Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Lucinda's 'World' achingly beautiful, 13 April 2003
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.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
'America's greatest living songwriter' does it again, 26 May 2003
Country music is difficult for me. Too many hats, too much misogyny disguised as down-home family values. And my Dad loved it.
There are exceptions, those outstanding songwriters who hover in the aisles of that musical church, writing songs that reflect your life in its mirror and breaks it into tiny glorious pieces. Hank Williams Sr, Gram Parsons at his best and sometimes EmmyLou Harris, Steve Earle, occasionally Ryan Adams, and Lucinda Williams.
These songs sound so urgent, so heartfelt, so racked with need that it takes a while to appreciate how perfectly formed, well played and well produced they are.
These are songs for adults, who've been around the block a few times, aren't without scars, and are fiercely passionate despite all that. You'll dance, you'll cry, you'll recommend it to people you care about.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Slow and hot, 21 Oct 2006
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.
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