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Thank you Inside Job. I also appreciate the opportunity to get the LA cds at tour venues — I’ll look for them at the PA or NJ shows next week. 😀
I’d say a little fluff, now and then, ADDS rather than detracts. Shows a range. We all need fluff and fun, whatever our age, and wherever we are in life. Lucinda’s sharing that feeling. Why do so many people expect artists to remain in the same pool forever?
I kind of like Ripley throwing cold water in here every so often (it keeps us thinking, and the comments are not baseless), but I’d disagree with Ripley’s characterizations of these songs as “awful” or “abysmal.” I like them. (Maybe my musical taste is broader and more inclusive than Ripley’s. Or possibly it’s just not as sophisticated. Could be that.) But I still love Lucinda’s other stuff too, and I know I can feel as emotionally connected to the other songs as anyone. (They’re the songs that got me hooked.)
I’d like to think Ripley is completely wrong about Lu’s motive with these songs, too. I don’t think Lucinda is “trying to be hip.” Or, as Scone suggests, trying to “reach out to the kids a bit.” I don’t believe for a minute that there is a conscious effort to broaden her demographics. I mean, are you really saying that this kind of songwriting is … marketing?!! Come on!!! 🙄
The creative process is what it is. She does what she does, writes what she writes (beautifully, honestly, soulfully, almost always). And I’m going to go on believing that it IS a pure thing.
The happy, fun “fluff” is a pure expression of joy and happiness, just as every other Lucinda song is a pure, unfiltered expression of other human emotions and feelings.
And: Lucinda performing on a “bad” day (if ACL was one) I’m sure is way better than almost anyone else on a good day. Wish I had been fortunate enough to see the ACL show.
Glad this post didn’t turn into a red rocks-type troll-fest… (yet). 😉
I got stung by the Honey Bee at the Utica brewery show in July, and I loved it. I hadn’t heard (or heard about) the song before, and H Bee came out of the blue, toward the end of the show. It was a happy surprise… rootsy, rockin’ fun — got me smiling a lot, and moving, and dancing (almost). Lucinda is offering unexpected surprises with her new music, and I remember thinking this must the New Lu, the Rockin’ Lu (not the Blue Lu). I love that about her work — that she and her music change and evolve, are not stuck in the same place. I was drawn to her songs with the older stuff, the self-titled album and sweet old world, but I’m enjoying this ride she’s taking us on. 8)
Tim’s got it right about this being a song best heard in a concert. In that context you’re totally into the groove. It’s perfect for a live CD.
thanks for the link Paul. great article. sounds like the shows are just getting better — the band’s performance, jammming, lu’s opening up with the audience conversationally…. I loved hearing about the “shamanistic” patti smith moment. 🙂
“just warming up” indeed, Stellablueee! Lucky you!thank you Ripley! 😀 Wasn’t able to listen live, and I was hoping someone would make this available since kcrw does not. Much appreciated.
thanks for the response, Tim. And thanks for all the excellent details, Tim and Paul. (Lucinda in heels!) 😀 Hope the cds are available at the ny shows, or on the website eventually…. looking forward to reports of the next shows, especially the self-titled album night!
Thanks much for these reports! Hearing the comments from LA is like a tease — can’t wait for NYC…. I just hope Lu doesn’t wear out by the time she gets east again. 🙂
curious about the form of the album set — was there conversation with the audience in the first set, between songs? Did the band stay pretty close to the sound of the album, or play around with the songs? How did it go? With a change of clothes, it almost sounds like that first set was formal, in a way, before they loosened up for the rest of the concert.
Wish i was there, but I’ll look forward to that low-key documentary….
Offbeat magazine in New Orleans has a good review of the cd, which comes out later this month, with this about lu’s contribution —
“Not surprisingly, the most interesting tracks are the ones that are most transformed. Lucinda Williams’ “Honey Chile” is her at her most playful, which is also her at her most seductive. It’s a rockin’ blues version that rolls with a herky-jerky rhythm, and she sings it like she can’t wait to get her honey chile into the Airstream to jump his bones.”
http://offbeat.com/artman/publish/article_2446.shtml
Rachel, you’re right about the lyrics from the CD sleeve, and no doubt it is some idiomatic cajun-ization –not-so-literal French mixed up in that south Louisiana gumbo. (The printed lyrics could also be sloppy writing/interpretation on the part of the folks who did the sleeve for that early CD! ) But I really have to say i like marclaf’s French translation. It fits. Feels right for both the song and the city. Hope Lucfan4ever can get the definitive word from her cajun contacts…. Who knows, maybe Lucinda took some artistic liberties?! Anyway, a great song that has stood the test of time (and Katrina). 🙂
Sounds like a very cool, incredible show — the kind that those of us who weren’t there wish was taped so that we could share it too… 🙂 Thanks for posting!
thanks IJ – this is great news. I plan to buy the NYC tapings the last night, Oct 4, at Town Hall — and would also buy the LA recordings if available in NY ( Will they be? …or online)
is this “LTD EDITION DIGIPAK” recording going to be a full unedited taping of the entire first set, from start to finish? I ask because I hope they don’t feel a need to edit out any conversation with the audience between songs. As on an “unofficial” (ie: bootleg) recording, I love all that captured sound, including shouted comments from the audience, rough edges and all. It archives and cements the moment in time… it brings an authenticity to the recordings and really personalizes the listening experience.
Others may not agree, and not everyone wants the unfiltered experience…. And I realize the “album set” may not have much commentary from Lu anyway — I suppose that first set could be kind of formal. Whatever the case, I’m excited about the show and happy to hear about the recordings. Thanks! 😀
How does Lucinda fit into this thesis? I think she turns it on its head. Or (as usual) she doesn’t fit in at all! Seems like some of her more rockin’ stuff — conceptual? — has been of late (later in her career), and her “experimental” stuff was earlier… 😕
It can’t be a good thing when economists apply “serious methodological and conceptual scrutiny” to rock ‘n roll.A Collection of Cajun and Creole Drinking Songs – “Allons Boire un Coup” (Valcour records, 2006)
from the cd:
“… Yes, Cajun and Creole musicians do get drunk. In fact, as I write this, there is a drunk cajun sitting right next to me, playing the accordion. This is not the point, however. In the songs collected on this album, we can see that cajuns and creoles do far more than just get wasted. In these songs, drunk people dream. They waltz. They get their guns and go out in the middle of the night and kill raccoons. When their bottles are empty, they stomp their feet and play furious, driving dirges on the fiddle. People all over the world get drunk on Saturday night and have hangovers on Sunday, but cajuns drink a glass of lemonade and then write a song about it….”Saturday night’s comin’… Et toi!
😀this is a GREAT recording. What a concert — Lucinda and the audience seem very much “right in time”. I’m especially happy to hear “Marching the Hate Machines” for the first time — powerful stuff…. A recording like this makes me want a live CD set from the NY/LA shows even more. Thanks Billy. (No hugs from me, though — I’ll save them for Lu!)
