930 Forums
=> GENERAL DISCUSSION => Topic started by: Charlie Nakatestes, Japanese Golfer on April 27, 2004, 09:55:00 am
-
Again, I ask, anybody heard any of this? Any opinions?
Loretta Lynn retired from the music business in the '90s, returning to her home in Nashville to take care of her husband Oliver Lynn as he was dying. As it happens, she left the spotlight at a time that was not kind to country legends like herself, as they were exiled from country radio and left with a fraction of their audience. Some tried to adjust to modern radio, some railed against it, others, like Johnny Cash, retooled their sound and wound up appealing to a younger, hipper audience raised on alternative country. By the time Lynn decided to return to recording in 2000, Cash's path had been followed by other veterans like Merle Haggard, but Loretta turned out a fairly pedestrian comeback on Audium called Still Country, which garnered little attention, but then a funny thing happened. The following year, Detroit garage-punk duo the White Stripes dedicated their breakthrough album White Blood Cells to Loretta and covered her "Rated X" as a B-side. Word worked its way back to Lynn, and soon she invited Jack and Meg White down to her home and, not long after that, she agreed to cut a new album with Jack as the producer, which wound up being 2004's Van Lear Rose. On paper, this sounded like a strange pairing, yet upon further inspection, it makes sense. Loretta Lynn has always been an independent spirit, taking risks within the confines of Nashville country, yet respecting the rules of Music City. Jack White works much the same way, adhering to traditional American musical conventions yet pushing against their borders, while and imposing strict aesthetic rules for each of the White Stripes albums with the intent of giving each their own distinct feel. The brilliance of Van Lear Rose is not just how the two approaches compliment each other, but how it captures the essence of Loretta Lynn's music even as the record has flourishes that are distanctly Jack, such as the slide guitar the powers their duet "Portland Oregon." Upon its release, Lynn claimed that the album is "countrier than anything I've ever cut," which is no doubt a reference to the charmingly ragged, lively feel of Van Lear Rose Working with a band of kindred garage-punkers, including Dave Feeny of the Detroit-based country outfit Blanche, White insisted that Loretta and crew keep to a minimum of takes, preserving the energy and excitement of musicians cutting an album when the music is still fresh to their ears. Often, the classic records she made with Owen Bradley were cut in a handful of takes, but he was producing a fine-tuned machine. White, in contrast, keeps things loose and fresh, as if it was a jam session. The end result is quite different than Lynn's classic hits in terms of production, but the feel is strikingly similar, since White focuses on the essence of her music and subtly shifts his approach according to the demands of a song. If it demands it, he'll lay down some crunching guitar, as he does on the aforementioned "Portland Oregon" and the bluesy stomp "Have Mercy." He keeps things spare and sad on "Miss Being Mrs.," where Loretta is mourning the loss of her husband, and "This Old House" is lean and tattered, appropriate for the uptempo old-timey singalong. Unlike Rick Rubin's productions for Johnny Cash which were deliberately somber and monochromatic, White's work on Van Lear Rose is multi-textured, with the layers of steel guitars, muffled drums and echoed guitars lending a dramatic, impressionistic quality to the songs ?? and unlike Daniel Lanois' productions, it feels organic, not studied. Van Lear Rose also gives equal import to every side of Lynn's persona, so this is equally sad and funny, sacred and secular. On a sheer sonic level, the album is enthralling ?? it's easy to get lost in the music, and Lynn sings with a vigor that's startling for a woman of 70 ?? but it's an instant classic because of how that sound is married to set of songs that are among the strongest she's ever had. On her last studio album, she wrote only one song. Here, she's penned all 13 tracks, and there's a sense that these are songs that she needed to get out of her, particularly in a setting as intimate as this. While not all the songs are as explicitly personal "Miss Being Mrs.," that's for the best, since the variety of styles and types of songs on Van Lear Rose ?? everything from heartache ballads and country rave-ups to story songs and gospel ?? illustrates the depth and range of her writing. These are songs that hold their own with her greatest hits, and while it's unlike anything else she's cut, this is surely one of her great albums
-
They play it on WOXY.
It's good.
-
Originally posted by My Balls Can DJ:
Again, I ask, anybody heard any of this? Any opinions?
Haven't heard it yet, but every review I've read is just as strong as this one. I'll probably pick it up this week.
-
Ten bucks at Best Buy. Just sayin' is all.
-
The bigger question is...what do you think of this Balls?
It must pose a near moral-esque dilemna for you - an artist that I imagine you like, paired with someone you do not and have derided often in the past.
What's a White Stripes hatin' country music lover to do? :D
Personally - I like it. A lot. I'm surprised she would say this though:
Lynn claimed that the album is "countrier than anything I've ever cut"
I'm no Loretta Lynn historian, but I find that hard to believe. There are more than a few songs on here that would fit right in on any White Stripes record.
Maybe it's just her old age & she meant to say it "rocks more ass than anything I've ever cut."
;)
-
I think I read that my "countryist" she meant ragged, which some people equate with country....like hillbilly, or unrefined.
It's not a problem for me. If it's good, it's good. Period.
I liked the songs Jack White did on the Cold Mountain soundtrack.
Originally posted by Treacherous J. Slim:
The bigger question is...what do you think of this Balls?
It must pose a near moral-esque dilemna for you - an artist that I imagine you like, paired with someone you do not and have derided often in the past.
What's a White Stripes hatin' country music lover to do? :D
Personally - I like it. A lot. I'm surprised she would say this though:
Lynn claimed that the album is "countrier than anything I've ever cut"
I'm no Loretta Lynn historian, but I find that hard to believe. There are more than a few songs on here that would fit right in on any White Stripes record.
Maybe it's just her old age & she meant to say it "rocks more ass than anything I've ever cut."
;)
-
Van Lear Rose is a revelation, a classic. you can hate jack white all you want (and I sure as hell don't), but in my opinion I think he's pulled a rick rubin here. It's great, maybe country music can return to it's old form, not like the crap that you hear today i.e., toby keith, keney chesney. GO LISTEN NOW!!
-
Well, having watched Coal Miner's Daughter last night, I could say I know some Loretta Lynn history, and there's no way in hell this is the country-est thing she's done. Dang, back in the day, she even wore cowboy hats and boots on stage and *gulp* no makeup!
dang.
Originally posted by Treacherous J. Slim:
I'm surprised she would say this though:
Lynn claimed that the album is "countrier than anything I've ever cut"
I'm no Loretta Lynn historian, but I find that hard to believe. There are more than a few songs on here that would fit right in on any White Stripes record.
Maybe it's just her old age & she meant to say it "rocks more ass than anything I've ever cut."
;)
-
I thought a faceful of makeup was a requirement for female country singers.
Dang, with no makeup Loretta must have been one of those FEMINIST country singers. (She was...check out her song "The Pill".)
Originally posted by chimbly sweep:
Well, having watched Coal Miner's Daughter last night, I could say I know some Loretta Lynn history, and there's no way in hell this is the country-est thing she's done. Dang, back in the day, she even wore cowboy hats and boots on stage and *gulp* no makeup!
dang.
Originally posted by Treacherous J. Slim:
I'm surprised she would say this though:
Lynn claimed that the album is "countrier than anything I've ever cut"
I'm no Loretta Lynn historian, but I find that hard to believe. There are more than a few songs on here that would fit right in on any White Stripes record.
Maybe it's just her old age & she meant to say it "rocks more ass than anything I've ever cut."
;)
[/b]
-
Originally posted by Treacherous J. Slim:
The bigger question is...what do you think of this Balls?
It must pose a near moral-esque dilemna for you - an artist that I imagine you like, paired with someone you do not and have derided often in the past.
What's a White Stripes hatin' country music lover to do? :D
That's funny, I was pondering whether country hatin' folk would warm to the album because of the Jack White connection. Looks like they might...
-
If it's marketed right, they will.
Mankie himself even admitted to starting to get into (HFS poster boy) Johnny Cash, though not into other country artists.
Hell, with the right marketing, the hipsters might end up being down with George Jones and Merle Haggard.
Not that I'm saying Mankie is a hipster...
Originally posted by Ball Girl:
Originally posted by Treacherous J. Slim:
The bigger question is...what do you think of this Balls?
It must pose a near moral-esque dilemna for you - an artist that I imagine you like, paired with someone you do not and have derided often in the past.
What's a White Stripes hatin' country music lover to do? :D
That's funny, I was pondering whether country hatin' folk would warm to the album because of the Jack White connection. Looks like they might... [/b]
-
I agree...market this as the "country album cool enough for indie hipsters," and it'll sell like hotcakes. I admit, I've fallen for this in the past. Thing is, sometimes it works because an album comes along with music that is just that good that it defies genres and appeals to a broad audience. Current examples are Outkast and Missy Elliot...and Johnny Cash is a staple.
-
The truth (in my universe at least) is that REAL country is very cool. Always has been. The perception problem is that it often gets lumped in & considered with the shitty FM pop country. I find that stuff repulsive and would no more listen to it than I would all of the Britneyesque tripe.
Yet I love classic country. As much as I do indie, punk, etc.
Hopefully the genius of someone like George Jones or Johnny Cash can be appreciated with or without it being marketed as hip.
-
Nashville, TN ?? Music icon Loretta Lynn and rocker-producer Jack White debut a performance of their duet, ??Portland Oregon? from Lynn??s new CD, Van Lear Rose, on The Late Show with David Letterman on May 3. Lynn is taking the latest whirlwind of attention in stride as she makes plans to promote her new release with additional TV appearances the first week of May on Today and CNN??s Larry King Live.
In stores today, Lynn celebrates the release of Van Lear Rose (Interscope Records), with high praise from the nation??s top music critics.
Blender raves... ??...it??s some of the most gripping singing you??re going to hear all year... Lynn has made a brave, unrepeatable record that speaks to her whole life.? (5 stars)
USA Today declares... ??White serves Lynn unvarnished and unprocessed, letting her raw vocal splendor sprawl loose, gritty arrangements that retain her earthy twang while rocking harder than Ozzfest.? (4 stars)
Rolling Stone cheers... Lynn makes ??the album we all dreamed she would make.?(4 stars)
For over four decades, Lynn has turned stories of wistful heartbreak and feisty femininity into memorable hit singles. From ??You Ain??t Woman Enough (To Take My Man)? to ??The Pill? to ??When the Tingle Becomes a Chill,? she has become the voice of every woman. Loretta has amassed 27 #1 country hits and was the first woman to win the prestigious CMA Entertainer of the Year Award in 1972.
-
Recordings
Loretta Lynn's 'Van Lear Rose,' Rocking Down a Country Road
By David Segal
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, April 28, 2004; Page C01
In pop, the what-if game ordinarily requires a vivid imagination, but if you ever wondered what Loretta Lynn would sound like backed by the Rolling Stones, wonder no more. Get yourself a copy of "Van Lear Rose," Lynn's new album, and you can hear for yourself.
We're not talking about the Stones of today, but rather the Stones of the early '70s, the Stones of "Sticky Fingers," when the band was flirting with country rock and writing songs such as "Dead Flowers." Picture it: Mick, Keith and the boys taking a break after their 20th stab at "Brown Sugar," kicking aside the whiskey bottles to make way for a petite woman in a sundress with a thick Kentucky drawl. She warbles about love, God and her dirt-poor beginnings; the musicians don't drown out her songs, but they don't exactly hold back either, and there's searing slide guitar whenever Lynn steps away from the microphone. It's the Grand Ole Opry overrun by longhairs, the sound of Nashville wired to a stack of Marshall amps.
That's "Van Lear Rose," one of those singular concoctions that works so well, it's odd nobody thought of it before. It's a collaboration between Lynn and Jack White, the guitar-playing and songwriting half of the garage rock duo the White Stripes. A lifelong fan who dedicated the Stripes' third album to Lynn, White strums, sings and produces on "Rose," and it's hard to imagine anyone else approaching this material with the same mix of boldness and respect.
Lynn's bumpkin charm is intact here, right from the first verse of the first song. It's the title track, a tale her daddy tells about the belle of Johnson County, Ky., a young lady who bewitched every suitor from "the Ohio River to the Big Sandy." In the tradition of great country narratives, this one has a surprise ending: the "Van Lear Rose," it turns out, is Loretta's mother, and the man who won her heart none other than dear old dad. "Your momma," Lynn sings, recalling her father's words and pouring her heart into the line, "she's the Van Lear Rose."
But if White leaves alone Lynn's sentimental streak and her undefeatable pluck, he's overhauled her sound. On "Have Mercy on Me Baby," which Lynn originally wrote for Elvis Presley, you can hear him struggling to keep his guitar corked until the solo. When it arrives, the band shrugs off the restrained, march-to-war beat and White bolts like a greyhound. "Have mercy!" Lynn hollers over the din, and if she's begging Jack, he apparently doesn't hear her.
Lynn, who wrote nearly every song on the album, has endured serious hardships in recent years, but the subjects that consume her on "Rose" are much the same as when she was the queen of country music in the late '60s and early '70s. "Trouble on the Line" is a teary slow-dance number about a dysfunctional marriage, told through an excessively beaten phone metaphor. Revenge on a wayward husband is exacted on "Mrs. Leroy Brown," and Lynn conjures a first-person death-row narrative on "Women's Prison," describing the last minute of an inmate as she's led to the electric chair for killing her cheating "darlin.' "
"Story of My Life" is exactly what it says it is, right down to the biographical detail that Lynn never saw a penny from the film version of her autobiography, "Coal Miner's Daughter." And as much as she complained about Doolittle, her philandering husband, now that he has passed away Lynn pines for him on "Miss Being Mrs." But the best track is an un-Lynn-like account of a fling on "Portland, Oregon," a duet with White that comes across as an epic in miniature. It starts with a buckle-up intro that could have been lifted from some avant-garde quartet from New York, segues into the sort of tag-team effort that Lynn used to cut with Conway Twitty, and winds up in a full-on thrash.
White is convinced that recording technology peaked in the early '60s, and he's given "Rose" a sound that you can't get with digital equipment; it's vintage without seeming nostalgic. Exactly whom this music will appeal to is hard to say. Lynn fans might have a hard time coping with the back-dated atmospherics and distorted guitars, and the typical White Stripes fan has never heard "Fist City." With any luck, though, "Rose" will do for this legend what all those American Recordings albums did for Johnny Cash -- namely, introduce her to a new generation of admirers. Ready or not, at the age of 70 Loretta Lynn has come for your grandkids.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A48100-2004Apr27.html (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A48100-2004Apr27.html)
-
oh yeah. david segal, keeping us rocking in the free world.
bleh.
-
Excellent reviews. Right on too. I expect this to be on quite a few year-end best-ofs
-
I picked up the disc and have to say I am really impressed. Jack has definitely done the "Rick Rubin" rehab for Loretta this time. And doing this
type of production and attention to detail can only come from a true fan. I salute Jack White for his effort. He has listened to Loretta for years and knows where he wanted to take her. I'm sure the production and "rock" of the disc may alienate some older fans,but it will also garner attention from the younger folks,which isn't bad either. I would hope to see her on the road soon. I'd like to see Jack accompany her,but that's probably asking too much. I already have tickets for Haggard at an outdoor fest this summer and would like to add Loretta ticks right along side those.
-
Originally posted by My Balls Can DJ:
[QB] Mankie himself even admitted to starting to get into (HFS poster boy) Johnny Cash, though not into other country artists.
Not that I'm saying Mankie is a hipster...
I did? When?
Anyway, this is all so lame'o-been done before-unoriginal.
The Smiths got together with Sandie Shaw for a recording.
So the trendy rock-star/aging female singer get together is so 20 minutes ago. :p
-
Yeah, and there was Tammy Wynette and the KLF, that one really rocked.
-
Originally posted by Ball Girl:
Yeah, and there was Tammy Wynette and the KLF, that one really rocked.
Good recall, That song was excellent.
-
British Electric Foundation and Tina Turner
"Ball Of Confusion"
Ancient History.......
-
I'm not saying this album is bad, because it's not. But it is the most most critically overrated album of the year.
Lyrically, it's pretty uninteresting, except a few songs. Musically, some of it works for me, some of it doesn't. White's guitar is just too over the top at times. I think it would have worked better with more country oriented production. The best part is Loretta's voice, which still sounds swell.
Of course it can't compare to her classic stuff. Wouldn't be fair of us to expect that.