(1988)  RCA label.  Original issue with original inner sleeve.  This is another album Illinois picked up for me when he was out.  He recalls finding it in the stacks at Rhino Westwood– probably in the early 1990s. This is not the first Cowboy Junkies record I heard. Black Eyed Man was the first– I owned it (on CD) and I played it constantly.  I was pregnant with our son and there was something about that album that made me relax and feel grounded.

This album is the band’s debut record in the states– but not their first release.  A Canadian band, this album was a big deal with college radio in the late 1980’s.  I like it for its slowness.  It is good rainy day music.  According to the liner notes: “Captured live at the Church of the Holy Trinity in Toronto Canada on November 27, 1987.”

SIDE A

1. Mining For Gold  (1:34)
2. Misguided Angel  (4:58)
3. I Don’t Get It  (4:34)
4. I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry  (5:24)
5. To Love Is To Bury

SIDE B

1. 200 More Miles  (5:29)
2. Dreaming My Dreams With You  (4:28)
3. Sweet Jane  (3:41)
4. Postcard Blues  (3:28)
5. Walking After Midnight  (5:54)

Favorite tracks include the a cappella Mining For Gold, Sweet Jane, and Walking After Midnight.

Illinois tells me albums released in 88-89 through 1995 are rising in value as the industry had released more CDs and fewer LPs during this time.  The “industry” has been poorly managed or guided especially through the digital revolution.  Quickly embracing digital technology resulting in CDs ushered in digital downloads and became its undoing.   Meanwhile record collectors demand LPs now and forever.