Alison Krauss & Union Station

Forget About It

Maybe It's Not for the Purists, but It's for Me...

Review Score:

(8/10)
I first heard what turned out to be "Maybe" from this album at a place where I had no way of finding out what it was. The harmonies in the chorus _did_ make the hair stand on the back of my neck, and I tried desperately, amid the noise of the people jabbering and oblivious to the beauty in the background, to write down the chord progression so I'd have a chance to track it down.

Alas, I wasn't able to, and the incident passed from my mind...until yesterday (at a competitor to Amazon, so I won't mention their name--a whole battalion wouldn't drag it out of me :-) when I heard it again. I called out to the lady with whom I was looking that I'd be back and rushed to the music section to get there before the song ended, and the kind fellow behind the counter tracked it down for me.

Thank heaven he did. I can't help thinking there's gotta be a law of physics that prevents this kind of concentration of gorgeous vocals. Judging by the prior reviews, bluegrass purists don't much care for this album, and I guess that there's that same sort of accusation of "sellout" that one sees in other genres--but the influence is there, and I personally don't have too much use for purists anyway in the face of such wonderful music.

I may be off my rocker, but in some ways, I'm reminded of October Project's ballads by some of the tracks here. For that matter, this would be an interesting disk to put in one's multi-CD player with Chris Isaak's _Forever Blue_ and put on shuffle, so you get both sexes' side of heartbreak.

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