Hollywood Town Hall by Jayhawks (1992)
Because the Jayhawks' lyrics are more interested in expressing a mournful mood than in evoking any specific emotion, and since their strengths are searing guitar solos and cathartic, Gram Parsons-influenced harmonies, it makes sense their best album would come when they teamed with a producer (George Drakoulias) who could make all that sorrowful noise come to life.Hollywood Town Hallis such a sonic marvel, in fact, that even the new version of the beautiful, if vague, "Two Angels" (repeated from their earlier albumBlue Earth) sounds less a retread than a revelation. Though still obscure, like everything here it sounds breathtaking.--David Cantwell