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Amazon.co.uk Review
Most artists who appeal to adult listeners tend to settle into a comfortable niche, but Lucinda Williams refuses to play it safe on World Without Tears. Instead her music stings like an open wound as she continues to strip away the protective layers from her art's emotional core. Though Williams has long been prized for the naked honesty of her music, this album is even more raw than its predecessors. From the down-and-dirty bar-band blues of "Atonement" to the Rolling Stones styled swagger of "Bleeding Fingers" to the tricky balance of debasement and transcendence in "Ventura", Williams leaves the nerve endings of her music exposed.
With the band opting for first-take immediacy rather than polish, some of the most powerful material is also the neediest, as the singer addresses lovers who have disrespected her ("Righteously") or abandoned her ("Those Three Days", "Minneapolis"). Although her attempts at rap on "Sweet Side" and "American Dream" might cause diehard fans to wince, her willingness to take creative chances reaffirms her position at the vanguard of a rootsy progressivism that transcends musical category. Simply put, there's more Patti Smith in her than there is Patsy Cline. --Don McLeese
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Lucinda Williams is a woman of constant sorrow. At least, it seems that way on her misleadingly titled seventh album World Without Tears.
Laced with heartache and sorrow, steeped in loneliness and disillusionment, these 13 achingly beautiful songs capture the notoriously uncompromising singer-songwriter adrift in a stark, candlelit landscape of woozy country waltzes and raw-bones, deliberately paced roots-rockers.
Opening cut Fruits of my Labour sets the tone with its languid tempo and vibrato-soaked guitar swirls, which are echoed in longing ballads like Ventura, the old-timey Over Time, the torchy Worlds Fell and the chilly Minneapolis.
The hour-long set is by no means a one-dimensional affair, though. First single Righteously is a sexy, funky little pout powered by searing, Coltrane-inspired guitar solos and one of Lucinda's steamier vocals -- she just turned 50 this year, but the way her bittersweet pipes purr lines like, "When you run your hand all up and run it back down my leg / Get me all worked up like that" will practically melt the wax in you ears. It righteously breaks the hypnotic spell cast by those ballads, while the gnarled blooz-stomp of Atonement, the ragged Stonesy jive of Bleeding Fingers and the plain-spoken folktronic monologue of American Dream also go a long way from keeping Lucinda from getting stuck in a Cowboy Junkies-style rut.
Stylistic variety aside, though, it's the refrain of American Dream -- "Everything is wrong" -- that more succinctly reflects Lucinda's perspective on World Without Tears. Or as she puts it on the title cut: "If we lived in a world without tears / How would bruises find a face to lie upon? / How would scars find skin to etch themselves into?" And how, we could ask, would Lucinda Williams find anything to write songs about?
If we're lucky, we'll never know.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Lucinda Williams' song Side Of The Road is one of the most extraordinary, beautiful and haunting songs I've ever heard, and some of the tracks on her last CD came very close to that quality in their ability to take you into the heart of somebody else's world with feeling. But for my money there's nothing to touch her best work on World Without Tears. To me the song writing all sounds a bit labored and tired, the delivery and voice uncertain as to what she's aiming for and the quasi-rap just plain wrong for both her voice and the material. I don't care what the other reviewers say, I would advise you give this a miss.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
It may have plenty of twang, but you don't have to like country music to enjoy this highly-acclaimed release from Lucinda Williams. Songs of broken love and disillusion are nothing new but Williams has a way of writing and delivering that touches the nerves. She also has a good ear for a melody and a fine band. Highlights for me are the beautiful 'Ventura', the poignant 'Those Three Days' and the tingling 'Minneapolis'.
Not everything works, but opinions are bound to vary. Rap is a non-starter for me, yet I find 'American Dream', with its empty 'everything is wrong' refrain, compelling. 'Sweet Side', by contrast, I find irritating, while the dark and dirty 'Atonement' is simply unappealing. The one small general quibble I have is that the songs are mostly slow, if individually effective. I get the feeling though that she's striving for that one killer slowburner so hard that, by the time you get to the title track, you feel as if you've heard it before.
Even so, this is pretty intense stuff, delivered with class.
Not everything works, but opinions are bound to vary. Rap is a non-starter for me, yet I find 'American Dream', with its empty 'everything is wrong' refrain, compelling. 'Sweet Side', by contrast, I find irritating, while the dark and dirty 'Atonement' is simply unappealing. The one small general quibble I have is that the songs are mostly slow, if individually effective. I get the feeling though that she's striving for that one killer slowburner so hard that, by the time you get to the title track, you feel as if you've heard it before.
Even so, this is pretty intense stuff, delivered with class.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
a classic
Anyone who dismisses country as Garth Crooks and Shania Twain,stereotypical emotional response and the worst of american maudlin sentiment, should listen to this. Read more
Published on 5 April 2010 by David Laws
Lucinda Williams
I heard the track 'overtime' on Jools Holland show which I loved so bought the CD. I wasn't disappointed!
Published on 30 Sep 2009 by A. Evans
A Real Treat
I came across Lucinda through A Q magazine list of the best live albums of all time. I bought her live CD and have been gradually buying the studio material. Read more
Published on 17 Jan 2007 by A. Matheson
Lucinda's Darkest Beauty
It is inexplicable to me that such an impressive set of songs as this is has not garnered more recognition along the endless "best of 2003" lists out there. Read more
Published on 15 May 2004 by Juan Mobili
Lucinda's Darkest Beauty
It is inexplicable to me that such an impressive set of songs as this is has not garnered more recognition along the endless "best of 2003" lists out there. Read more
Published on 7 May 2004 by Juan Mobili
Stunning...Beautiful...
This is the music that a woman in her late forties should make. Full of experience, pain, love, lust, regret. You must have this.
Published on 3 Jan 2004 by Richard Allen
Serious stuff
This lady has clearly been through the mill in recent times. However, she has produced a strong, open and honest album here with some fantastic tracks. Read more
Published on 6 July 2003 by "sugaplum"
Shock and awe........
Wow! Gradually moving further and further into her own sub-genre, Ms Williams pulls off a masterful ( or should that be, and I think it should, mistressful, or,indulge me,... Read more
Published on 3 Jun 2003 by Casper
'America's greatest living songwriter' does it again
Country music is difficult for me. Too many hats, too much misogyny disguised as down-home family values. And my Dad loved it. Read more
Published on 26 May 2003 by "paulinemcgough"
Best Yet?
This may be Lucinda Williams best album yet. But that's hard to say as she has produced some very good material in the past. Read more
Published on 20 May 2003 by Ray Carrick
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