2. "Just heard 2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gottan yesterday" In response to Reply # 0
and was reminded of how awesome it is.
Haven't listened to the album in years, but I recall finding it highly enjoyable but noting that many of the songs followed the same formula - especially the way the chorus would be one line repeated twice.
4. "the reissue has the live World Cafe (XPN Represent!) performance from 98" In response to Reply # 2
where she basically plays almost the full album plus an old chestnut or two.
It's on Spotify if you're on there.
While I consider the album to be so perfect that not even a pristine live radio recordining from the City Of Brotherly Love can equal it, still a nice little companion piece.
12. "RE: Just heard 2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gottan yesterday" In response to Reply # 2
>Haven't listened to the album in years, but I recall finding >it highly enjoyable but noting that many of the songs followed >the same formula - especially the way the chorus would be one >line repeated twice.
You mentioned this a long time ago and it's stuck with me ever since... now I can't listen to a Williams tune without listening close for the formula to appear
I haven't kept up with her last few albums, but Car Wheels..., Sweet Old World, and her self-titled album have all held up really really well.
3. "A friend of mine played it a lot in the 90's..." In response to Reply # 0
I remember that one song had her dreaming of being picked up by a man in a leather jacket or something like that-I always found that so corny; like she emphasized that he wore a leather jacket. Anyway, I liked it quite a lot...
6. "there's no leather jacket reference on Car Wheels, you're prolly thinkin" In response to Reply # 3
of 'The Night's Too Long' which is off her debut album.
It should also be noted that the context of that reference is basically her inhabiting a character talking a story about something another character said, so in essence she's kinda clowning it herself which gets it out any corny/overly-literal territory for me.
That tone might not translate as well cross-seas based on your distaste for that along with Springsteen (who often uses that character-driven story-song style as well).
I was sure it was this album because it got tons of praise at the time and he bought it because of that but my memory might be off... I just remember us clowning that line when it came, I don't even remember the context. It was almost 20 years ago and we were drunk as fuck-give me a break!
Anyway, the record was good even if I haven't heard it since then...
9. "Yes, it was this one" In response to Reply # 8
This of course make my post pointless but whatever. And yes, she's telling a story but I'm not sure I agree she's clowning the character-it seems more like a song about liberation to me and the leather jacket symbol strikes me as just as corny today but it of course doesn't matter-good song either way. I guess he bought this one after ''car wheels...'' then because he dug that one...
Strange that it was released on Rough Trade Btw, that's pretty much the quintessential british post-punk/indie label and not one I associate with this type of music. Quite telling just how far removed from mainstream country/country-rock Lucinda was at the time if she had to go to Rough Trade for a deal rather than the regular US country-channels-mainstream or indie...
11. "RE: Yes, it was this one" In response to Reply # 9
>This of course make my post pointless but whatever. And yes, >she's telling a story but I'm not sure I agree she's clowning >the character-it seems more like a song about liberation to me >and the leather jacket symbol strikes me as just as corny >today but it of course doesn't matter-good song either way. I >guess he bought this one after ''car wheels...'' then because >he dug that one... > >Strange that it was released on Rough Trade Btw, that's pretty >much the quintessential british post-punk/indie label and not >one I associate with this type of music. Quite telling just >how far removed from mainstream country/country-rock Lucinda >was at the time if she had to go to Rough Trade for a deal >rather than the regular US country-channels-mainstream or >indie...
yeah, I mean mainstream country in 87/88 post FM radio expansion is Randy Travis & The Judds, she could never have existed in that world.
There's also the whole Austin scene she originated from versus Nashville aspect.
15. "True but weren't the Folkways albums blues/folk covers primarily?" In response to Reply # 14
I still haven't actually heard either in full and I definitely wasn't up on her until after then but I thought she considers the Rough Trade album her true 'debut'.
16. "that album is all originals, far as I can tell" In response to Reply # 15
they're showing another album called Ramblin' that I didn't even know about that appears to be versions of folk and country standards, though. Calls it her 'earliest recordings' and it appears to be from 1978.
*shrug*
Artists are welcome to call their discography how they see it, but discounting records that are out there is kinda weird.
17. "RE: that album is all originals, far as I can tell" In response to Reply # 16
>they're showing another album called Ramblin' that I didn't >even know about that appears to be versions of folk and >country standards, though. Calls it her 'earliest recordings' >and it appears to be from 1978. > I'm confused now that I look at it (was on a phone earlier).
Why does it say 'recorded in 1978' then says 1990 on 'year of recording' section right under that?
Maybe this is a comp of the originals she recorded on the early Folkways albums?
>*shrug* > >Artists are welcome to call their discography how they see it, >but discounting records that are out there is kinda weird.
Don't quote her on that, I could be mangling that.
5. "on the short list of my favorite albums of all-time, Top 10, 20 at worst" In response to Reply # 0
one of those albums that despite being 15 years old I just listened to almost in its entirety on a friends deck one late boozy night a couple weeks ago.
And that's not coincidence, that could probably be any given time its mentioned since I doubt I've gone six to nine months without playing the majority of it at least once in a decade.
Also converted no less than ten casual listeners and/or passionate music fans that wouldn't really check for this based on style or even gender.
It's funny that 'The Way You Move' which I loved as the OG single when it dropped (that along with the backstory of its long & tortured process of making it was what had me buy it the first week when I hadn't bought anything you'd consider remotely 'contemporary' in the country in ages) but now that's easily my most likely skip song on the album.
It just feels 'polished' or calculated in a way that the rest of the album doesn't (even though you don't get to Year 6 of working on an album without being painstakingly meticulous) so starting with the title track at #2 then letting it ride flows better for me.
Favorite tracks rotate in & out depending on what's feeling fresher at any given time (and that's subject to change on an album you listened to 500 times) but 2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten/Drunken Angel is a key back-to-back, Greenville is gut-wrenchingly bare-bones beautiful plus Emmylou Harris blesses it, Lake Charles is so lovingly detailed that I always feel like I'm right there with its narrator even while it's referencing backwoods Louisana spots I've never been & Metal Firecracker is my sleeper of the moment.
I love Lucinda & have a few other albums by her but none of them even compare to this, this album just feels 'lived in' on a level that not many other albums do.
Great work by Charlie Sexton, Gurf Morlix, Steve Earle, Professor Roy Bittan & everyone else who crossed paths with this album in all the spots it was made.
Whatever happened along the way was meant to be because it came out perfect, like Fiona records almost gives credence to the seven-year-album-release-cycle.
This album is good whiskey, a comfortable old porch chair, a kindhearted woman, port in a storm or any other clichéd analogy for comfort or warmth you can come up with on your own.
10. "I heard Passionate Kisses twice this week" In response to Reply # 0
Both times in the grocery store, and both times the Tricia Yearwood, or Patty Loveless, or whoever it was, version. Between that and this post, I feel like the world is reminding me to listen to more Lucinda. Will do world, will do.
Printer-friendly copy 
Email this topic to a friend
The Lesson
