Lucinda Williams - Car Wheels On A Gravel Road

Styles: Country
Year: 1998
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 51:49
Size: 120,4 MB
Art: Front

(4:36)  1. Right In Time
(4:44)  2. Car Wheels On A Gravel Road
(4:42)  3. 2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten
(3:20)  4. Drunken Angel
(3:08)  5. Concrete And Barbed Wire
(5:28)  6. Lake Charles
(3:28)  7. Can't Let Go
(3:31)  8. I Lost It
(3:30)  9. Metal Firecracker
(3:23) 10. Greenville
(4:09) 11. Still I Long For Your Kiss
(4:01) 12. Joy
(3:42) 13. Jackson

It isn't surprising that Lucinda Williams' level of craft takes time to assemble, but the six-year wait between Sweet Old World and its 1998 follow-up, Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, still raised eyebrows. The delay stemmed both from label difficulties and Williams' meticulous perfectionism, the latter reportedly over a too-produced sound and her own vocals. Listening to the record, one can understand why both might have concerned Williams. Car Wheels is far and away her most produced album to date, which is something of a mixed blessing. Its surfaces are clean and contemporary, with something in the timbres of the instruments (especially the drums) sounding extremely typical of a late-'90s major-label roots-rock album. While that might subtly alter the timeless qualities of Williams' writing, there's also no denying that her sound is punchier and livelier. The production also throws Williams' idiosyncratic voice into sharp relief, to the point where it's noticeably separate from the band. As a result, every inflection and slight tonal alteration is captured, and it would hardly be surprising if Williams did obsess over those small details. But whether or not you miss the earthiness of Car Wheels' predecessors, it's ultimately the material that matters, and Williams' songwriting is as captivating as ever. Intentionally or not, the album's common thread seems to be its strongly grounded sense of place specifically, the Deep South, conveyed through images and numerous references to specific towns. Many songs are set, in some way, in the middle or aftermath of not-quite-resolved love affairs, as Williams meditates on the complexities of human passion. Even her simplest songs have more going on under the surface than their poetic structures might indicate. In the end, Car Wheels on a Gravel Road is Williams' third straight winner; although she might not be the most prolific songwriter of the '90s, she's certainly one of the most brilliant. ~ Steve Huey http://www.allmusic.com/album/car-wheels-on-a-gravel-road-mw0000028744

Personnel: Lucinda Williams (vocals, acoustic guitar, dobro); Buddy Miller (acoustic & electric guitars, mando guitar, background vocals); Steve Earle (acoustic & resonator guitars, harmonica, background vocals); Gurf Morlix (6 & 12 string electric guitars, electric & acoustic slide guitars, background vocals); Charlie Sexton (electric & slide guitars, dobro); Johnny Lee Schell (electric & slide guitars, dobro); Bo Ramsey (electric & slide guitars); Ray Kennedy, Greg Leisz (12 string electric guitar, mandolin); Richard "Hombre" Price (dobro); Roy Bittan (accordion, Hammond B-3 organ, organ); Michael Smotherman (Hammond B-3 organ); John Ciambotti (acoustic & electric basses); Donald Lindley (drums, percussion); Jim Lauderdale, Emmylou Harris (background vocals).

Car Wheels On A Gravel Road

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Various - A Tribute To Joni Mitchell

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s

Time: 53:10

Size: 121.7 MB

Styles: Folk rock, Singer-songwriter

Year: 2007

Art: Front

[4:59] 1. Sufjan Stevens - Free Man In Paris

[5:05] 2. Björk - The Boho Dance

[4:56] 3. Caetano Veloso - Dreamland

[5:08] 4. Brad Mehldau - Don't Interrupt The Sorrow

[5:58] 5. Cassandra Wilson - For The Roses

[3:30] 6. Prince - A Case Of You

[2:46] 7. Sarah Mclachlan - Blue

[3:38] 8. Annie Lennox - Ladies Of The Canyon

[3:40] 9. Emmylou Harris - The Magdalene Laundries

[5:56] 10. Elvis Costello - Edith And The Kingpin

[3:58] 11. K.D. Lang - Help Me

[3:32] 12. James Taylor - River

Joni Mitchell covers dot the musical landscape the way Tim Hortons doughnut shacks line the highways of Ontario. It's a little surprising, then, that the first Mitchell tribute album to be released on a major U.S. label didn't emerge until 2007, which was coincidentally the same year Mitchell was scheduled to release Shine, her first studio effort to appear in some ten years. And as far as tribute albums go, A Tribute to Joni Mitchell isn't half bad. The compilation is split up between songs that were recorded specifically for the tribute album, such as Sufjan Stevens' "A Free Man in Paris," and those that were recorded and released previously, such as James Taylor's "River." The tracks that were recorded specifically for A Tribute are far and away the best. Stevens approaches "A Free Man in Paris" with his characteristic, and fitting, over-the-top irony and band geek sensibilities. Opening with a brass fanfare, the kind that wouldn't be out of place in the opening credits of a network news show, Stevens' cover tackles the original with an appropriate sense of theatricality and fun. Björk's lilting cover of "Boho Dance," lush with synthesized bells and whorls, arguably rivals the original. She does a very good job of allowing Mitchell's lyics to unfurl, even while she twists and transforms the song, fairy godmother-style, into something otherworldly. And Caetano Veloso's rendition of "Dreamland" is simply a revelation. It's not a huge stretch from the original, but Veloso's light, gentle vocals, augmented by the the warm, loose Brazilian instrumentation, somehow manages to grab Mitchell's narrative and bring it to life. Mitchell is a storyteller, and the best tracks on here are those that welcome and explore her narratives. The worst ignore or misinterpret them. Prince pays little attention to Mitchell's lyrics on "A Case of You," slashing the first two verses in order to cut right to the chase. This abridged version has a lot of soul, but it does little to pay tribute to Mitchell's original; Prince cut out the pathos and made the song sappy. To be fair, Mitchell's a difficult person to pay tribute to, let alone cover, seeing how she's one of those rare singer/songwriters whose abilities as a performer are equal to her compositions. This stands in stark contrast to someone like Bob Dylan, whose songs were often just as, if not more, enjoyable in their Jimi Hendrix or Joan Baez incarnations. But while she's ultimately the best performer of her own work, Mitchell, with her warbly soprano and idiosyncratic sense of composition, hasn't always lent herself to the unaccustomed ear. A Tribute to Joni Mitchell is thus a great listen for those who'd like to ease into the breadth and range of Mitchell's work by way of established, accessible artists like Prince, Sarah McLachlan and Taylor. Granted, fans will probably find themselves yearning for the original material after listening to this disc, but this is only another way in which A Tribute succeeds. These interpretations, imperfect as they can be, provide new vantage points from which Mitchell's original albums can be located, analyzed, and appreciated. ~Margaret Reges

A Tribute To Joni Mitchell

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Emmylou Harris - Evangeline

Bitrate: 320K/s

Time: 33:55

Size: 77.7 MB

Label: Warner Bros

Styles: Country

Year: 1981/2011

Art: Front

[3:47] 1. I Don't Have To Crawl

[3:21] 2. How High The Moon

[3:51] 3. Spanish Johnny

[2:41] 4. Bad Moon Rising

[3:11] 5. Evangeline

[3:05] 6. Hot Burrito #2

[4:03] 7. Millworker

[3:00] 8. Oh Atlanta

[2:20] 9. Mr. Sandman

[4:32] 10. Ashes By Now

Evangeline was a 1981 album by Emmylou Harris that was composed mostly of leftover material from past recording sessions and which did not fit into any of her other albums. Songs included a remake of "Mister Sandman" (from the ill-fated Trio sessions with Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt), "Evangeline", which she had previously performed with The Band, Rodney Crowell's "Ashes By Now", and a cover of John Fogerty's "Bad Moon Rising".

Though it received mixed reviews upon its release, the album was yet another commercial success for Harris. It was certified Gold in less than a year after its release. A single release of "Mister Sandman" (Top 10 country/Top 40 pop) did well on the charts, though neither Ronstadt's nor Parton's record companies would allow their artists' vocals to be used on the single, so Harris rerecorded the song, singing all three parts for the single release. The album is one of two Harris albums that have never been issued on CD. The other album is Thirteen. ~palmerthirteen/Norway

Evangeline

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