release date: Apr. 8, 2003
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,68]
producer: Mark Howard & Lucinda Williams
label: Lost Highway - nationality: USA
Track highlights: 1. "Fruits of My Labor" - 2. "Righteously" - 4. "Real Live Bleeding Fingers and Broken Guitar Strings" - 5. "Overtime" - 6. "Those Three Days" - 8. "Sweet Side" - 9. "Minneapolis"
7th studio album by Lucinda Williams follows almost two years after Essence (Jun. 2001), also on Lost Highway. The album counts 13 tracks with a total running time nearly clocking in precisely at 60 mins.
This new installation doesn't differ greatly from her most recent albums - Lucinda Williams has her own distinct folk rock style, which reeks country through and through but stands at a cross-road of blues and jagged roots rock. The album is perhaps more ballad-like, although, the she touches on child abuse and addiction, which does appear the obvious choices for traditional ballads. The songs are personal testimonies that only show us how Williams doesn't spare anyone - perhaps least herself. Musically, its melancholic despair with doses of uptempo rockers and she once more proves she has the voice for it all.
World Without Tears is yet another strong release, which shows us that it doesn't have to be another Car Wheels on a Gravel Road (Jun. 1998) each time - lesser will do just fine, and this is a very fine album.
Recommended.
