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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Langhorne Slim has recorded 3 albums in his relatively short time on this planet and with his band the War Eagles he is currently the hot favourite of the American music blogs. Sometimes they do get very excited in their race to find the next big thing but in this case I think they are backing a winner.
Langhorne Slim stands in that line of emerging American song writers who are huge on the festival circuits but have yet to ship copious amounts of records. These include Josh Ritter, the wonderful Avett Brothers, Elvis Perkins, A A Bondy, Joe Pug and Conor Oberst (although the latter's Bright Eyes group is very well known)
The danger with the singer songwriter tradition is that it is sometimes full of maudlin lyrical sensibilities or in the case of some American songwriters driven by people who never came to terms with the fact that Woodstock ended in 1969. Langhorne Slim alternatively can be positively raucous. Check out the superb "She's Gone" from his previous album, similarly checkout his wonderful performance of the acerbic single "Restless" on Letterman which is on you tube.
I would venture to suggest that in "Be Set Free" Mr Slim has produced his first classic. "Back to the Wild" opens the album in rip roaring style and is a truly great song. Amazingly two songs which follow are equally good or better. "Say Yes" has a John Lennon style "Rock n Roll" era aura while "I love you, but goodbye" is an excellent Dylanish song which is probably the albums highlight. So Glad I'm Coming Home achieves a vintage feel from the Rhodes piano. While "For a little while" is a stunning smoky blues number with great vocals and it all rounds off in fine style with the soul rocker "Boots Boy". A couple of songs on the album are bit formulaic (Sunday by the Sea) and any song (Be set free) that starts with the lyric "Whether I'm right or whether I'm wrong, time it goes by, life it goes on" suggest that a course in A level poetry would not go amiss. A shame really since the song itself is very strong . However a real talent in the making is to found here and well done Mr Slim.
Langhorne Slim stands in that line of emerging American song writers who are huge on the festival circuits but have yet to ship copious amounts of records. These include Josh Ritter, the wonderful Avett Brothers, Elvis Perkins, A A Bondy, Joe Pug and Conor Oberst (although the latter's Bright Eyes group is very well known)
The danger with the singer songwriter tradition is that it is sometimes full of maudlin lyrical sensibilities or in the case of some American songwriters driven by people who never came to terms with the fact that Woodstock ended in 1969. Langhorne Slim alternatively can be positively raucous. Check out the superb "She's Gone" from his previous album, similarly checkout his wonderful performance of the acerbic single "Restless" on Letterman which is on you tube.
I would venture to suggest that in "Be Set Free" Mr Slim has produced his first classic. "Back to the Wild" opens the album in rip roaring style and is a truly great song. Amazingly two songs which follow are equally good or better. "Say Yes" has a John Lennon style "Rock n Roll" era aura while "I love you, but goodbye" is an excellent Dylanish song which is probably the albums highlight. So Glad I'm Coming Home achieves a vintage feel from the Rhodes piano. While "For a little while" is a stunning smoky blues number with great vocals and it all rounds off in fine style with the soul rocker "Boots Boy". A couple of songs on the album are bit formulaic (Sunday by the Sea) and any song (Be set free) that starts with the lyric "Whether I'm right or whether I'm wrong, time it goes by, life it goes on" suggest that a course in A level poetry would not go amiss. A shame really since the song itself is very strong . However a real talent in the making is to found here and well done Mr Slim.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
7 reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
One of the better albums of 2009
30 Oct 2009
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
I had never heard of this band/person before yet I saw them come up on the MSN Music site when the album came out. Since it was streaming for free there, I gave it a listen and was impressed enough to give it a few more listens and eventually I bought it. I dug around for his older stuff and it didn't seem as consistent as this album. I don't like to put artists in a strict category but I think the "alternative folk rock" description suits them best. I'd peg them as a more-Americana Ryan Adams. Similar to Ryan's albums, which are more of the alternative country genre, there's enough range on the album to make it a "box of chocolates" as described by another reviewer, and it is that variety that makes this appealing. Most songs aren't what one would classify as all-out rockers, but "Say Yes" and "Yer Wrong" are very upbeat. The album seems to have an undercurrent of a relationship break-up ("Leaving My Love", "Be Set Free"), but with a relaxed tone and upbeat melody that seems to imply that this time it's of the author's choosing.
The lyrics are all entertaining, right from the get-go. In the opener, "Back to the Wild", I like how he laments "I've had it better than some and I know I shouldn't complain/though my grandfather told me once that all pain hurts the same". Meanwhile, there's really only one dud on the entire album, "So Glad I'm Coming Home", which luckily appears as the penultimate song. My favorites on the album include "Land of Dreams" and the mid-tempo rocker "Yer Wrong", although I can't decide which I'd pick as the better of the two. If you're looking to play this on the family stereo, just be aware of some mild swearing in "Yer Wrong" and some not-so-mild swearing in "Blown Your Mind". In any case, this was a great discovery for me, not too mellow and better than your average singer-songwriter stuff appearing today.
The lyrics are all entertaining, right from the get-go. In the opener, "Back to the Wild", I like how he laments "I've had it better than some and I know I shouldn't complain/though my grandfather told me once that all pain hurts the same". Meanwhile, there's really only one dud on the entire album, "So Glad I'm Coming Home", which luckily appears as the penultimate song. My favorites on the album include "Land of Dreams" and the mid-tempo rocker "Yer Wrong", although I can't decide which I'd pick as the better of the two. If you're looking to play this on the family stereo, just be aware of some mild swearing in "Yer Wrong" and some not-so-mild swearing in "Blown Your Mind". In any case, this was a great discovery for me, not too mellow and better than your average singer-songwriter stuff appearing today.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Be Set Free
4 Oct 2009
What I love about listening to Langhorne Slim is you never know what to expect; every track of a new album is like that big box under the Christmas tree with your name on it and all you can think is "Wow, I can't wait to open that up!". Slim offers a musical style all his own; his voice while gruff is full of passion, his lyrics are like listening in on a private phone conversation, you only hear on side but it's all you need, and music itself varies from straight blues to flat out rock, to the acoustic simplicity of a man and his guitar. If you are someone who enjoys the Avett Brothers, Josh Ritter, Blitzen Trapper, Connor Oberst, or anyone from this new folk/rock, bluegrass/grunge genre, you will not be disappointed with Langhorne Slim.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
A really remarkable album
31 May 2010
I would place this album top ten all time (for my tastes of course). The others being:
Rocking the Suburbs- Ben Folds
August and Everything After- The Counting Crows
I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning- Bright Eyes
and six others that I can't think of right now.
Rocking the Suburbs- Ben Folds
August and Everything After- The Counting Crows
I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning- Bright Eyes
and six others that I can't think of right now.
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