A rarity for rock bands that lose one of their principal singer/songwriters, the remade lineup of the Jayhawks now on tour happens to be the preferred version for some of the group's most die-hard fans.
After the band's founder, Mark Olson, quit in 1995, guitarist and co-vocalist Gary Louris took the band in a rockier, more electrified and sometimes poppier direction. He also turned more personal in his songwriting, especially with 1997's dramatic game-changing album "Sound of Lies," considered an unsung masterpiece by many Jayhawks devotees.
"The whole record sounds effortless and elegant," said 89.3 the Current jockey Mary Lucia, a longtime champion of "Sound of Lies" and, in particular, the dark opening track "The Man Who Loved Life."
"[It proved] Gary Louris can write some of the best bridges in music, which from what I've heard from interviewing squillions of musicians over the years is the hardest thing in the world to do. Dude sounds like he can do it in his sleep."
"Sound of Lies" is one of three Louris-led Jayhawks records that have been newly reissued with remastered sound and bonus tracks, the impetus for the current tour. The other two are 2000's "Smile," a more psychedelic and polished sonic opus made with "The Wall" producer Bob Ezrin, and the more stripped-down and folky flavored 2003 finale "Rainy Day Music."
A critic and longtime fan who became the band's resident archivist and coproduced the new reissues, PD Larson also cites the first of the batch as his favorite.
"There are moments of brilliance on every Jayhawks album, but it all really came together for me on 'Sound of Lies,' " Larson said, calling it "a perfect storm of songwriting, performance, production and mixing that resulted in a timeless album of great emotional depth.
"The fact that there was so much behind-the-scenes turmoil at the time makes it all even more amazing," Larson added.
