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Album Details

• Artist: Golden Smog
• Album: Down By The Old Mainstream
• Label: Rykodisc
• Year of Release: 1996
• ME Rating: Indie Classic
• Reviewed by: dscanland on 2003-04-01

Maybe a bit early to be declaring Down By The Old Mainstream a classic but I can still throw on this Golden Smog album and its always magic. If you are not aware of the Golden Smog story, basically a few guys from Wilco, Jayhawks, Soul Asylum, Run Westy Run, The Replacements and the Honeydogs (all at some point in the bands life) got together to make music. What happened could only be referred to as magic. The sessions must have been amazing with songs like these coming out of them. They also had to go by pseudonyms because of record label stipulations. Down By The Old Mainstream was the second effort by this somewhat superstar collective following a short ep. On this effort though, the members started to write new material that was different from their “day jobs� and it allowed them to expand on their basic formula. The result includes genius tracks like “Yesterday Cried�, “Radio King�, and “Won’t be coming home� just to name a few. For the most part, I would recommend this album for any fans of the above-mentioned bands but I would also say that this is one of the Americana genre’s finest moments. Dig into this “Pecan Pie�!

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