Personnel includes: Dwight Yoakam (vocals, acoustic & electric guitars); Dean Parks (acoustic guitar); Pete Anderson (electric & baritone guitars, electric sitar, harmonica); Al Perkins (lap steel & pedal steel guitars, banjo, dobro); Tom Brumley (steel guitar); Scott Joss (mandolin, fiddle); Tim O'Brien (mandolin, background vocals); Don Reed (fiddle); Skip Edwards (keyboards); Charles Domanico (acoustic bass); Taras Prodaniuk (4- & 6-string basses); Jeff Donovan (drums); Lenny Castro (percussion); Scott Humphrey (drum programming); Tommy Funderburk, Jim Lauderdale, Roger Miller, Emily Saliers, Amy Ray, Beth Anderson, Carl Jackson, Jim Haas (background vocals).
Engineers include: Judy Clapp.
"Crazy Little Thing Called Love" was nominated for the 2000 Grammy Award for Best Male Country Vocal Performance.
Discounting left fielders like Lyle Lovett and Steve Earle, one could make a convincing case for Yoakam as the lone savior of mainstream country in the '90s. Modernizing the Bakersfield sound of Buck Owens (who gets a mention in the opening cut "Turn It On, Turn It Up, Turn Me Loose"), Yoakam combined a traditionalist twang with a rocker's bite and some spectacular songs for that rare marriage of commercial and aesthetic success. This compilation of Yoakam's '90s hits proves that, like any good country singer, Yoakam excels at evocations of heartbreak--he plays the lovelorn sap to perfection (and with just a pinch of irony) on "Pocket of a Clown," "Sorry You Asked?" and others, over classic honky tonk arrangements.
His rock & roll side emerges on the blazing "Fast As You" and the natural fit of the previously unreleased neo-rockabilly "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" (yes, the Queen song). The other bonus cut, Waylon Jennings's tearjerker "I'll Go Back To Her" points to Yoakam's country outlaw roots. The memorability of each song is a testament to Yoakam's compositional savvy and LAST CHANCE is a perfect way to get acquainted with the man who brought integrity to country radio.
What the critics say...
Q (9/99, p.135) - 3 stars (out of 5) - "...Yoakum's tunes fast forward into the future whilst waving to the ghosts of a young Presley, Johnny Cash and Roy Orbison....New age honkytonk gems..."
