Sound of Lies is their most creative and dynamic album, even if it was the first without Olson. It’s kind of fun to think of yet again re-visiting a record I consider the Jayhawks’ finest musical moment.

Now, in 2014, we have seen reissues of three of the first four Jayhawks albums, a reunited Louris-and-Olson-led Jayhawks record a new album, 2011’s Mockingbird Time, and this week, the last three Jayhawks albums from their original run – Sound of Lies, Smile and Rainy Day Music – get their remastered and reissued due. Gary Louris and Mark Olson had toured as a duo doing Jayhawks songs, but there was no reason necessarily to believe that the band proper was still kicking. When I wrote about the Jayhawks’ Sound of Lies for this blog six and a half (?!) years ago, the album was ten years old, out of print and the band had sailed into what seemed to be their sunset.