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Lucinda Williams - West Audio CD

A fair review of the Lucinda Williams "West" 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 Lucinda Williams reviews here, or go back to the Lucinda Williams tabs.

Lucinda Williams Band: Lucinda Williams
Title: West
Rating:
Release Date: 2007-02-19
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Are You Alright? 2: Mama You Sweet 3: Learning How to Live 4: Fancy Funeral 5: Unsuffer Me 6: Everything Has Changed 7: Come On 8: Where Is My Love? 9: Rescue 10: What If 11: Wrap My Head 12: Around That 13: West 14: Learning How to Live [Demo Version] 15: What If [Demo Version]

Another great album from Lucinda
While some fans and critics alike sometimes pan subsequent releases as "not as good" as Car Wheels, she presses on by continuing to explore new sounds and new directions in songwriting. Since her smash 1998 album "Car Wheels On A Gravel Road," Lucinda has refused to be a slave to the success of that album.

While Car Wheels had some diversity to it as well, it was a pretty cohesive sounding record, which is probably why it sold so well. Great songs with consistent sound and feel to them. . . The cold starkness of her followup ("Essence" from 2001) caught many offguard and had some misfires, but 2003's "World Without Tears" got her back on track and was a more successful merger of more diverse musical styles than she'd had on a single album before.

West is very much in that vein with songs that incorporate rock, blues, country and more and lyrics that range from longing ("Are You Alright?" "Where Is My Love?" and "Everything Has Changed") to life lessons ("Learning How To Live," "Rescue") to jabs at former lovers ("Come On" and "Wrap My Head Around That").

Lucinda's own take on the record is that "the songs deal with a chapter in my life and they definitely tell a story. I'd been through so many changes -- my mother's death and a very tumultuous relationship that ended badly -- so obviously there's a lot of pain and struggling, but it ends with a look towards the future. "

Because this album is so diverse, there are bound to be songs that most will like more than others, but all in all, this is pure Lucinda and has to be considered one of her better releases. Unlike past releases though, Lucinda worked with an outside producer and actually turned over a lot of control as to how the songs should sound. And while there are some interesting effects you won't have heard on past Lucinda records that add a certain freshness to some tracks (such as "Wrap My Head Around That"), the demo versions of some of the other songs reveal that at least a couple of these songs sounded better in demo form. One example of this would be the "Where Is My Love?" demo, which has a slower, more longing, jazz-blues feel to it than the finished version, which is more of a straight blues number that fails to accentuate the vocal as well as the demo version (note: 2 demo versions come on this Japanese import; others are available in various places as bonus discs, iTunes only tracks or promo-only cd's; I have them all and highly recommended them as they are definitely not the usual "half-finished" garbage version of songs you tend to hear on box sets, etc. These demos could easily have been on the album!).

Ultimately, if you're a Lucinda fan and have enjoyed past works, this one won't disappoint. If you're new to Lucinda and thinking of checking out what she's about, this is as solid a place to start as any, although the mega-seller "Car Wheels" seems to be the fans' #1 choice. .


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

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