Compass Point is an album released by country musician David Allan Coe. It was released in 1979 on Columbia.
Coe closed out the decade with his ninth album for Columbia. The songs, all Coe originals, sequence into the next, which was becoming a hallmark on his records. It was produced again by the team of Ron Bledsoe and Billy Sherrill. Thom Jurek of AllMusic contends, âÂÂWith Bledsoe's gritty, in-your-face, performance-based approach and Sherrill's polish and sense of space and texture, they were able to balance all of the inherent contradictions in Coe's music, from the gorgeous balladry of âÂÂGone,â âÂÂHeads or Tails,â and the elaborately arranged dark honky tonk of âÂÂMerle and Meâ (not Haggard) to the rocking bluegrass stomp of âÂÂHoney Don'tâ and the boozy Tex-Mex swagger of âÂÂLost.âÂÂâÂÂ
Musically, several of the songs on Compass Point look to the Caribbean, with shuffling back-beats and breezy rhythms, such as on âÂÂLoving Her (Will Make You Lose Your Mind)â and the tongue-twisting closing track. Lyrically, Coe covers some of his favourite themes, such as crime and prison on âÂÂThree Time Loserâ and âÂÂMerle and Me,â tunes that echo CoeâÂÂs own youth spent in jail and youth reformatories. âÂÂHoney DonâÂÂtâ sounds like Coe striking back at anyone who would dare question his musical credentials (âÂÂIâÂÂve been a roadie for Satan, honey/I was the sound man for the Devilâ¦âÂÂ) and includes the repeated line âÂÂHoney donâÂÂt you pull that shit on me,â a rare expletive on a major label country record at the time. Opener âÂÂHeads or Tailsâ ruminates on the chance nature of romance, with Coe singing the title in a Johnny Cash drawl.
AllMusic: "As a coda to a decade that went by in a blur of fame, success, madness, tragedy, and disappointment, Coe left it on a very high note with an album that looked brightly to the future."
All Songs written by David Allan Coe.