Townes Van Zandt: The Late Great Townes Van Zandt

This album is 40 years old but, though flawed, as was the case with much of this maverick Texan songwriter's work, it is a particularly telling example of his special talent. It is one of two Van Zandt classics reissued by this label set up by music fans. The other is 1971's equally valuable High, Low and In Between. Colin Escott, who writes the excellent sleeve notes for both, says that it is a measure of "Townes's worth that his songs aren't trapped" back in time. It is true. While the demons that would afflict him until his death in 1997 were already in play, these songs, including the original version of Pancho & Lefty, helped lay the foundations for his ever-growing reputation. He is funny, sensitive, sad, mysterious, wildly ambitious and forever vulnerable, a lonely figure making his way in an alien world.

Download: Pancho & Lefty; If I Needed You