies tenure with Emmylou Harris' Hot Band. That's when he moved from journeyman picker to the king of country rock guitar, and that's why it's so fitting that he revisit some of Emmylou's signature songs on a solo album of his own.

'Solo,' of course, is a term of art, especially in this case. One measure of the high esteem in which Lee is held in musical circles is the roster of friends and colleagues who showed up to help out on Heartbreak Hill. It's a list that includes Buddy Emmons, Patty Loveless, Buddy Miller, Mickey Raphael, Vince Gill, Rodney Crowell, Jerry Douglas and Earl Scruggs, among others. Need I say there's some hot pickin' and fine singin' on this album?

Burning hot and very fine, in fact, and some of the finest and hottest work of all comes from Albert Lee himself, who manages to distinguish himself even among such distinguished company. They've tried to make up about a hundred and one different names for this kind of music, but in the end, this is country rock, plain and simple, and this is the best example of the form I've heard in a long time.

Track List:

Heartbreak Hill * Heaven Only Knows * If I Needed You * Born To Run * Luxury Liner * In My Dreams * Two More Bottles Of Wine * 'Til I Gain Control Again * One Of These Days * Bluebird Wine

© 2003 - Shaun Dale