Stop me if you have heard any of the facts below in a recent new CD review:
- Steve Earle moved to New York City and is married to Allison Moorer.
- Gary Allan had a wife that committed suicide in the home that he still lives in.
- Ryan Adams has been sober for over a year and records a bunch of records.
- Ryan Bingham was homeless and even a bull-rider at various points in his life.
- Lucinda Williams has yet to recreate the genius of Car Wheels on a Gravel Road.
- John Fogerty was at war with his old record label, now he’s not.
Sounds familiar huh? This is why I do not write reviews, but give opinions on the new CD’s that enter into my player. The truth is that each of the tid-bits mentioned above are probably necessary for any authentic and complete review of these artists more recent works. The problem with that truth is that everyone who decides to provide a critique for their blog, paper, or magazine, include these morsels of info, and nerds like me who devour any and all interweb info on a given highly anticipated release must be forced to read the same thing over and over. In certain cases the final conclusion on the quality of the new disc varies, but not typically. How many negative reviews did West by Lucinda, or Washington Square Serenade by Earle get (hint, not many)? In my opinion both offerings were good, but lacked the punch and dare I say, transcendence, that many of their other albums showcased. Having said that, I still really enjoy each disc, and maybe I am exposing myself as a bit of a hypocrite by saying that I agree with the reviews that I claim are overly-wordy or cut and pasted from one blog to another. Fine. I also will never claim to have much, if any, journalistic ability, so as not to sell the people that can write great reviews a little short (see The 9513, Twangville, Amber Waves of Twang for real review-writing). Like I have stated here before, an opinion has less obligation to be wordy, doesn’t bear the burden of informing the reader of bullet points that may not have a lot to do with the actual listening of the CD, and most importantly, is just one dude (me) telling whoever wants to know (you, hopefully) what he thinks of a disc, in case the reader is curious, which the reader may not care, and that’s a risk I am willing to assume, unlike many reviewers who readily assume a sense of entitlement when it comes to the readers desire. Below are some opinions on some recent releases:
- Eagles – Long Road Out of Eden: After falling in love with the single, “How Long,” I was pretty amped for this release. After listening to the first disc of the two disc set, I was feeling OK about the purchase thanks to the tracks “Just Too Busy Being Fabulous,” “How Long,” and the harmonies that took me back to the times of cassette tapes and cruising to my high school for cross-country practice jamming to this newly discovered “classic rock.” After listening to the second disc, I realized that I finally had an answer to the question that has long burned in my brain: “What would it sound like if The Eagles opened a theater in Branson and decided to only perform original songs as if they were The Carpenters??“ My opinion is that Long Road Out of Eden should’ve been a shorter trip to a single disc release. Too much of a good thing is just that, but what to say of a double disc that isn’t too much of a so-so thing?
- Merle Haggard – The Bluegrass Sessions: This was also a mark on the CD buying calender for me. Bluegrass label, Bluegrass players and pickers, Bluegrass in the title, little if any percussion or electricity would usually make for a true Bluegrass CD. While this is a good-ol’ timey collection of tunes, some of which take me back to those Sunday mornings in a small, East Texas church when the preacher would urge folks to head down to the altar, I have a hard time telling folks that this is more traditional Bluegrass than it is a retrospective interpretation on what “Country Music” once was to many folks who’s radio antenna didn’t quite catch the signal coming from the Opry on Saturday nights. Haggard’s re-workings of his own classics sound even more raw than back in the day. ”Jimmie Rodger’s Blues” could’ve been the song that made Blind Lemon Jefferson a world-wide star had he recorded this country-blues gem (again, not a bluegrass gem). There is a reason I stressed the word “traditional” earlier. Ultimately, I do not think a CD has to be a carbon-copy of “Blue Moon Over Kentucky,” or a Ricky Skagg’s starter kit to be considered Bluegrass. In fact, Bluegrass has developed what many folks would consider “sub-genres,” with the most promising of these new categories being “Newgrass” (The Duhks, Nickel Creek, The Greencards, etc..). Most genre’s have seen this type of development from general to extremely specific in recent years. Rock & Roll now has Prog-Rock, Emo, Hard-Core, and Post Hard-Core as some of it’s popular sub-genre’s. I fully believe there is a spot in the Bluegrass Universe for an offering that has one foot firmly rooted musically in “country,” and the other foot (with the shoes kicked off, I am sure) kicking around the soil to where the Bluegrass grows.
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