I just don’t get it...
2
By Hum1021
The original was so great....This is pretty weak. I just can’t figure out what she is trying to do here.
But why?
3
By Jeeper0425
I love her artistry and always will, but I'm afraid the rationale for this project is lost on me. Why a studio remake? Why not just a recorded live performance?
It’s Lucinda all the way.
5
By lmshaw66
Doesn’t get any better than this!!!
Much Improved
5
By MRDAVIDCPA
This Re Recording is a vast improvemnt over the original. The vocals and musicianship are stellar. I always liked the original, but I like this one much better. I hope she Re Records some of her other earlier efforts.
An unnecessary & confused revisit...
2
By Prov. 3:5-6
Sweet Old World was and is a classic. This revisitation feels both unnecessary and confused. For longtime fans, these new versions will feel hollow and missing something from the original. Frankly, half the vocals on the new version sound slurred and messy. Very disappointing.
This Sweet Old World
3
By beckjm
Now, let me say that I love, love, love me some Lu - been a fan for 30 years - but I'm tempted to file this one under "things better left alone." Now, I don't think Lucinda Williams can make a bad album - but this spin on her 1992 album is just OK. Some reviews have pointed to the difference in the suppleness of her voice compared to 25 years ago, but for me, that's not really the problem, as I think her weathered voice has always suited her song's characters. For me it's the production - it sounds like it was recorded from the next room or under a blanket. I honestly checked my stereo to see if something was wrong with it or a speaker had dropped out. If that was intentional, well, it doesn't work for me. The production this time almost makes every song sound the same - I didn't even identify some of these songs even though I've known them for years. After listening, I then played the original and was reminded how great it was. I had some personal trauma around the years of the original release and was again looking forward to the same soothing from the re-release that I got from the original. Didn't happen. But maybe that's me setting an unfairly high standard for this release.
I'm gonna give it some more spins to re-evaluate, but for me, the re-recording was a misstep - but still certainly worth the purchase price.
Apple get it together
5
By kruekutz
You don't even know how to release one of America's finest with a veritable revision and reinterpretation of one of her finest? Re-assign whoever is handling Lucinda's account and give her and us the credit we deserve.
Really Great
5
By jah tovah
In response to Bradleyss the" huge fan", what shows have you been seeing? Lucinda's current band Buick 6 is smoking, and if you listen to the band rocking on "Prove My Love," and don't think it's awesome, well, I don't know. I saw them on tour last fall and thought it was sad that Lucinda actually had to read some of her lyrics, but the band is great and she still sounds great. I really love Stuart Mathis on guitar and David Sutton on bass. If you are a Lucinda fan you can't go wrong with this one!
What The ---- ?
2
By The Bradleyss
I'm a huge Lucinda Williams fan, but she's checked out, artistically. Her live shows over the past few years have been unimpressive, to say the least, and now she's re-recording one of her own LPs? Time to call it a career, unfortunately.
Great Idea
5
By Bix171
This is a great idea, updating an older album. The pre-release download "Six Blocks Away" is looser, funkier and has a really good guitar outro. Lu's voice, weathered and assured, interprets the song with a more world-weary feel, as if the years of introspection reveals a more mature sadness the youthful first version only hints at. Songs like "Sweet Old World" and "Pineola" fit right into the themes of despair that pervaded "The Ghosts Of Highway 20" and "West" and I think will only benefit from a refresh. I'm curious about how she will approach Nick Drake's "Which Will" this time. Questions: are the bonus tracks new or updates of songs that were cut from the original release? And why does Lu swap "He Never Got Enough Love" with "Drivin' Down A Dead End Street" (which I've never heard and which is also out of sequence from the original). God, September 29th can't get here fast enough.
