Lucinda Williams - West [2007]
It may only be March but I have to say that this is going to be one of my records of the year.
Lucinda Williams has always been a peerless songwriter.She writes about lust, love, and losslike nobody else, and on this album, co-produced with Hal Wilner, she takes on such subjects as her mother’s death, the state of the world, and yet another tumultuous relationship which ended badly. It’s her usual tough stuff, but this time, Lucinda sneaks in a note of hope and even redemption in the very bluesy mix.
The album’s 13 songs together form a largely down-tempo disc, but “West” doesn’t only find Williams in a somber mood.
“Mama You Sweet” is upbeat and “Come On” is a nasty, almost raunchy kiss-off, musically akin to “Atonement” from her last album, 2003’s “World Without Tears”.
She injects doses of hope and light in tracks like “What If”, in which she imagines a world where the president wears pink and a prostitute is a queen.
There are uncomfortable truths here, carried on easy-going melodies. “Fancy Funeral” is a wry look at death’s priorities that flows as easily as drink.
Williams lost her mother and an errant lover as these songs were being written. These two truncated relationships fill “West” with exquisitely turned suffering; Williams and band provides the expert musical succour. Hal Wilner is the producer who organised this record’s quietly unconventional sounds as Williams wanted them.
Equally raw and sensual is the unravelling blues of “Unsuffer Me”, where Williams’s ravaged voice begs: “Undo my logic/ Undo my fear” with an intensity that verges on the erotic.
Full Album Tracks Listing
[MP3 Direct Download]
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1. Are You Alright?.mp3 [MP3Today.Info]
2. Mama You Sweet.mp3 [MP3Today.Info]
3. Learning How To Live.mp3 [MP3Today.Info]
4. Fancy Funeral.mp3 [MP3Today.Info]
5. Unsuffer Me.mp3 [MP3Today.Info]
6. Everything Has Changed.mp3 [MP3Today.Info]
7. Come On.mp3 [MP3Today.Info]
8. Where Is My Love?.mp3 [MP3Today.Info]
9. Rescue.mp3 [MP3Today.Info]
10. What If.mp3 [MP3Today.Info]
11. Wrap My Head Around That.mp3 [MP3Today.Info]
12. Words.mp3 [MP3Today.Info]
13. West.mp3 [MP3Today.Info]
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