Anodyne [Bonus Tracks]

1	Slate 3:24
2	Acuff-Rose 2:35
3	The Long Cut 3:20
4	Give Back the Key to My Heart 3:26
5	Chickamauga 3:42
6	New Madrid 3:32
7	Anodyne 4:51
8	We've Been Had 3:27
9	Fifteen Keys 3:25
10	High Water 4:14
11	No Sense in Lovin' 3:46
12	Steal the Crumbs 3:43
13	Stay True previously unreleased / Bonus Track 3:29
14	Wherever previously unreleased / Bonus Track 3:48
15	Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way? previously unreleased / Bonus Track 3:01
16	Truck Drivin' Man Live / Bonus Track 2:13
17	Suzy Q Live / Bonus Track 7:13

Barnes & Noble

Originally released in 1993, Uncle Tupelo's Anodyne was both a beginning and end for these Americana pioneers. As the St. Louis–based band's major-label debut, the album was a consolidation of the roots and rock styles that had informed their music to date, and, seemingly, a blueprint for future energizing fusions of rock, country, and folk -- exemplified early on by the bristling rock guitar assault on "The Long Cut." Of course the album turned out to be Uncle Tupelo's final chapter -- co-leaders Jay Farrar and Jeff Tweedy would go on to form Son Volt and Wilco, respectively -- and now one can only marvel at what was and what might have been. "Chickamauga," a Farrar screed penned from the bottom of a broken heart and titled after the site of one of the Civil War's bloodiest battles, crushes everything in its path with a venomous, multi-guitar attack. The resigned title track views heartbreak from a somber perspective, its wailing guitars offset by the mournful pedal steel lines (courtesy Lloyd Maines) curling over, under, and through the melody. Doug Sahm lends his soulful voice and ebullient spirit to a ramshackle, Stones-ish rendition of his country weeper, "Give Back the Key to My Heart," in what amounts to a breather in the context of all the disillusionment expressed here. Among the five bonus tracks (two of which are live, including a seven-minute-plus workout on Dale Hawkins's evergreen "Suzy Q"), check out the gritty vocal Joe Ely lends to a hard-stomping rendition of Waylon Jennings's "Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way." It's just right, like everything else here. David McGee

All Music Guide

Uncle Tupelo never struck a finer balance between rock and country than on Anodyne, their major-label debut and parting shot. For all of the ill will undoubtedly simmering throughout these sessions, Jay Farrar and Jeff Tweedy have never before been more attuned to each other musically; where earlier records often found the band's twin forces moving in opposing directions, Anodyne bears the full fruits of their shared vision. Recorded live in the studio, the album encompasses and reinterprets not only country-rock (evidenced by the group's pairing with Doug Sahm on his "Give Back the Key to My Heart"), but also traditional country (the tribute to the songwriting legacy of "Acuff-Rose"), rock (the churning "The Long Cut," "Chickamauga"), and folk ("New Madrid," "Steal the Crumbs"), the band's reach never once exceeding its grasp. [The 2003 reissue of Anodyne on Rhino adds five bonus tracks: three previously unreleased tracks and two live songs that were only available on a promo-only disc issued in 1994 called The Long Cut + Five Live. The three studio cuts are a mixed bag. "Stay True" is a fairly tuneless hard rock tune penned by Jay Farrar that features thundering riffs and ham-handed soloing, "Wherever" is a heartbroken and lovely ballad written by Jeff Tweedy that easily could have fit on the album proper, and "Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way" is a rollicking stab at one of Waylon Jennings' best tunes with Joe Ely joining in on vocals and guitar. The two live cuts -- a raw take on the truck driver's anthem "Truck Drivin' Man" and a long workout on Dale Hawkins' "Suzie Q" -- are fun and full of energy. Too bad Rhino didn't include the other three songs that were on the The Long Cut + Five Live. Still, with the comprehensive liner notes, improved sounds, and mostly worthwhile bonus tracks, this is a great document for fans of the band.] Jason Ankeny

Rolling Stone

[Anodyne] shows that this band, alone among American acts of its generation, understood how to connect Woody Guthrie to the Minutemen to Marvin Gaye. Tom Moon