Dwight Yoakam has probably done more to revitalize good ol' honky-tonk Country music than anyone, and this album serves as proof. My radio show, "How Music Changed," is dedicated to explaining how various facets of our musical culture change, continue to develop, or simply waste away. By the mid-eighties, Texas Swing, Hillbilly Country, and Honky Tonk music had fallen on hard times. It is possible that it could have faded away entirely. The only thing that keeps music styles alive is when an artist understands the genre and is talented enough to contemporize the style for a new audience. That is exactly what Yoakam does on "Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc."

The `Deluxe Edition' of this disk contains the entire original album as it appeared in 1986, plus the original demos which were recorded back in 1981. Five years is a long time to wait for your vision to take hold, but Yoakam must have been dead set on realizing his without compromise. The demo recordings are fully realized songs that only benefited from the spit and polish of the album versions. Best of all is the absolutely incredible live show that takes up the second disk, recorded at Los Angeles' Roxy soon after the album was released. If it weren't for the stage patter and the rock and roll infusion of electric energy, this could have been a long lost document from a Texas roadhouse circa 1956. Yoakam's voice is a natural wonder. His band is stunning, too, sounding for all the world like they are ready and able to break out and reinvent Country music in the image of its heroes, rather than the pabulum that has been passed off as `new' country. Even if you already own the original disk, this edition is a must if only for the live disk; this is some of the best live country music I have ever heard in my life.

The best way to appreciate this album is to simply listen to it, but it wouldn't hurt if you compared it against its contemporary competition, either - If you ever listened to a radio show that focuses on music from the `80s, you can be sure that they aren't going to play anything from this album. Instead, you may hear Huey Lewis, or the Human League, or Phil Collins, or Wham! - only a few of the best-selling artists from 1986 - which proves all the more the miracle that is "Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc." Today, those artists are about as fresh as a bowl of soggy corn flakes, while Dwight Yoakam's statement lives on, and may have even grown in stature. If you already loved it, then this copy will blow your mind, If your new to this, then prepare yourself, because this disk will stay crunchy for decades. A Tom Ryan

If you're a Dwight fan, you owe it to yourself to get this remastered package. For me, though I'm mostly a rock guy, after Merle Haggard and Buck Owens, Dwight's the man.

The copy I had of this album was a first generation CD and it sounded, to be charitable, like crap. The remaster, on the other hand, is great sounding. It made me realize how much I used to listen to this and how much I liked it. The demos of the songs for this album and those that came after it are fun to hear as well and there's a ton of them.

I'm still not sure why they put the demos ahead of the actual album on the first disc but that's a very small quibble. The second disc has more demos but also some great live tracks. Long live Pete Anderson!

This has not left my cd player since I purchased it. Truly a beautiful cd, I love the song Floyd County and Twenty Years. It has great booklets in it and all sorts of songs to listen to. I just love this damn cd.

Well worth picking up. The demos sound great. It is a total win-win.

At $20, how can you go wrong?

This first disc contains 1981 demos, many of which would appear on later releases. It just proves how good of a song writer Dwight is.

I always thought he was was underated in that aspect.

Disc two is a live concert from '86, with some more cool cover tunes, including Honky Tonk Man, Heartaches by the Numbers, Ring of Fire.

If you do not own Guitars , Cadillacs, Etc....

You are missing out on some great Country Music.