Somewhere back in the early days of this series I promised you a ranking, at least of the Emmylou albums I considered to be at the very top of her output. Having taken so long to deliver on this promise, I hope to assuage such guilt as I feel about my delinquency by giving you something more comprehensive: a complete ranking of her albums, as previously reviewed on normblog. Here it is.
01 Elite Hotel (1976)
02 Roses In The Snow (1980)
03 Luxury Liner (1977)
04 Pieces Of The Sky (1975)
04 Blue Kentucky Girl (1979)
04 Cimarron (1981)
07 The Ballad Of Sally Rose (1985)
08 Thirteen (1986)
08 Bluebird (1989)
08 Brand New Dance (1990)
11 Spyboy (1998)
12 Wrecking Ball (1995)
13 Evangeline (1981)
14 Quarter Moon In A Ten Cent Town (1978)
15 Cowgirl's Prayer (1994)
16 At The Ryman (1992)
17 Last Date (1982)
18 All I Intended To Be (2008)
19 White Shoes (1983)
20 Stumble Into Grace (2003)
21 Angel Band (1987)
22 Red Dirt Girl (2000)
23 Gliding Bird (1969)
You want I should now explain and justify this ranking? Forget about it. You'll have to accept the assurance that it was arrived at through listening to the albums again, with a ranking in view. And, as I started out by saying, I've already reviewed them. If, moreover, some cleverclogs should come back to me to point out that the ranking doesn't fully correspond with the content of the reviews, I have my answer ready: you don't step into the same stream twice.