Amazon.com
Few artists take the sort of emotional risks that Lucinda Williams does. Pouring her all into songs of hurt, need, and desire, she turns every live performance into an adventure, as the first concert recording of her career attests. Coproduced by Williams,
Live at the Fillmore showcases her raw wound of a voice and the rough edges of her band in all their unvarnished glory, as the music cuts across conventional categories of country, blues, folk, rock (and rap) to strike a distinctly personal chord. Even the pacing is risky. Whereas most artists plan their sets to hit hardest at the beginning and end, Williams inverts the dynamic, sustaining a mood of reflective melancholy for extended stretches that open and close the album, while building to an explosive climax in the middle. With the selection dominated by recent material, the first eight numbers are like a sweet ache, as the wistful country of "Ventura" and "Reason to Cry" and the folkish minimalism of "Lonely Girls" explore the fringes of emotional fragility. Then Williams and band flex their musical muscles, shifting into the bluesier side of her artistry on "Change the Locks" and "Atonement," extending the desperate intensity of "Joy" over almost eight minutes, and offering homage to Neil Young's Crazy Horse on "Righteously" and "Essence." Backed by the barbed-wire guitar of Doug Pettitbone over the bare-bones rhythms of bassist Taras Prodaniuk and drummer Jim Christie, Williams tells the crowd, "We got the mojo workin' tonight."
--Don McLeese Recommended Lucinda Williams Albums
Lucinda Williams |
Sweet Old World |
Car Wheels on a Gravel Road |
Essence |
World Without Tears |
Ramblin' |
Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review
(61 customer reviews) 47 of 49 people found the following review helpful
Further into the mind and soul of Lucinda Williams,
August 22, 2005 John Stodder "a.k.a. Juan La Princi" (livin' just enough) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Live @ The Fillmore (Audio CD)
"Car Wheels on A Gravel Road" was a Grammy-winner that introduced millions of new fans (including me) to the brilliant performer Lucinda Williams whose poetic lyrics, memorable tunes and country-rock sound seemed both fresh and timeless, especially to fans of Bob Dylan and Neil Young. Her subsequent albums, however, did not seem to reach her new fan base. The spare but evocative lyrics turned stark and minimal, and the emotions they revealed seemed extremely personal. The music was somewhat the same, but darker, more claustrophic, an accompaniment to the obsessive mood. I liked these albums ("Essence" and "World Without Tears") but if you didn't find them a little disturbing, you really weren't listening.
With "Live @ the Fillmore," Lucinda seems to be breaking all ties to the "Car Wheels" gal, and saying to her fans that this intense, internal, obsessive space is where she's at and where she's staying. This album is not a recap of her career, a greatest hits collection...Read more
25 of 30 people found the following review helpful
Adequate,
May 10, 2005 Jethro (Midwest) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Live @ The Fillmore (Audio CD)
A good listen, but in many cases the studio versions of these songs were more satisfying to me. I thought a strange thing was going on with this recording. On one hand, the vocals sometimes didn't show enough restraint and went to some place beyond the rawness that we like from Lucinda. On the other hand, the band showed too much restraint much of the time - they duplicated the studio sound well but didn't really tap into the kind of extra energy that a live show can convey. This dynamic works alright on the more low-key songs that start disc one and finish disc two, but it falls down on the faster/harder songs in the middle of the set.
Lucinda fans will buy it and like it well enough (I did and do), but...
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Lucinda Redux,
May 3, 2007 Sally "aduzi" (Montana) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Live @ The Fillmore (Audio CD)
Lucinda's rough, boozy voice is the perfect instrument for her poetry of unrequited and obsessive love, loss, sorrow and guilt. Her backup matches the mood of every song - inventive, original and pulsing with electricity and virtuosity.
Like John Prine and Dylan her lyrics tell stories with laser insight. Like Janis Joplin, she turns herself inside out, hurling emotion without restraint. Like Delbert McClinton she integrates her powerful lyrics with musical accompaniment that socks it home. But Lucinda with guitarists Doug Pettibone and Tara Prodanick, Jim Christie on drums, are soul mates, soaring above them all in this rare, raw event.
Lucinda repeats some of the best songs from other albums. But this time, they're not done with the same tenderness. Her voice has become more desperate and ragged. Every cut has an edge. Like a wounded woman, stripped to her soul, alone in a dark room with hard booze in a dirty glass, drinking away the pain. Hurt and...Read more
