Lucinda Williams’ Self-Titled LP Back Into Print, Expanded for January

Lucinda Williams’ self-titled third record – arguably, featuring her first great moments as a country singer-songwriter – will get reissued as a double-disc set next month on the artist’s new imprint label, affiliated with independent label Thirty Tigers.

Initially released on the Rough Trade label, Lucinda Williams saw the Louisiana native craft a unique blend of country, folk, blues and rock that was miles away from her first two records for Smithsonian Folkways in 1979 and 1980 (the former of which was all covers). Tracks like “Crescent City,” “Passionate Kisses,” “Changed the Locks” and “Side of the Road” were alternately celebratory and heartrending, bursting forth with unbridled emotion. “Passionate Kisses” was covered by Mary Chapin Carpenter in 1993, winning a Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance (and another nod for Song of the Year) in 1994; “Changed the Locks” was covered by Tom Petty for the soundtrack to She’s the One in 1996, while Ben Folds delivered a stirring version of “Side of the Road” for an EP in 2005.

As for Williams, she continued to work deliberately, releasing only two albums in the next decade: Sweet Old World for the Chameleon label in 1992, and signing with major label Mercury for the critically-acclaimed Car Wheels on a Gravel Road in 1998. Her most recent album, Blessed, was released in 2011.

Out of print for over a decade, Lucinda Williams features the album remastered from the original tapes, having recently been discovered after years of misplacement. A bonus disc combines an unreleased 1989 live show from The Netherlands with a fistful of live radio sessions first released on a 1998 CD reissue. The package is rounded out with liner notes from Robin Hurley (former A&R for Rough Trade) and music journalist Chris Morris.

The new remaster, which will also be available on vinyl, hits stores January 14. After the jump, check out the full track list, plus Amazon links.

Lucinda Williams: 25th Anniversary Edition (Thirty Tigers, 2014)

2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. 

Disc 1: Original LP (released as Rough Trade 47 (U.S.)/130 (U.K.), 1988)

1. I Just Wanted to See You So Bad
2. The Night’s Too Long
3. Abandoned
4. Big Red Sun Blues
5. Like a Rose
6. Changed the Locks
7. Passionate Kisses
8. Am I Too Blue
9. Crescent City
10. Side of the Road
11. Price to Pay
12. I Asked for Water (He Gave Me Gasoline)

Disc 2: Live material

1. I Just Wanted to See You So Bad
2. Big Red Sun Blues
3. Am I Too Blue
4. Crescent City
5. The Night’s Too Long
6. Something About What Happens When We Talk
7. Factory Blues
8. Happy Woman Blues
9. Abandoned
10. Wild and Blue
11. Passionate Kisses
12. Changed the Locks
13. Nothing in Rambling
14. Sundays
15. Nothing in Rambling (Live at KPFK)
16. Disgusted (Live at KPFK)
17. Side of the Road (Live at KPFK)
18. Goin’ Back Home (Live at NOISE)
19. Something About What Happens When We Talk (Live at KCRW)
20. Sundays (Live at KCRW)

Disc 2, Tracks 1-14 recorded live in Einhoven, Netherlands – 5/19/1989. Previously unrelelased.
Disc 2, Tracks 15-20 released on Koch Records CD 8005, 1998