01.12.07

There’s a new King in country

Posted in cricket spazzes, some albums we done liked others we ain't - January 12th, 2007 at 11:52 pm by Cricket

Sometimes I wish I could just bypass the whole review process. Not because I don’t want to do it. I just want to speed the course of action up. Occasionally it feels important that y’all get an album as quickly as possible. But I suppose for most of you, if I just say “Go get this album right now!” it isn’t enough to launch you immediately from your chair and propel you directly to the record store. Plus, I figure a bunch of you have like real jobs which force you to sit at a desk all day and you probably need HCT to break up your workday, right? But trust me when I say in this instance, the album is so unbelievably, incredibly good that you might want to fake a doctor’s appointment so you can get up out of that cubicle and go get it. Or at least do it on your lunch break, okay?

Are you totally dying of anticipation right now? I mean what could it be? Well, I’ll tell ya, but just as long as you trust that this is one time that I’m surely 100% right when I say that you need to hear this. Solomon Burke’s Nashville. My main disappointment with this album is that it came out September 26, 2006 and I didn’t hear it until December 26, 2006. That’s three entire months that I could have been listening to it over and over again. [I heard it before. Haha. Okay, I suck for not even thinking of reviewing it.--Mimi]

In case you don’t know, Burke is the King of Rock n’ Soul. He’s been recording since the early ‘60s, and even if you think you haven’t heard of him you’ve probably heard plenty of his songs played by other people or popping up in unexpected movies (yeah, Dirty Dancing, I’m looking at you).

Nashville is best described as country-soul, but perhaps only because Burke is a soul singer and the songs he’s singing are country. All good country, all covers, some sung with the original artist or at the least very appropriate duets. Buddy Miller produced and recorded this album at his home. That alone should send you to the store for it, eh? [It sounds like it was recorded in someone’s living room. Which is a compliment coming from me.--Mimi]

You still need more convincing? Okay, let’s talk songs, my babies.

Nashville opens with “That’s How I Got to Memphis.” This Tom T. Hall song loses it’s wistful, drifty cowboy feeling and becomes a soul-piercing bluesy lament; King Solomon practically cries his way through it, backed up only with acoustic guitar and upright bass. Upon my first listening, I was pretty blown away. I knew right-off this album was going to be for me. And if you only know the Lee Hazlewood version of this song, it’s definitely time to give it another chance. [God, this song is amazing. Buy the record just for this track.--Mimi]

Burke ratchets it up a notch with his bouncy, pedal steel backed take on “Seems Like You’re Gonna Take Me Back.” This is a booty-shakin’, honky-tonkin’ right here. It blends a smooth transition into the duet with Dolly Parton of her “Tomorrow is Forever.” The pacing is perfect on this album, neither too up or too down, and the order of the songs seems to set up an emotional journey that will first dash and then lift your spirits. “Tomorrow is Forever” is the first of several duets here and the blend of Dolly and Solomon Burke’s voices seems so perfect you can’t imagine a better pairing, until the next one on the album comes along. [I really love how Dolly comes in on this duet and wraps around his vocals. This is Dolly at her technical best. Very well done.--Mimi]

Springsteen’s “Ain’t Got You” here is a twangy, playful, soulful version of the original. On her first listen, my mom turned to me, laughing, at the end and said “I’m pretty sure that ain’t the way Bruce done it.” And it’s true, the song is completely transformed. Plus there’s a hilarious bit of ad-libbing and conversation at the end that I could listen to over and over, it makes me laugh so much. [Yeah, the end of this is hysterical. Is y’all got religion?--Mimi]

There’s a stark rawness to Burke’s stripped down version of Gillian Welch’s “Valley of Tears.” It’s performed with Welch and Buddy Miller, but the stand-out here really is Burke himself. He imbues the song with so much emotion that it feels more like gospel music than a ballad of lost love. The duet doesn’t have the same matched strength that Burke had with Dolly. Gillian is subdued, almost a back-up singer, but it sets off the intense emotion of this song perfectly. [I am really impressed with how this record integrates the two main themes of Southern music: blues/soul and county/sacred music. He hits every high in this song. It is almost a soul song, almost a sacred song, almost a country song. Wow. Just flat-out fantastic.--Mimi]

“Honey. Where’s the Money Gone?” steps it back up. Twangy, up-tempo blues. It’s not just Burke’s voice that sends this up, or Miller’s arrangement, but harmonica comes so perfectly into this that I can’t textually render the intense burst of feeling it invokes in me every time I hear it. [THIS RECORD IS SO GOOD I WANT TO JUST GIVE UP AND DIE.--Mimi]

Once more turning country on it’s head, Mr. Solomon takes the cowboy ballad, Don William’s “Atta Way to Go” and keeps it in the country family, while filling it up with a whole new emotion. Think country songs are supposed to make you cry? Well if this one doesn’t at least make you tear up a little, you’re clearly broken in ways that can’t be fixed without therapy.

Sam Bush plays fiddle on “Millionaire” a song by Kevin Welch that never went mainstream. Kevin plays guitar here, though it’s the fiddle that stands out. But really the fiddle set me thinking. Can you imagine being in Buddy Miller’s house during the recording of this? With Buddy Miller, Dolly, Emmylou, Gillian Welch, Sam Bush, and a host of other people so talented, the room would surely feel like it was going to explode. And Burke himself, the man has 21 kids and approximately 54,789 grandkids and great-grandkids. I mean, sure, he sings with an incredible amount of soul, but don’t you think he’s probably a great storyteller too? I’m rarely star-struck, but I can’t even fathom being in the room while this album was being recorded. I wouldn’t even know who to pay attention to.

Patty Griffin teams up with our man here for her previously unreleased “Up to the Mountains (MLK song).” I am dying to hear her version of this for comparison, but the album doesn’t come out for a few more weeks. Both are at their best here. This song is stripped down. Its mood comes from Burke and Griffin’s voices and the lyrics, which Griffin says where inspired by listening to a Martin Luther King speech. There’s an intensity here that’s almost unbearable, which is really quite an awesome feat considering how intense the whole of Nashville is. [God, this song is amazing. I love Patty.--Mimi]

Let me just break here and say, I had to stop writing this for a bit to watch Nashville Star because I couldn’t do both at once. The heinousness of Nashville Star might taint my love for this album if I’d let them touch. I’m sure we’ll have lots to say about NS later, but for now all I can say is if one of those Hackers kids doesn’t win I will lose even more faith in humanity. Also how is Randy Owen the only watchable thing on this show? Ugh. Now back to the good part of my evening, the multiple listenings of Nashville. [I will tell ALL about Nashville Star tomorrow. Christ, it’s horrible.--Mimi]

Buddy Miller’s “Does My Ring Burn Your Finger” sounds the closest to the original of all the songs on this album. Perhaps that’s because Buddy himself has enough deep soul in his singing that it matches up with how King Solomon does things, or maybe Buddy as producer couldn’t let the orchestration stray to far from his baby. The version on this album does lack the female harmony that Buddy’s original has. Though declaring that as a fault is like saying that trees are less beautiful because of their asymmetry.

I have never heard Shawn Amos’ “Vicious Circle” before, but I’m compelled to seek it out. This song is a stand out on this album, a diamond among emeralds and rubies. Burke’s vocal phrasing here and the lyrics combined with the instrumentation just tip this song beyond incredible into realms of fantastically, unbelievably good music. Sure I’m easily won over with banjo, dobro and accordion, but there’s more to it than that. This is just total musical perfection in the dominion of country music. It sounds old and new all at once, like a song you’ve always loved, but just didn’t know yet until you finally heard it. The blend of gospel-y, old R&B back up vocals and the old time-y orchestration perfectly blends those genres back to the point where they split from each other in the early years of musical evolution. [This song also sounds like it was recorded in a bathroom. Love. Absolute love.--Mimi]

What album of country favorites would be complete without a George Jones song? What could possibly improve a George Jones song? That’s right, baby, Emmylou Harris. “We’re Gonna Hold On” as performed here is a country duet sent straight down by angels for my listening enjoyment complete with heavenly pedal steel.

In general I’m not huge fan of Patty Loveless. I don’t dislike her, but I just don’t feel her singing like I do with some performers. However “You’re the Kind of Trouble,” as she and Solomon do it, is a near perfect song for her. It’s a little more rockin’ than some of the other tracks, but Loveless sounds twangy and down-home enough to make it just right. Or perhaps the lyrics save the song from any trouble the performers could get into. I’m not sure, but this has really grown on me.

The album closes with a gentle, sort of ‘goodnight, sweetheart” sounding take on “‘Til I Get It Right.” I only know the Tammy Wynette interpretation (though I hear Trisha Yearwood does it as well), and I can’t even compare Miss Tammy to Mr. Solomon. I can say this is excellent soft close for a spectacular album.

So yeah, I knew Solomon before this. I wouldn’t say, as a straight-up soul singer, that he’s an acquired taste, but you definitely have to be in the mood for it. This album, however has won me over so thoroughly that I’ve found myself listening to his other stuff just so I can hear his voice. And sure, I’m aware that every mainstream publication has been all over this album, but, really, with good reason because it’s damn fantastic. Don’t cheat yourself out of the goodness of life, go on and get this immediately.

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