As I have reviewed elsewhere on this site, progressive bluegrassers the Seldom Scene produced a splendid run of albums in the early to mid-\u201870s with the musically and vocally impressive lineup of John Starling, John Duffey, Ben Eldridge, Mike Auldridge, and Tom Gray. But after 1978\u2019s Baptizing<\/i>, Starling left the band to return to his practice as an ear nose and throat doctor. The Scene produced a couple more quality albums with Phil Rosenthal taking Starling\u2019s place, but through the \u201880s the band\u2019s production was less consistent. By the 1990s, they had pulled in the very talented Lou Reid, and were forming a more cohesive sound again. Then in 1994, Starling came back.<\/p>\n
Like We Used To Be<\/i> is the reunion album that the nearly recreated lineup produced (Tom Gray had been replaced by T. Michael Coleman on bass). And it\u2019s the only one, since Dr. Starling decided again to return to medicine after its release. While the return of Starling\u2019s solid baritone lead singing was a welcome reminder of how good the Seldom Scene could be, this album does not contain as much of the magic that their first string of albums had. The upbeat songs are on point and show the Scene in every bit of their glory, with John Duffey\u2019s distinctive voice and mandolin lifting songs like \u201cGrandpa Getcha Guitar,\u201d \u201cShe\u2019s More To Be Pitied,\u201d Woody Guthrie\u2019s \u201cPhiladelphia Lawyer,\u201d and the Stanley Brothers\u2019 \u201cLet Me Be Your Friend.\u201d But the bulk of the remainder of the album consists of plodding, heavy country knockoffs such as \u201cLike I Used To Do,\u201d \u201cHighway Of Pain,\u201d \u201cAlmost Threw Your Love Away,\u201d and \u201cCheap Whiskey.\u201d\u00a0 Even through Startling is singing his heart out on these lovely ballads, the slow pace makes it feel like the album is going nowhere.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
There are some memorable tracks that, despite their leisurely pace, are worth noting. \u201cHeaven\u2019s Green Fields\u201d is a catchy gospel song with astoundingly gorgeous harmonies, dobro, and guitar work. Similarly, \u201cI’ll Remember You Love in My Prayers\u201d features some excellent flatpicking guitar playing, done distinctly in the style of the Carter Family, which showcases Starling\u2019s best vocal track of the whole album. Another great Starling vocal take is in \u201cOn The Other Side Of Town,\u201d which gets an assist from John Duffey\u2019s stratospheric tenor harmonies. <\/p>\n
The reunion effort was short-lived, as Starling again headed for the exit, and sadly the Seldom Scene was soon to be forever changed. Dobroist Mike Aldridge and T. Michael Coleman left the band to form their own group, Chesapeake. Then in 1996, after the release of their next album Dream Scene<\/i>, John Duffey passed away. The version of group still plays as of this writing, and Starling did return again briefly on the Smithsonian Folkways 2014 retrospective Long Time\u2026<\/i> but they would never again be like they used to be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88,"featured_media":32748,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[8831],"rating":[5614],"class_list":["post-44518","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-the-seldom-scene","rating-rating-c-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/44518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/88"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44518"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/44518\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=44518"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=44518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}