Lucinda Williams "West" (2007)

West

release date: Feb. 13, 2007

format: cd

[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,75]

producer: Hal Willner & Lucinda Williams

label: Lost Highway - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "Are You Alright?" - 2. "Mama You Sweet" - 3. "Learning How to Live" - 4. "Fancy Funeral" - 5. "Unsuffer Me" - 7. "Come On" - 8. "Where Is My Love?" - 10. "What If" - 12. "Words" - 13. "West"

8th studio album by Lucinda Williams follows nearly 4 full years after World Without Tears (Apr. 2003). which appears to have been a time of collaborative works and a period of personal turmoil with the loss of her mother and a broken long-term relationship setting some of the tones for these 13 new songs all credited Williams. The album has a total running time of nearly 79 minutes, which naturally makes it a double album on vinyl issues.

Williams continue her song material with songs about the naked personal stories, with a balance towards harder times exploring struggles and life challenging experiences. With 'pain' as a central motif this is everything laid out open. It's a kind of a pond from where she finds her inspiration, and when going through personal crisis, she really makes her songs shine. It's basically sad, but it appears to be her driving force and some kind of therapy. I hope. Musically, these are ballads, angry songs, and songs filled to the brim with sorrow and apin but there's often a glimpse of hope and positive things in her songs - despite dealing with heavy emotions, and if not explicitly found in the lyrics, there's nearly always a warmth, or a comforting presence in the music, which makes it the more tolerable.

West is the so far best-charting album by Lucinda Williams in the US peaking at number #14 on Billboard 200. In imo it's challenging Car Wheels on Gravel Road as the best from Lucinda Williams and therefore a highly recommended album.

[ allmusic.com, Rolling Stone, Q Magazine 4 / 5, 😲The Guardian 5 / 5, 😖Pitchfork 3,5 / 10

Lucinda Williams "World Without Tears" (2003)

World Without Tears

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.

[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5, Uncut, Mojo 5 / 5, Q Magazine, Blender 4 / 5, Rolling Stone 3 / 5 stars ]

Lucinda Williams "Car Wheels on a Gravel Road" (1998)

Car Wheels on a Gravel Road
release date: Jun. 30, 1998
format: cd
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,77]
producer: The Twangtrust et al.
label: Mercury Records - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "Right in Time" - 2. "Car Wheels on a Gravel Road" - 3. "2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten" (4 / 5) - 4. "Drunken Angel" - 5. "Concrete and Barbed Wire" - 8. "I Lost It"

5th studio album by American country rocker Lucinda Williams follows six full years after her most recent studio album Sweet Old World, which in '92 was regarded as a breakthrough album and which eventually took her from smaller independent label of Chameleon Records to Mercury and also to widespread critical acclaim. The album is produced by 'The Twangtrust' aka Steve Earle and Ray Kennedy, co-produced by Lucinda Williams, and with Roy Bittan credited additional recording and production. The album has of 2015 not yet been issued on vinyl.
Now, although country isn't really my style, I find this more than quite good. And then it's not really classic country, nor is it a Johnny-Cash-kind-of-country but more of an updated and electrified version centered around country music with added blues, folk rock, singer / songwriter, roots rock, and with hints of americana, which ultimately makes it a more than just interesting cocktail. The themes are typical to the root genre but the lyrics appear mature, contemporary, and personal. And then, Lucinda has a really original singing style building on rusty tones with blue notes.
Admittedly, this was my first encounter with the music by Williams but it opened up the door to her discography, and it feels like a small revelation to someone who hasn't had the most positive view on country. Needless say, the genre is so wide and open for variations that you cannot exclude it on an excuse of prejudice, and since I'm already familiar with other artists who have excelled on the outskirts of the genre, this album has made me more curious to the whole genre as such.
Car Wheels on Gravel Road was met by universal acclaim, and it was nominated a number of prizes as well as been enlisted in various best of lists including "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" by Rolling Stone, and it's enlisted in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die".
Highly recommended.
[ allmusic.com, Rolling Stone 5 / 5, Q Magazine 4 / 5 stars ]

Lucinda Williams "Lucinda Williams" (1988)

Lucinda Williams
release date: 1988
format: digital (2014 reissue)
[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,16]
producer: Gurf Morlix, Dusty Wakeman, Lucinda Williams
label: Rough Trade - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "I Just Wanted to See You so Bad" - 3. "Abandoned" - 7. "Passionate Kisses"

3rd studio album by Lucinda Williams is her first with a major record label after having released her first two albums through the non-profit label of Smithsonian Folkways. Apparently, it's more rock-styled than her debut, and it may be a result of seeking out a more personal style.
The album was her first charting album, although, it didn't enter the album charts until it was reissued in 2014 now reaching number #39 on the album charts list in the US.
I first listened to her mighty fine Car Wheels on Gravel Road (1998), and have since then worked my way through her back catalogue. The music on Lucinda Williams is much more in line with my understanding of country than her later releases, and beacuse of that, I simply don't find it as interesting as her later stuff, although, you will probably find that she does possess an original vocal.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5, Rolling Stone 4 / 5, Mojo 5 / 5 stars ]