Stay Golden, Smog: The Best of Golden Smog - The Rykodisc Years

Golden Smog brought Kraig Johnson of Run Westy Run, Gary Louris of the Jayhawks, and Dan Murphy of Soul Asylum and cast them among a rotating crew that included Jayhawks’ bassist Marc Perlman, Big Star’s Jody Stephens, the Honeydogs’ Noah Levy, and Uncle Tupelo / Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy for two albums of unpretentious country rock. In step with the emerging alt-country movement of the 1990s, Golden Smog echoed the sweet sorrow of the Byrds’ Gene Clark and Gram Parsons, the roughshod country approximations of ‘70s era Rolling Stones, and the loose folk-blues anarchy of the Faces, all while forging their own distinct path. This collection takes eight tracks apiece from their two albums and adds two bonus cuts, an alternate take of Gary Louris’ epic country-rocker “Until You Came Along” and a worthy cover of Brian Wilson’s “Love and Mercy.” Among the previously issued highlights, there’s the strutting country-rock of “Looking Forward to Seeing You,” the quiet desperation from Louris (“Jennifer Save Me”) and Johnson (“Making Waves”), the Jeff Tweedy solo acoustic performance of “Please Tell My Brother” and the goofy nonchalance of “He’s A Dick.”  Lots of pure joy to spread around.