Robert Earl Keen,
A Bigger Piece of Sky

Label: Rosetta Records / KOCH Records
Year: 1993 (reissued 2004)

(3½ out of 5)

In bringing back to life Robert Earl Keen's debut album, No Kinda Dancer, Koch Records added three bonus tracks.

While no bonus tracks are tacked onto the singer/songwriter's third studio album, 1993's A Bigger Piece of Sky, Koch afforded Keen an even more attractive opportunity: the chance to resequence the tracks.

The old order:

1. "So I Can Take My Rest"
2. "Whenever Kindness Fails"
3. "Amarillo Highway"
4. "Night Right for Love"
5. "Jesse with the Long Hair"
6. "Blow You Away"
7. "Here in Arkansas"
8. "Daddy Had a Buick"
9. "Corpus Christi Bay"
10. "Crazy Cowboy Dreams"
11. "Paint the Town Beige"

The new order:

1. "Amarillo Highway"
2. "Corpus Christi Bay"
3. "Whenever Kindness Fails"
4. "Blow You Away"
5. "Jesse with the Long Hair"
6. "Paint the Town Beige"
7. "Daddy Had a Buick"
8. "Crazy Cowboy Dreams"
9. "Here in Arkansas"
10. "Night Right for Love"
11. "So I Can Take My Rest"

The new sequence makes sense, although it stacks the most memorable songs in the first two slots.

Terry Allen's "Amarillo Highway" makes a great opener: it remains one of Keen's strongest tunes, whether live or in the studio.

While the tempo slows significantly beginning with "Whenever Kindness Fails," the new sequence provides a stronger sense of a storyteller's continuity.

As on No Kinda Dancer, Koch produced A Bigger Piece of Sky as a Super Audio CD. Those with SACD decks will notice the clearer digital presentation. Those with regular CD players still can play this hybrid disc.

Buy: Lone Star Music, Amazon

November 23, 2004