1. Satan Is Real, Straight to Hell
2. Thrown Out of the Bar
3. Things You Do To Me
4. Country Heroes
5. D Ray White
6. Low Down
7. Pills I Took
8. Smoke & Wine
9. My Drinkin Problem
10. Crazed Country Rebel
11. Dick in Dixie
12. Not Everybody Likes Us
13. Angel of Sin
14. Louisiana Stripes
Amazon.com
A new album from Hank Williams III is always a revelation: first, because it came out at all (his relationship with his label is as stormy as the marriage of his legendary grandparents); and second, because of its content and execution. So it's something of a miracle to see a 2-CD set of some of III's most hardcore Hellbilly (as opposed to the relentless screaming of his Assjack), especially as a number of the songs had been scheduled to appear on his unreleased 2003 album Thrown Out of the Bar. Hank III calls the new offering--recorded mostly on a $500 machine, for a DIY sound--a "thrill ride into a life of sin." This may explain the fact that Straight to Hell, which opens with some old-fashioned gospel and abruptly ends with the sound of a belly-laughing Satan, comes with a parental advisory sticker. He earns it, all right, especially on "Dick in Dixie," which is not a song about a man named Richard. As usual, III spends a lot of time pointing out what's wrong with Nashville; worshiping pills, weed, and wine; and self-mythologizing. But when he gets down to business, putting his graddaddy's bray on such songs of misery as "Angel of Sin," well, all is forgiven. III also gets big points for the second disc's 42-minute hidden track, a self-indulgent but brilliant pastiche of sound comprised of a Hank Sr. song ("I Could Never Be Ashamed of You"), snippets of a Wayne "The Train" Hancock tune, a fragment of a song III wrote with ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons, a little Cheech and Chong, as well as assorted sounds of a speeding train, runaway horses, pig snorts, a gunshot, and some hellfire-and-brimstone preaching. A drug-laced dream? The soundtrack to that journey to Hades of the album title? Damned interesting, either way. --Alanna Nash
|
Straight to Hell
- Audio CD: 0 pages (2006-02-28)
- Publisher: Bruc Records
- Label: Bruc Records
- Format: Explicit Lyrics
- Studio: Bruc Records
- Average Customer Review:
 based on 90 reviews
- Sales Rank in Music: #16812
Avg. Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating: 
Summary: A mess of an album by a talented but self-indulgent man 2008-11-16
Comment: This is a very unusual album. Most reviewers seem to like it very much. I think Hank Williams III is a very talented musician, who could do great things if he wanted to. I think this album is basically a mess. While it has flashes of brillance, it is basically one long self-parody. It takes every country cliche, and beats it into the ground. Superfically, the words are all about drinking and drugging and bad love. Since this is Hank Williams III, however, all of these subjects have covered over and over, and with far more brillance by both his grandfather and his father. Hank III's primary contribution seems to be unending defiance of ordinary country. His most heartfelt songs are profanity-laden rants directed at Nashvile for its lack of authenticity. I find this a little hard to take, given the almost total lack of originality involved in Hank the Third once again singing about the same old things. Is it authentic? Yes, in the way that a raised middle finger is authentic, but it has about as much artistry as a raised middle finger.
I hate to psychoanalysis music. Hey, I do not know the guy, so I can not say what is driving him. For what it is worth, however, I see Hank the Third as someone who simply cannot escape the family legacy. Hank the First, I think, was a genuinely tortured man, who drank and drugged to escape real demons of frustrated love and all the rest of it. I do not think Hank the Third has those demons. HIS demons, I think, are living with being the grandson of the greatest country singer of the last century. He wants to be loyal, but how do you be loyal to a heritage of defiance and suicidal self-destruction? I guess this album answers that question. You sing profane rants which repeat the same old themes of defiance. I have to say, however, while Hank the First was the genuine thing, and Hank the Second was good-humored about the whole legacy thing, Hank the Third is just kind of tedious and self-indulgent.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Doin' his own thing on the threeway 2008-10-28
Comment: Well the third album by III is a little different. His first two albums rode the Outlaw Country rock road. Shelton wanted something a little different here and it seems it took awhile to convince the boys in Nashville. "What we have here is a ............ This album broke his mold fer sure. This is a True OUTLAW Underground COUNTRY. I can't wait for the next ............ Oh and you have to listen the the other disc Ha. ha ha ha ha ha...........BFC
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating:
Summary: Hank III-Straight to Hell 2008-10-24
Comment: Country Masterpiece, Solid Rebel Gold, This is my 3rd copy,we wore the others out. Not that pop country on CMT,
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating:
Summary: Straight To Hell CD 2008-10-24
Comment: My CD came on time. It was in good condition. I am satisfied with my transaction. I would use this person again.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating:
Summary: Who Said I Hate Country Music? 2008-10-05
Comment: Actually I used to say it before a guy at work lent me this CD. Although I went to college in Kentucky in the '60's and visit there regularly I never really got into country music. My IPOD is currently full of Irish punk, jazz and oldies ('55-'62). However, after listening to this borrowed CD, I ordered Hank III's collector's edition set, pre-ordered his new CD, then ordered his grandfather's greatest hits and Patsy Cline's greatest hits. I gotta stop borrowing CD's. Too costly. My wife is put-off by some of Hank III's lyrics, but songs like Not Everybody Likes Us and My Drinkin Problem won her over.
|
Straight to Hell
Enlarge View