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(And she has some amazing live albums. She seems to be sharing her heart with you -- I feel loved whenever I listen to this.
The name rang a bell, but I had never heard her music. I had hardly heard of Lucinda Williams when I saw this cd in the bargain bin at my local supermarket.
Her style is unique and raw, and she delivers each song as if it were the very last one she'll ever sing. I bought it on a whim, and the instant I put it in I knew it would be one of my favorite albums.
The woman's voice is staggeringly sexy. I've checked out some other albums of hers, and I like them, but this one alone lays me out flat on the floor every time.
Check out Live at the Fillmore, which contains a lot of this material).
And, far too often, on both her songs of existential pain and her fewer songs of joy, she uses her always-great bands too often to present slow-tempo, sweet music. (And, especially, she should not try to add aDylan-esque quality to her voice just for show or even for fun). Even, or maybe especially, on songs in which she sings about hard-earned and -lived / female experiences of loss and pain, she still allows herself to sing too sweetly. Lucinda Williams' presents her songs far often using a voice of sweetness far too often for me. I dare any heterosexual Man to listen to the song "Essence" and not feel totally turned on sexually. I don't know all her music very well, so I could be off base. Not that she should sing the same way on all songs. So, once again, we lose again and end up in pain and alone (as opposed to in peaceful solitude.
That's a rare gift. Its as if she is usually partially repressing her true emotions and experience of pain, loss, anger, and, even, rage.The song "Essence" is one song on which she sings, and she has her band play, consistent with the PAINFUL fact that (in the case of this song) Life, Love, Body and Sex REALLY MATTER. And, he will find himself thinking, "Why can't All Women so freely express pure, physical sexual desire just like 'we' do." This song alone is worth the price of admission. But, I LOVE the fact that she is able to use her voice as a multi-faceted instrument. For me, this let's Men and Life far too far off the hook for our Sin and Selfish Egoes. Man or Woman, we can each find ourselves either experiencing part of our Jungian True Self and finding some Meaning and Purpose in our Life; or, we can find ourselves only proving, once more, that we have been too attached to the "Other", without retaining our own separate Self. A wonderful gift. But, I still love to listen to "Essence" and just get HOT in my loins and want, right then and there, to experience free, expressive sex with a free, expressive Woman (who also helps me to be a free, expressive Man).
The series of songs from Blue->Out of Touch->Are You Down->Essence are all classic to me. This is my favorite Lucinda William's CD and I have most of them. Not as folksy as "Car Wheels on a Gravel Road", but it is full of emotion. It's a good album to listen to if you are in love (Essence) or out of love (Are You Down). The album ends on two songs which don't quite have the bite of the others; otherwise I would have rated this a 5.
I'm an old fart, and I like every kind of music, but she seems to have the ability to hit that bluesy nerve right smack dang hard and sexy too. I saw Lucinda at Bumerbershoot in Seattle this summer. Makes me want to do a little dance with a shady woman in a smoky honky tonk. It was at Memorial Stadium, which is a bad place for live music (accoustically), but the song Essence just blew me away. Quickly it has become my summer of '08 theme song. Gonna have to review her entire song book on Itunes and make my own LW's greatest hits CD. definitely going to include that Drunken Angel song too.
This is anice collection of songs from this talented singer/songwriter. Lucinda Williams is always on top of her game. Her story telling ability shines through once again. She is one of the most talented females in the music business, never a disappointment.Her imagery conjures up tangible feelings in the listener.
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