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I have listened to Little Honey twice now. I like it. It’s a good record. The band is definitely more front and center than West. I loved West, but it was overproduced, IMHO, and I had to sift through a dozen instruments to hear what Doug was playing. Not on this record, he is playing loud and wails away like crazy. While West was more textured, this record has more balls. The band is in fine form.
I’m not sure what’s up with Lucinda’s voice. She has a pretty voice, but she doesn’t use it much here. It’s like she intentionally wants to sound like she is down in the ditch or something. Please blast away if you disagree.
One of the best songs on the West tour was Jailhouse Tears, and Doug really cranks it out on the album version. I thought it was Ok the first time I heard it on the internet, but hearing it loud on my sound system, I have grown to really hate Elvis Costello’s voice. It doesn’t compliment Lucinda’s voice at all. It is too stylized. Too much Elvis. Sorry. It doesn’t fit the song. Where is he, imprisoned in the Tower of London? Jim Lauderdale would have been a better fit.
Anyway, just my opinion, your milage may vary, I am going to keep playing it and get to know the songs more.
Hey Tony,
I like most of your postings but have a different opinion here. From Webster: “stylize – to conform to a conventional style” Elvis? Costello? He’s got one of the most unique voices in the industry – instantly recognizable, to me at least. I end up smiling every time I hear this duet, I think their voices go great together. I can just see them doing this recording after midnight in a one chance recording session having a blast. Sorry you don’t appreciate it.
Check out their duet on his Delivery Man album “There’s a Story in Your Voice”. My wife doesn’t like Lucinda’s music much or especially her voice, kind of like she doesn’t like Neil Young’s voice. In this duet it seems each of them are trying to exagerate the uniqueness of their own voices, and end up sounding about the same as each other.
I saw Elvis on his Delivery Man tour. Talk about professionalism, the man marched out on stage at precisely 8:00 in a suit in July without a warm up act, greeted the audience and started a 3 hour concert. Part way through, out came the incomparible Emilou Harris who performed a few solos, and accompanied him for much of the evening. He used a different guitar for nearly every song. It was an awesome show.
Gottcha, Steverino. I guess by “stylized” I meant too much like Elvis Costello. Since he is Elvis Costello, I see what you mean.
I liked his early albums. I have no problem with him as an artist. I just think he takes the song to a weird place.
Glad you like it. I want to like it.
Tony,
I had to laugh outloud when I read your reply. Yes he certainly does sound too much like Elvis Costello.
Peace
i don’t care for it even tho i like elvis a lot. i would have liked steve earle, BUT……
i will say that having elvis on it will expose lucinda to many more “new fans” (all of steve earle and jim lauderdale’s fans already know who lucinda is)
i did LOVE hearing how it evolved (coinky dink that elvis was available in nashvile at midnight to do it, and so was lucinda)
i think there’s a lot of this kind of fate that goes into these decisions (and maybe that mischeivous merlot)lisa
There’s always the Elvis-less alternate early version! 100% Lucinda! I almost prefer that myself. 8)
“Jailhouse Tears” is starting to grow on me, in spite of Elvis.
I can imagine Jack White (of the White Stripes & the Raconteurs) doing a nice edgy duet on this with Lucinda.
Lefty, I saw Lucinda do this song for the first time in 2005. She did all the vocals herself that night, but explained to the audience that it was written as a duet. She mentioned Jack White’s name that night as a possible partner when it was to be recorded!
Hi, Tim. You have your people call Lucinda; I’ll have my people call Jacky. Let’s make it happen! 😉
Any shows on your schedule this fall?
Lefty, I love that song, but not the version that’s on the record. Saw it done twice, two weeks ago with Doug singing the “bad boy” part and it was phenomenal!The song really flows in concert. On the record it sounds too pretentious to me. I do not like Elvis’ vocal. I’m going to see the last two shows of the tour in Ventura and Los Angeles. Sorry about what happened in Rochester, but I’m sure Lucinda and the band will make it a great show early next year.
I’m going to see the last two shows of the tour in Ventura and Los Angeles
tim, please send me a message before you leave to come out here so we can meet up at the L.A. shows.
lisaOverall, I’m still digesting LITTLE HONEY, but I’m not finding as much that i like immediately as I did on West. Still a fine album, but not among my faves yet. Honey Bee rocks in concert, but seems a bit out of place on this album. Maybe it’ll grow on me, but so far it seems like another very good album from Lu, but she’s got better.
Re Jailhouse, I heard all the angst over Elvis singing on Jailhouse Tears on the forums here before I heard it at all and while I respect Elvis, he’s not a fave of mine, so i was expecting to not care for the track, but… it just might be my fave cut on this cd so far. Steve Earle might have been better (more gravelly voice, and he certainly LIVED it!). I haven’t heard it live, so I can’t compare Elvis’ performance on this to that of Doug, but I do like the song plenty with Elvis. Maybe someone else could have done better, but the version he did more than works for my money.
Just got back from the 1,500 mile round trip to Nashville, just a few comments as it where, pretty satisfying show in general,would have been much better with no seats on the floor though,Listened to the new album several times during the trip…….. anyway my beef kinda, is Elvis can’t do justice to “Jailhouse” ,seen Doug do it 4-5 times now,he does a way better job,Elvis doesn’t have any feel to him almost sounds like a de-tuned, mono-toned,nerd . Hey just my opinion 😀 . Got to talk with Doug and the guys after the show, and the wife and I both related to Doug our feelings,hey what could he say ? the shrug said it all, couldn’t hang around to meet Lu she was a bit busier ,and it was getting cold ,oh well another time maybe.
I remember liking the all lucinda version of Jailhouse Tears but Costello’s vocals are horrid. I don’t like it at all and it really ruins the song and stalls the album. It doesn’t fit with the continuity of the record. Shoulda been a B side.
I finally went out and bought Little Honey on Friday…being busy with work, it took me that long. 😳 I got a chance to listen to it a few times Friday and Sunday while I was on the road (which brought back fond memories of hearing a couple other Lucinda albums for the first time while I was driving, but I digress).
My thoughts? I like it better than West, but it’s going to be tough for this album to climb any further up my list of Lucinda albums from best to worst (but note, I consider West to be a good album in its own right…one of ’em has to be my least favorite, no matter how I feel about her work as a whole). There are a couple of things that bother me about the album as a whole. With the exception of Well, Well, Well, I feel the backing vocals on this album take away far more than they add; I just don’t like them. I was also disappointed by the quality of Lucinda’s vocals on some of the songs. One of the things – actually, the thing that attracted me to her music at first – was her beautiful, evocative voice. She still has a beautiful, evocative voice – I know because she still sounds just as fantastic to me in concert as of a couple months ago – but it doesn’t get much of a chance to shine on Little Honey. Circles and X’s could be a great song, and as it is it’s a pretty good one. What a shame that Lucinda is almost mumbling throughout most of the song…and I say that as a Bob Dylan fan, so you know I’m very tolerant of a lack of enunciation. 🙂 It just surprised me; I think Lucinda’s vocals in concert are almost as strong as they’ve ever been and certainly haven’t fallen off due to age the way Dylan’s have, but I didn’t think they came across very well on the album.
As for the individual songs, I was quite familiar with most of them before listening to the album, so I can’t help comparing most of them to the renditions I’ve heard over the past few years. Well, Well, Well was better in its earlier arrangement circa 2005, I think. Tears of Joy and Knowing don’t feel as urgent as they did when she started performing them (and presumably, shortly after she wrote them); sonically, I feel like they belonged on West despite being more upbeat than most of that album. They don’t seem to fit on West. Honey Bee and Real Love come off very well on the album and retain almost all of the power they have live, which impressed me. It’s A Long Way To The Top was a disappointment – as vibrant and rocking as it is live, it’s way too subdued and low-key on the album. Rarity feels a little lengthy, though it has some beautiful lines in there.
My biggest disappointment? Jailhouse Tears. Elvis Costello is wrong, wrong, wrong for this song – and I have a lot of respect for him as a musician and would’ve welcomed a collaboration with Lucinda on some other song. From the first line he sang, I cringed when I first listened to the song. While I have my dream duet partners (Bob Dylan, Steve Earle, Ryan Adams, Jack White, Tom Waits, etc., etc.), almost anyone would’ve been better suited to the song than Elvis. Heck, Charlie Louvin could’ve done a mean version, I bet. 🙂 I’m overstating my criticism, mind you, because I do like the song and I don’t think the duet is a disaster; I just think it could’ve been so much better.
Circles and X’s and If Wishes Were Horses are poised to become two of my favorite Lucinda songs, though I bet I’ll enjoy some live versions of Circles and X’s more than the album version, for reasons I’ve already mentioned. I agree that If Wishes Were Horses is the standout track – beautiful writing, beautiful vocals.
I hope I’m not making it sound like the album is a disaster or that I dislike it, because that’s not the case. I hold Lucinda to a pretty high standard because I consider her to be one of the greatest songwriters alive, and I just don’t think this album hits it out of the park.
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