Swerve (25th Anniversary Edition)

Swerve was originally released in 1990 and is the sixth reissue from Fire Records. Featuring a variety of guest performers throughout, including Green on Red's Chris Cacavas, Juliana Hatfield, Steve Wynn, and a fair hunk of Poi Dog Pondering, Swerve features the then duo of Gelb and Convertino on a fine slew of songs. Recorded at a number of different locations, from Boston to Los Angeles, Swerve found Gelb reaching the ten-year point with his band in fantastic style. Gelb's fractured vision of roots music meets modern times sounded distinct and enjoyable enough at the time of Swerve's release, and still holds up excellently in later years. His ear for aggressively weird soloing in particular is just great (check "Dream Stay" for one of his best Neil Young nods yet), while his straight playing remains quite accomplished.