SMC - Lucero - "Tennessee"
deadmosquito
Posts: 729
i thought for my turn, i would put up a record by one of my most recent favorite bands, lucero. it was hard to decide which of their albums i wanted to post for you guys to hear, especially since the new one is so good, but i went with "tennessee," their second LP. i got hooked on this band a little over 2 years ago when i saw them at a small club here in morgantown,wv. if you don't know anything about them, they are a band from-you guessed it-tennessee. they tour almost nonstop, something like 200+ days each year. they actually have a dvd documenting the evolution of the band up to the release of their 2005 record, which is really good. anyway, this album is my favorite of theirs, it's more country leaning than any of their albums after it have been. hopefully that doesn't turn anyone off immediately from them. hope you guys like it. oh and here's a review from allmusic.com:
Ben Nichols, leader of Memphis alt-country rockers Lucero, claims he had never heard of Uncle Tupelo back when he traded in his punk stripes for a more roots rock sound. While this may sound like typical rhetoric from upstarts trying to avoid being cast into the alt-country ghetto, Tennessee, the group's sophomore outing, is strong enough evidence to back up that claim. Listening to this defiantly organic and strong release, one gets the sense that Nichols adopted a countrified sound simply because it seemed the shortest path to the heart. The album is packed with leather-tough Americana such as "Nights Like These," — which is all guitar-crunch, rolling B-3 organ, and Nichols' hot-tar emotive rasp — and the gliding, melodic country-rock of "Ain't So Lonely." There are also plenty of ruminative, bruised numbers on the album, such as "Sweet Little Thing," which eventually bursts out of a stark verse to reveal a Replacements-style hear-tugging rocker. The songs get a big kick in the pants from Nichols' vocals; he's a raw singer in the tradition of Steve Earle, Paul Westerberg, and Matthew Ryan. Cody Dickinson of the North Mississippi Allstars — who also happens to be the son of legendary producer Jim Dickinson (Big Star, Replacements) — produced this album and added keyboards.
Ben Nichols, leader of Memphis alt-country rockers Lucero, claims he had never heard of Uncle Tupelo back when he traded in his punk stripes for a more roots rock sound. While this may sound like typical rhetoric from upstarts trying to avoid being cast into the alt-country ghetto, Tennessee, the group's sophomore outing, is strong enough evidence to back up that claim. Listening to this defiantly organic and strong release, one gets the sense that Nichols adopted a countrified sound simply because it seemed the shortest path to the heart. The album is packed with leather-tough Americana such as "Nights Like These," — which is all guitar-crunch, rolling B-3 organ, and Nichols' hot-tar emotive rasp — and the gliding, melodic country-rock of "Ain't So Lonely." There are also plenty of ruminative, bruised numbers on the album, such as "Sweet Little Thing," which eventually bursts out of a stark verse to reveal a Replacements-style hear-tugging rocker. The songs get a big kick in the pants from Nichols' vocals; he's a raw singer in the tradition of Steve Earle, Paul Westerberg, and Matthew Ryan. Cody Dickinson of the North Mississippi Allstars — who also happens to be the son of legendary producer Jim Dickinson (Big Star, Replacements) — produced this album and added keyboards.
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Comments
it's good stuff.
I haven't heard "Tennessee" but i'm looking forward to it.
Enjoyed the show but never got around to picking anything up. Sweet.
I'll be there. Two great bands.
~it is shining it is shining~
It's been a hectic month for me. All kinds of shit happened and all kinds of good things happened and I was physically and emotionally drained out.
Anyway, can't wait to get back into the music. Downloading right now!
Cheers to all you beautiful folks!
If you can't get high on purely music and the sounds that you hear, you're missing out on something.
I have gone back and played tracks 5 thru 11 at least 3 times in a row. I do think the singer sounds forced on occasion, gets into that country twang (not sure how best to describe it) a little to deep. I like track 10 a bunch however I would love to take that fiddle/violin/whatever the string section is and toss it out the window. I f-ing hate it period. I have never found it to enhance anything, it is just wasted space. Less would have been better. I just had to vent on my pet peeve in Country/Alt-country. Thankfully it just isn't that prevalent.
That said, my favorite track is 8. Love it. I will be for sure introducing Lucero to a few I know would feel the same way I do. I like having something in my hands that I know is a sure thing. I am glad I finally got around to listening to a studio recording, brings back fine memories of the time I got to see them live.
i'm glad that you like it. and i totally understand what you mean about the vocals seeming a little forced on this record. i feel like this one, at least in comparison to their other records, has a lot more production involved, especially with the vocals. and it shows. on the subsequent releases, ben's voice is much more in line with how he sounds live, and the vocals are mixed much less prominently. but as far as songwriting goes, i have never been able to get past this record, i just find it to be one of my favorites. especially darby's song (track 12), here at the starlite (track 11), and the last song (track 8). hope everyone else is enjoying it as well.
~it is shining it is shining~
~it is shining it is shining~
As someone else mentioned earlier, the middle songs of the record were the most enjoyable to me, up to Here At the Starlite. The Last Song is probably my favorite on the record.
But the guys voice... ugh. It may be his natural voice, but it just sounds like he is trying to sing that way as opposed to it being a natural vocal expression. For a few of these tracks I could picture a female vocal, one with an "airy" feel to it, serving the song much better than his vocals do.
Thanks for sharing. I remember them being on the Bonnaroo lineup this year, so I was naturally curious about them.
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On a side note, it really sucks that they changed the search function on here and that you can no longer search for the term "SMC".
Also, I am going to be putting up an album that I shared on another site. I figured since it was up, I might as well share it here as well in case anyone wanted to check it out.
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PM me your email and i'll try to get it to you one way or another, if you'd like.