Bucky Dee James and Nashville Explosion - Rhinestone Cowboy (1977)

There's been a load of compromisin' on the road to their horizon . . . I believe them!

Before I get into this album, let's compare this album cover to the last one. Hmmm. Nearly the same background color. The Glen Campbell one is a bit greener. Same crappy font for the artist they're ruining. The imagination gears sure turn in the art department, don't they! The Glen Campbell album has that fake gold sticker thingy in the upper left hand corner, showing that the complaints have been rolling in from people accidentally mistaking Bucky's Elvis album for a real Elvis album. So now, we've got this gold (or yellow) medallion in the corner saying "This is fucking garbage! Buy it anyway!"

Here's what we get in this fine collection of Glen Campbell hits:

Southern Nights
Rhinestone Cowboy
By The Time I Get To Phoenix
Sunflower
Galveston
Gentle On My Mind
Wichita Lineman
Country Boy (You Got Your Feet In LA)
True Grit

So now, let's hear this non-famous Elvis impersonator sing some Glen Campbell...

Listen to Rhinestone Cowboy

Ummm.... What the fuck is this??? Is this the same guy? This sounds NOTHING like his Elvis albums! It sounds like Bucky actually does have some talent hidden under his snarly lip and sideburns. He actually does a decent job singing these songs, The Nashville Explosion play their instruments somewhat well, and the guy who mixed the album did a shitty job by burying some of Bucky's lower vocals under the band. This is a quality cheap imitation album we have here. Unfortunately, by the time Springboard gets to Bucky's third album, they decided they didn't want his shit anymore and focused their next few albums on lousy orchestra covers of movie hits.

Poor Bucky. After his brief fling with stardom, he got kicked off the label and blew all his earnings on drugs (one bag of weed).

It seems that after this album, Bucky and the Nashville Explosion had some difficult times as a band. After scouring the internet, I found this collection called "24 Country Hits" released in 1978 on the Intercord label. It's a European collection which features The Nashville Explosion with and without Bucky along with some other big name Country artists. This came out a year after the Glen Campbell album.

Obviously, these guys were struggling to find work. After being unsuccessful, they turned to panhandling, hoping to raise enough money to buy another bag of weed. They are now residing in the "where are they now" and "who gives a fuck" categories.

- Ben Century (http://www.classicalgasemissions.com/2011/08/bucky-dee-james-nashville-explosion.html)