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Steve Earle - The Revolution Starts...Now Audio CD

A fair review of the Steve Earle "The Revolution Starts...Now" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Steve Earle reviews here, or go back to the Steve Earle tabs.

Steve Earle Band: Steve Earle
Title: The Revolution Starts...Now
Rating:
Release Date: 2004-08-24
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: The Revolution Starts… 2: Home To Houston 3: Rich Man's War 4: Warrior 5: The Gringo's Tale 6: Condi, Condi 7: F The CC 8: Comin' Around 9: I Thought You Should Know 10: The Seeker 11: The Revolution Starts Now

Haphazard


Feels more like a "previously unreleased tracks" catch-all than a planned album. There are some good tracks on here, but they seem to be EITHER lyrically significant OR musically listenable, but rarely both.


Buyer Beware
While his big hits are catchy and memorable, no song on this album qualifies. I am a big Steve Earle fan. I have come to love Steve for his way of hiding an important life lesson within the tune, rather than beating a dead horse with militantly-liberal propaganda. This album contains far too much of the later and none of the former.

Some of the tunes on the album are nice and just the same ole' Steve. However, I hesitate to call many of them music.

While it pains me to give such a harsh review to a legend like Steve Earle, this is not a work of art. This reeks of propaganda.


The Revolution stalls out
I really dig Steve Earle. Before the no votes start piling up, let me put this upfront. To my tastes, both "Copperhead Road" and "El Corazon" are five star records. But "The Revolution Starts Now" was a rush job and sounds it. I even saw Earle on tour for this CD and he was a big a firebrand as ever. I also worked in Nashville when he was trolling the gutters, begging for change and trying to kick. Steve Earle is an artist I have long believed worth hearing through thick and thin.

"The Revolution Starts Now" is part of the thin. Recorded in a hurry to beat the 2002 elections (a lot of good that did. . . sigh), it also meant that songs that may have been left off with a little more time stayed on the CD to beef the running time. The pseudo-Shakespeare of "Warrior" wears out after a couple of listens, and "Condi Condi" is pointless. Add the reprise of the title track and you have a pretty good EP with a load of filler.

But Earle on an off day beats 90% of artists at their peak performance. "The Revolution Starts. . . " kicks the CD off with a glorious racket worthy of any good protest-rally song. Even the obscenities gleefully barked out during "F the CC" are as big a slap at radio as you've ever heard. Not like Earle gets play these days. . . rightwing Clear Channel wouldn't even touch the non-threatening Dixie Chicks music. I would find it hard to imagine a genuinely inciting country-folk diatribe like "Rich Man's War" getting airtime next to Carrie Underwood. Or Toby Keith, for that matter. Trying to wrap the parallel paths of expendable boy soldiers like Jimmy or Ali from either side of the line would probably be too much to ask from a crowd that craves "We will stick a red white and blue boot up your a**," would it not?

Same for the mercenary on the run in "The Gringo's Tale" or the hapless Haliburton employee stuck driving truckloads of gas in "Home To Houston. " The message is blunt, but the songs aren't. That is what makes Earle a master craftsman. When he puts away the politics for "Coming Around" and the splendid "I Thought You Should Know," you get the reminders of what made Earle a genius to watch back in the days of "Guitar Town" and "Exit Zero. "

If this was a seven song EP, I probably would have given it four stars. Sadly, this is less an album-as-a-piece and more like a batch of songs jerked together. The lame tracks hold the affair down to three and 1/2. I am even willing to goose it just to counter the looney rightwingers that post a one star review without having as much as listened to the CD. But if you want to hear a rabble-rouser at full throttle, the best songs on "The Revolution Starts Now" will stir your pot.


3 stars for about 4 good songs..
"Rich Man's war" "Home to Houston" and the title track are up to standard, the others are b-side fillers, and they sound like it. This is an overall forgettable album when you compare it to any of Steve's other work. Earle did this entire albumn in a short span and quite hurridly, so it does make sense. The fact that he wrote a great anthem "F the CC" and a excellent anti-war song "Rich Man's War" is a true testiment that this guy can write good songs even in a hurry.


He Ain't No Emmas Revolution
They didn't just jump on the revolution/hate Bush bandwagon because it was suddenly cool - they've hated Bush for a long time. Good songs, good songwriter but if you want to hear REAL Revolution Rauk you need to hear Emmas Revolution. I will say that this album is extremely intelligent for a man with only an 8th grade education and for those who criticize his "Condi Condi" song - maybe he's being sincere? You don't know. He has been married about 20 times. . . maybe he thinks it's about time for another "switch up"? And lets face it: Condi is hot. A little out of his league, but you can't blame a guy for tryin, can you? .


You can see a complete list of all Steve Earle discography, or go back to the Steve Earle tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.

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