Description
My Year in Review is a compilation album of live tracks, rarities and outtakes by the American singer and songwriter Bill Mallonee of Vigilantes of Love fame, released on Paste Music in June 2002, in co-operation with Mallonee’s own Meat Market Records. It was initially a Vigilantes of Love fan club tape released in a single run of 500 copies to fans in 1995 that quickly sold out. The original Master DAT tape resurfaced in 2002 and Mallonee re-issued the album on CD. The first seven tracks features Vigilantes of Love live at the Cornerstone festival in 1995.
My Year in Review is the “new and improved” version of a VOL fan club cassette that was distributed in 1995. It is a collection of unreleased tunes, alternative versions, and B-sides, much like ‘Dead Letter Office’ by R.E.M.
Mallonee is at his best here the album serves to showcase many different facets of VOL. The acoustic version of «Tokyo Rose» leads off, followed by the mournful lament of «VET». Mallonee combines the best aspects of Neil Young’s country/rock persona with T-Bone Burnett’s ability to tell a story and produces an album that is both literary and literate.
There are some songs here that will be unfamiliar to newer fans. «My Year in Review», «Berlin in ‘53», «Postscript», and «All We Left Unsaid» do not appear on any other release. Rarities such as «Sing Angel Choirs» and the acoustic version of «Double Cure» (previously a hidden track on the VOL compilation) are included as well.
Musically, «Driving the Nails» is a Dylanesque tail of man’s sin. «Berlin in ‘53» paints a picture of Mallonee’s parents in postwar Germany. «Bolt Action» is a grim portrayal of Charles Whitman from the bell tower at the University of Texas. A haunting version of «Deep End» is here as well.
As prolific as Bill Mallonee is, often writing 40-60 new songs a month, one wonders how much material is lost. My Year in Review makes us glad some of that material was preserved for the ages. [Brian A. Smith, The Phantom Tollbooth, 7/12/2002]
CD tracklist:
01. Tokyo Rose (Live)
02. Vet (Live)
03. Earth Has No Sorrow (Live)
04. My Year In Review
05. Deep End (Swamp-Stomp Version) (Live)
06. Driving The Nails (Live)
07. Berlin In ’53 (Live)
08. Bolt Action (Early “Bell Tower” Version) (Live)
09. Certain Slant Of Light
10. Postscript
11. Double Cure (Early Solo-Acoustic Version)
12. On To Bethlehem (Flagpole 1995 Version)
13. Sing Angel Choirs (Sister Ruby Version)
14. Where My Seed Might Find Purchase
15. All We Left Unsaid
Note: Available at Bandcamp: https://billmalloneemusic.bandcamp.com/album/my-year-in-review-rarities-outtakes
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