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Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Vol. 38, No. 6 April 10, 1975

Ladies Love Outlaws: Tom Rush

Ladies Love Outlaws: Tom Rush

Here is an album that is all of a piece, a sort of New York 'Astral Weeks', its material supremely laid back acoustic jazz-rock that on first listening is pleasant and after several, more absorbing.

The basic instrumental components are Rush (vocals and acoustic guitar), Jeff 'Skunk' Baxter and Elliot Randell (guitars), Bob Babbit (bass) and Andrew Smith (drums) to which other ingredients such as the Memphis Horns, Carly Simon and James Taylor are added as need be. The sound, with the exception of the title song, varies only subtly from cut to [unclear: cut]

Rush possesses a broad baritone that is somewhat reminiscent of his earlier Elektra folkie cohorts without the hysteria. He phrases more like a cool jazz man, seldom using his voice other than as a leading line above a tightly co-ordinated instrumental texture. Though this approach de-emphasises the wistfully appealing lyrics selected by Rush to the point that they hardly count at all, it increases one's awareness of Rush as a musical thinker of exceptional sophistication. Among the better-known contemporary singer/songwriters only Jackson Browne shows a similar tendency towards such understated reserve, but Rush carries this reserve much further.

One of the album's ten songs - 'No Regrets' is familiar, having been previously recorded by Rush and a handful of other artists. Of the other nine cuts, the two most outstanding are 'Desperadoes Waiting for a Train', the album's impressive demonstration of Rush's hermetic ensemble writing; and 'Indian Woman from Wichita', the only cut in which a melody is allowed to absolutely dominate the instrumentation.

The final impression Rush leaves behind is one of prodigious musical intelligence [unclear: comvined] with an attitude of serene resignation. It makes for a subtly intoxicating brew - good rainy day/Sunday afternoon music.