Road to Ensenada

 (56 customer reviews)

How do you pick the best Lyle Lovett album? Do you go for the melancholy and jazzy strains of Pontiac? The big band meets country of the Large Band album? Perhaps the sad and beautiful Joshua Judges Ruth? All would be albums most artists would kill to call a career best. But Lyle? He beats them all with The Road to Ensenada.He has quirky, laid-back and humorous moments in songs like Don't Touch My Hat (a Texan answer to Elvis' Blue Suede Shoes) and Long Tall Texan, which pairs him again with Randy Newman in a gently humorous cowboy song (you'll of course remember You've Got a Friend in Me which the two sang together). The western swing of That's Right, You're Not From Texas is so infectious that you simply can't help singing along. The best of these is Her First Mistake, with it's marvelous wordplay and off-beat rythm. If you're not sure what people mean by country cool you'll have no question after hearing Lyle's delivery on that one.But while his wry and humorous songs can...Read more

Does Lyle Lovett ever put out a bad album? The answer, as he reaffirms us with The Road to Ensenada, is a no. This is definitely one of the finest country albums of the 90's. Lyle Lovett proves that he can cut through the trash that populates today's country market and still make an excellent album. This is one of the most personal and revealing albums I've ever listened to (by any artist). Although this album was put out after his split with Julia Roberts, Lyle doesn't wallow in misery or self-pity. He even manages to slip in some of his now-famous dry wit on several of the tracks. He's also one of the few singers who can look at relationships objectively, while still incorporating all of the feelings that go with them. This is simply a phenominal album. This is a very intelligent album, but it doesn't sacrifice good music in the process. This album is both thought-provoking and fun to listen to at the same time. No CD in my rather large collection has received...Read more

As with all reviews, this only reflects my personal taste, so many listeners of "The Road to Ensenada" would likely disagree. In my humble opinion, Lovett's strongest and most powerful work appears in his more serious songs, like "It Ought to be Easier" and the title track. Although songs such as "Don't Touch My Hat" are fun at first, their novelty eventually wears off. Of course, some of these cute tracks are Lyle Lovett classics, including "That's Right (You're Not from Texas)," and as a Texan myself, I feel quite guilty for not enjoying these songs as much as I should. Anyway, my complaints are minor-this is an incredible CD, and I highly recommend it to people just beginning their Lyle Lovett album collection. There are few artists who defy genre as convincingly as Lovett.