New Riders of the Purple Sage – “Louisiana Lady” (1971) Review | Truckin’ and Baton Your Eyelids
Kronomyth 1.1: The smoker you are, the riders you get.
This single is brought to you today by the letter “L.” Now, you might be wondering why the L we’re talking about New Riders of the Purple Sage on what is ostensibly a progressive rock site (it actually isn’t, but that’s another story). And I would tell you that psychedelic country-rock music and progressive rock both presume similar states of mind; let’s say Louisiana and Texas for the sake of argument. Whether it’s pedal steel or polymoog that floats your balloon, it’s all the same trip. New Riders could co-exist in both camps some of the time, although that’s not evident here. Louisiana Lady is sped-up country-rock that for the life of me sounds like The Monkees. Then again, I’m pretty sure The Monkees are the default setting in my brain anyway. The flip side, Last Lonely Eagle, is the better track, imwo, feeling like a lost track from Grateful Dead’s American Beauty. Both sides are identical to the versions that appeared on New Riders of the Purple Sage.
[We pause now for a moment of silence for the death of PBS and NPR, two national treasures that are being defunded by the current coup d’etat. I guess better dead than red, Elmo.]
The Product
A1. Louisiana Lady (John Dawson) (3:02)
B1. Last Lonely Eagle (John Dawson) (5:14)
The Plastic
Released on 7-inch single on September 16, 1971 in the US and Canada (Columbia, 4-45469), Germany (CBS, CBS S 7537) and the Netherlands (CBS, CBS 7537) with regional picture sleeve. (First appeared in 9/25/71 issue of Billboard.)
