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CD reviews

Here Come the Choppers

Loudon Wainwright III - Here Come the Choppers Audio CD

A fair review of the Loudon Wainwright III "Here Come the Choppers" 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 Loudon Wainwright III reviews here, or go back to the Loudon Wainwright III tabs.

Band: Loudon Wainwright III
Title: Here Come the Choppers
Rating:

Release Date: 2005-04-19
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: My Biggest Fan 2: No Sure Way 3: Had to Be Her 4: Hank and Fred 5: Half Fist 6: To Be on TV 7: God's Country 8: Make Your Mother Mad 9: When You Leave 10: Nanny 11: Here Come the Choppers 12: Things

An Argument for Maturity
The problem is that it starts with its weakest material. All but two songs on this album are Loudon at top form. To compound an already weak pun, "Biggest Fan" is a thin sight gag. "No Sure Way" telegraphs its emotionalism, which is not like Loudon at his best.

What's left is choice. "Had To Be Her" is rockin' ear candy describing common heartache played out in an over-calloused, culture-cluttered heart. Like "Reader and Advisor" from "Fame and Wealth" it would have been the right light material to start a LWIII album with. Also, please note, it rocks.

To me, an over 40 white male American music lover, "Hank and Fred" describes territory in my heart and soul. I don't cry at shows or books, or music usually. But on the inside, I cry tears of pity for my own sad, aging, carcass, with a smirk on my lips, whenever I hear this one. And I wish to God I was playing the mandolin part. It's smart, it's witty, it's a great tune beautifully arranged and it contains truth. "To Be On TV" deepens the feeling, only this time the subject is not just the way gentle, crazy, white men die. It's all of us, wasting ourselves away. But listen to it anyway. It's lyrical and beautifully done, not preachy.

"God's Country" is light fun about the Americans who wander and the Americans who stay home. "Nanny" is also fun, wicked, loving but unsentimental. A reminiscence about another great Wainwright lady, his Grand Ma. Grand Pa is reviewed in "Half Fist" but it ain't so funny. It's about inheriting a violent soul. I don't like to think of myself as a violent soul. But being a husband and a father has shown me, time and again, that I have one. I've never hit anyone in this family. That's why it's a half-fist. It never closes all the way, but it never fully opens, either. Another searing arrangement.

I don't have time to go on about the landscape Frisell and Leisz paint over this album. It's a drive by of country, rock, blues and atmospherics that deepen every song. They create the context that deepens each song beyond the simple sense I make them out to have in this review.

"Make Your Mother Mad". Wow. How do you justify what a s*** you are to your family and the world? You write another rockin', funny a** song. But since you're over 40 you also have to tell the truth. "When You Leave" isn't light entertainment, so I can't listen to it as often as the rest of the songs on the album. But it's a painful and brave look right in the face of regret. I don't know how anyone can manage to be this honest in private, let alone in public. And he knows, for all its merit, it will never be enough to win an ounce of forgiveness from any of the real life people he needs it from, and the fault is still his. In this case, they've said as much in their own beautiful songs.

Then "Here Come The Choppers". A big deal over nothing or the recognition that we live in the silk gloved palm of the big steel fist? I think it's the second, obviously. If it suited the time and purpose, this gov't would run your a** over in a tank or you kill you from a Huey, without a fare-thee-well. It's also funny as hell and brilliantly arranged. A blues-rock groove that flows and breathes and builds.

Don't get "Things"? Just wait, you will.
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still great
I think No Sure Way is eery, engaging, moving, and a brilliant 9/11 tribute or recollection. I like this album, and I love a couple of the songs. It comes from personal experience -- he was there and wrote it shortly afterward. The other great song is Here Come The Choppers, which is funny, intense and a good commentary on Southern California's helicopter culture. Ironic drama that's part apocalypse, part snide travelogue of Meaty Meatburger territory where you never know who's hiding from the choppers in your backyard garbage cans.
The other songs are all good enough to mostly keep you from skipping to Choppers, and I like anything about Hank Williams, especially when it comes from an Alabama road trip with Steve Buscemi. .

Here's hoping the well hasn't run dry
In "My Biggest Fan" we find Loudo flattering himself with the assumption that long time fans would want to know on a more personal level the maladjusted egotistical spoiled rich kid painted in musical self-portrait so brilliantly over the years. Although disappointing, even a weak effort by LW III is worth a listen. And yes, we all get the comparisons with Dylan et al. so perhaps these tiresome jokes can be retired soon? "No Sure Way" offers nothing insightful, interesting, or moving about 9-11 but at least it's the pleasant sort of nothing you can hum along with. "Make Your Mother Mad" is equal parts funny and creepy, "Half Fist" and "Nanny" drag yet more of those wild and crazy Wainwright relatives out for a brief turn around the stage, and "Things" includes a verse that begins "This song's almost over. " Ouch.

Not my Cup of Tea, but maybe it's yours
With me, it's my knees, eyes and hearing, especially my hearing. As one grows older, some things don't work as well as they used to, especially with us 50-something American males. I just don't hear the lyrics as well as I did 20 years ago.

So when I was listening to HCTC for the first time, I cheated by looking at the liner notes for the lyrics. Bummed was I when I found only half of them listed. Why?

Most of Loudon's appeal comes from his clever use of language and his uncanny ability to weave imaginative word stories. I was disappointed that LWIII didn't provide the tools for a hearing-impaired old geezer to enjoy them.

On *Here Come the Choppers*, many things also don't work for My Man as well as they used to. He falls a bit short on the lyric frequently. And in another duplicitous turn he is often drowned out by an albeit magnificent backing band.

His selection of songs come from familiar sources---love gone wrong (or twisted), New York, nostalgia for his screwed up family life, and things that affect him. In the old days, you'd painlessly feel his pain. Here it seems like he's singing in the third person, disconnected, not all there. In the past he spoke from his heart, or ego, or liver. Like on *Hank and Fred* he never tells us WHY he's sad about Fred `s death, nor tells us why he connects Fred with Hank.

Some of the Old Loudon genius remains. *When You Leave* has the greatest impact, about another favorite LW III songwriting subject, Regret, is tearfully represented. *Nanny* is a bouncing Western boogie-ditty about his not-so-conventional Granny, a fun nostalgic ride thru Loudon's youth.

I promise that if I listen to this again and begin to appreciate it more, I'll write a new review with the additional insight of familiarity.
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One of his best ever
You know how some artists in this time of their lives get caught up in the same old thing? This isn't the case with LWIII. Can't get this one out of the changer. Very fresh sounding, and the work by Bill Frisell is a perfect fit. Great job.

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