Two amazing albums from the Kinman brothers, and the only Rank and File recordings you need. They made a couple hurrendous albums (hair metal pop) after these that you can ignore. They came back to the cowboy sound as Cowboy Nation and they put out some good stuff under that monicker as well.
A bargain indeed. I may be biased since I have the vinyl, but the first 9 tracks are from their debut album Sundown, and are well worth the downloads. The Rhino CD is $35 used (but both albums have been re-released separately and cheaper on Collector's Choice). If you like Rank & File, check out Chip and Tony Kinman's newer stuff as "Cowboy Nation", hypnotic, stripped down acoustic, bass & minimal percussion, two albums currently on emusic - worth the downloads too!!
Up until now, the only way you could get this was a Rhino Handmade CD a few years back! In many ways, this was the forefront of "Roots" or "American Music." Chip and Tony Kinman, a couple of punks formerly of the Nuns teamed up with Alejandro Escavedo, and what came through was a country record that had a punk edge. More country than label mates the Blasters, but certainly not Nashville, these were great albums that very few people heard. Chip and Tony were great harmonizers, and the songs were excellent. Their 3rd album rocked, and hopefully that will find a rerelease, too.
