Produced by Hal Wilner, the Robert Altman of all-star concept LPs, this dramatized reading of Hunter S. Thompson's 1970 essay casts Tim Robbins in the lead, with cameos by Dr. John and Ralph Steadman, Thompson's sidekick and frames illustrator. Basically Fear and Loathing at the Track, this album is a rifle-scope piss-take with a heart of darkness and a soundtrack composed by jazz guitarist Bill Frisell, who colors the tale with skewed Dixieland brass, shivering strings and groaning woodwinds. The joke, per usual, is that monsters are everywhere. "Shit," Thompson writes after examining Steadman's horrifying crowd portraits. "We both look worse than anything you've drawn here."

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• Photos: Random Notes

“(We're Not) The Jet Set”

George Jones and Tammy Wynette were still married when they recorded the tongue-in-cheek "(We're Not) The Jet Set." The lyrics, written by Nashville songwriter Bobby Braddock, who also penned Wynette's "D-I-V-O-R-C-E" and Jones' "He Stopped Loving Her Today," make fun of the good life by declaring, "We're not the Jet Set/We're the old Chevrolet set." Braddock recalled that while writing the song, he needed the name of a city that evened out the rhyme he had with "Riviera" and "Missourah." “I got out a Rand McNally atlas," he said. "In the first part are the maps. The last part is an alphabetical listing of cities. I wanted a rustic, small-time sound. I went to the listing for Missouri. And I found 'Festus.' I loved the sound of it."