Dixie Chicks - Taking the Long Way
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Free Music Notes for Taking the Long Way
Free Music Review: Superstars, Renegades, Innovators, Heroes, Villians and Moms
Hit: 5 Stars
The Dixie Chicks, the biggest-selling female band in music history have a new CD, have you heard? It has garnered positive reviews from every site I have seen. Word of mouth is tremendous and their CD is already the number 1 on Amazon.com for weeks. How does it measure up to a fan? Every song was co-written by a Dixie Chick and this is their greatest achievement in their four CD's. Melodic, thought provoking, back to their country roots and intertwining stories of their lives that resonate with strong feelings and personal philosophies.
Everyone knows of the controversy with the group, so we will not belabor it here except to say that it helped to generate their best CD to date. Natalie Maines says "It was awesome ... to be angry, to be sure that you're right and that the things you do matter. You don't realize that you're not feeling those feelings until you do. And then you realize how much more interesting life is." Its opening salvo: "Forgive/Sounds good/Forget/I is not sure I could." Its fierce chorus: "It's too late to make it right/I probably wouldn't if I could/`Cause I'm mad as hell/Can't bring myself to do what it is you think I should." Or the bridge: "How in the world can the words that I said/Send somebody so over the edge/That they'd write me a letter/Sayin' that I better shut up and sing/Or my life will be over."
The CD was written with first rate singers and writers, partners ,Semisonic's Dan Wilson but also including the Jayhawks' Gary Louris, Sheryl Crow, Neil Finn, Keb' Mo', Pete Yorn and Linda Perry. It has been written that this CD is an extension of SoCal rock tradition like Stevie Nicks and Linda Ronstandt. The backing group consists of a few Heartbreakers, as in Tom Petty; Red Hot Chili Peppers, and the best producer in the business, Rick Rubin.
``Lubbock or Leave It'' talks about the small town hypocrisy facing Natalie Maines
``Everybody Knows'' discusses the look at the cult of celebrity.
``Silent House,'' is a heartbreaker about Natalie Maines's grandmother, who has Alzheimer's disease.
"It's So Hard When It Doesn't Come Easy" addresses infertility. ("I think we feel a responsibility to break down some barriers," says Maguire. "It's much more of a common problem than people realize.")
"I Hope," co-written with Keb' Mo', during last year's telethon benefiting the victims of Hurricane Katrina; is the winner here. A wonderful hymn with the resounding refrain "I Hope".
"Baby Hold On" is a image of domestic life.
"Lullaby," which they call "a gift to our kids."
"Not Ready To Make Nice" has been written about ad nauseaum but is powerful.
"Favorite Year" co-written with Sheryl Crow, talks about how they started and what year was the best.
This CD is a tribute to these Superstars, renegades, innovators, heroes, villains, and moms, The Dixie Chicks. The lyrics from "Favorite Year" say it all:
You looked at me like no one else
But sometimes love just doesn't seem to conquer all
We search for someone else to blame
But sometimes things can't stay the same
But would you know me now
Would you lay me down beside you
Tell me everything I want to hear
Like that was your favorite year
Like that was your favorite year You looked at me like no one else
But sometimes love just doesn't seem to conquer all
We search for someone else to blame
But sometimes things can't stay the same
Highly, highly recommended. prisrob 5-23-06
Free Music Review: Who cares if they want to make nice...
Hit: 5 Stars
I'm a long time Dixie Chicks listener and have found their music in the past to be targeting specific topics that have been controversial since their start. This is nothing new for them. There seems to be many good folks out there that seem they have to pick sides to be a listener to enjoy their music. If you're a supporter of their music and the artist rights to say and write what they feel, I guess you have to see past the chick statements that got them to this juncture and believe they can say what they believe in their hearts, which is the same soul their music has come from in the past. (Good-bye Earn is about killing someone, why wasn't that such a big issue!) The Chics have the right is to say what they said. Not that I would say it, or agree with it! This is the same rights many of our men and woman are paying for in blood, now and in the past... And you can damm well bet our leaders will commit them in the future! By slamming the Chicks on this freedom is the same as saying it to our troops. Freedom of speech is the freedom those countries we are currently in fighting can not enjoy. I do not agree with their statements but I sometimes have to stand back and accept it, because I will open my mouth on other topics I believe in with the same passion, and someone else will be down on me.... Then there is the other side! ... The champions sitting on the backs of these chicks portraying them as a peace loving, anti-establishment, anti-war, men-hate'n, lets go out and elect all the democrats while we can before it is to late movement....... It is sad we have brought all this together over something this trivial as music. Bottom line is this is a music CD... And this forum is about writing about the music... Not the politics...... In the end the Chick's and the record label put this CD out to there to see if they are going to make money. The record machine is not a non-profit and will not support non-money making recording artists very long. Essentially you're the fan and you spend your money if you want them to continue. My vote on this album is the music quality, lyrics and editing is noting short of the Dixie Chicks excellent style. But this is a depressing album if you listen to it too many times. If you buy music to depress you ...This is all you can eat. Personally I agree with the lyrics but don't need to hear them nor be reminded of the troubles at large too many times..... For me this CD goes on the shelf and will be seldom played. I can move on and give the chicks this one. But, if the next album follows suit... Then I am out of here and the Chicks are part of my past....
You can spend your money, or not! That is your choice on the CD quality of music you choose to listen too. I think the hype on the Chick's themselves should be left out of this forum....
My wish is all of us should spend less time on criticism about people such as this. And invest the same anger, wisdom, enthusiasm, passion and as some call it patriotism into our own person lives .... We as voters should be using this mind set towards putting people into office that do not live on campaign lies and attacks. And vote for people willing to make a difference. And willing to be measured by the public at time for re-elections..... Our leaders need to make the difference and protect our future.... Not artists....
Free Music Review: not ready to make nice
Hit: 5 Stars
I've fallen in love with this CD. It's a disc filled with so many topics, from infertility ("So Hard"} to celebrity ("Everybody Knows"). In all honesty, I like every track on this album. Some I like more than others, but I can listen without having to press the skip button. Here are a rundown of some of my favorite tracks:
THE LONG WAY AROUND
This is a journey song, about taking the long way to find your place in life. Some great lyrics are: "Well, I fought with a stranger and I found myself" and "Guess I could have made it easier on myself, but I could never follow".
EASY SILENCE
It's about living in a hectic world being thankful for their partner who gives them the silence they crave. It's not a "Thank god you shut up!" type song, but a song about how your significant other is able to put everything into perspective with their silence. Some lyrics include: "I just wanna hold onto the easy silence that you make for me/It's OK when there's nothing more to say to me, in the peaceful quiet you create for me"
NOT READY TO MAKE NICE
This is the first single. It took me a few listens, but now I really like this song. As the title suggests, they're not ready to make nice. After all the death threats and boycotts directed at them over remarks made a few years ago they're "not ready to back down... [and are] still mad as hell"
EVERYBODY KNOWS
This song is about living the life of a celebrity. It's about how people are watching every move they make and everything they do ("Stepping out, everyone can see my face/All the things I can't erase from my life) and how they must live that way these days if they want to be a star ("Standing out so you won't forget my name/That's the way we play this game").
BITTER END
This song would make a great graduation song, I think. It's about saying goodbye to friends and moving on ("Let's raise a glass to the bitter end")
LULLABY
This song is so calming and sweet. The first listen I hated it and thought it was boring, but somehow the second listen sucked me in. It's simply about their children. I love the lines "How long do you wanna be loved? Is forever enough" and "I slip in bed when you're asleep to hold you close and feel your breath on me".
LUBBOCK OR LEAVE IT
This song is about the hypocrisy of the town Lubbock, Texas, where lead singer Natalie Maines is from. It reminds me "Bible Song" by Sara Evans, yet more up-tempo.
I HOPE
This is a song about trying to set an example for our children and future generations because they're watching us and learning by example. It has a gospel-like feeling to it. My favorite line of the song is "There must be a way to change what's going on/No, I don't have all the answers" because up until this point, the song might have sounded a little know-it-all but with the admission of "I don't have all the answers", they're admitting they're confused about how to change the world as well. That's the way I see this song.
One review I read on this CD said it best: "The best Dixie Chicks album few may buy".
Free Music Review: Disappointed, but still 5 stars plus
Hit: 5 Stars
I'm a good ol' boy from Boston MA, went to a fancy NE college (25 years ago). I always liked rock and found most jazz to be listenable. I never was exposed to country music until a few years ago when my then new iPod demanded to be filled. After filling it with the several hundred CDs in my collection, I decided to try something new, and the Dixie Chicks were then one of the major acts in country music. I bought "Home."
So I listened and, surprising myself and my snobby northeastern friends, I liked them alot. The great vocals coupled with the incredibly tight acoustic music made me a great fan. All of the DC's prior CDs are also among my favorites.
I'm not sure this one will be. Still, I recognize it as a very thoughtful, highly spirited, musical and necessary response to the "buttheads" of the world who quite wrongly mistook the comments of one of the DCs critical of our invasion and occupation of Iraq as being unpatriotic and unjustified (and the bad mistake it turned out to be) and therefore thought right for the DCs to suffer their virtual banishment from "conventional" country music.
Since it it responsive to their highly personal concerns, the DCs wrote or co-wrote most or all of the songs on the album (most of their earlier work was "covers" of materials written by others). Their writing and the songs reflect their justifiable anger at those who have rejected their completely a-political (until now) music due to that single comment. They also reflect a substantial songwriting talent I never knew the DCs had. In the change in their style, these songs also reflect a very intelligent move by them (in the sense that we all need to keep our jobs)to appeal to an audience with broader political views than their prior core audience.
The album as a whole sounds more like countrified mainstream music (I just can't bring myself to call it pop, and hip-hop it ain't) than their prior albums and that is the source of the title "Disappointed" for this review. I miss the old sound and hope that, someday, the CMA establishment will permit them to return to it. I don't dislike these songs (see below; they just aren't quite the same as "Top of the World").
But the songs themselves, especially those dealing directly with both their political views and their reaction to the political intolerance of their old audience, are masterful. They are emotionally honest and compelling, even though they have more of the "hooks" pop music is noted for. For anyone, like me, who loved their old style, these songs will be a bit of a disappointment only in the sense that they aren't more of the same. But if the same people like good music, its an album worth ten times the price.
If I could convince them to, I'd love for the DCs to get rid of most or all of the electric powered insruments forming so much of the music on this album, but still apply the emotional power and honesty found in most of these songs.
A Big Fan, I still am.
TFHurley
Free Music Review: These Dixie Chicks Have All Grown Up
Hit: 5 Stars
Okay, first let's leave the politics aside and just talk music.
If you were drawn to the Dixie Chicks because of some of their bluegrass-tinged or traditional country songs from "Wide Open Spaces" or "Home," and those particular genres and the DC's excellence within them were the only things that kept you interested in their music, this may not be the CD for you.
These Dixie Chicks have all grown up. (Perhaps we should call them "Dixie Hens"?). They've never been purely country (although more country than Shania Twain and Faith Hill), and some of the earlier songs, such as their take on "Landslide," should have put diehard country fans on notice that the Dixie Chicks can and will do rock, country-rock, rockabilly, and country pop, and will do it with the same polished harmonies, melodies, and lyrics as they do with anything they touch. You simply cannot deny their talent. If you were drawn to the Dixie Chicks because of their harmonies, their musicianship, their lyrics, and their melodies, no matter what kind of song they sang, than this is undeniably their best work and you won't be disappointed. There are a lot of musical cooks in the kitchen on this one in terms of co-writers (Sheryl Crow, Linda Perry, and Keb 'Mo for example), and the result is a nice mix that takes from '70's rock, Bonnie Raitt, and even a little bit of the Al Greene Memphis sound in "I Hope."
So, your take on this CD will depend on what your expectations were.
I recently read advice from a master gardener in my local newspaper to the effect of, "If you're not killing plants, you're not growing as a gardener." Similarly, if you're not losing fans, you're probably not growing as an artist and a musician. Sure, the Dixie Chicks will lose some diehard country fans with this CD, but they will gain a whole lot of fans who might have dismissed them out of hand as being limited to just country music. Which leads to my next point: The politics.
If you bought or didn't buy this CD because of the Dixie Chicks' politics, IMHO, you're missing the point. I've never heard a Dixie Chicks song that advocated a particular political point of view; I've always liked their music because their lyrics tell a good story, they harmonize more like a sister singing group than a manufactured group (Yes, I know that Emily and Martie are sisters, but adding a non-relative can sometimes ruin the harmony), and Natalie Maines' distinctive voice beautifully stands out but stays in perferct harmony with the sisters such that I can distinguish her voice a mile out (think Stevie Nicks without the nasal inflection and drug habit and with a slight twang). There aren't many country artists whose politics I agree with, but that doesn't stop me from listening if the music is good. I only stop listening if the message IN the music is one I disagree with or is degrading to me, which is why I can't listen to a lot of hip-hop these days.
Sometimes, the music is just about the music. And this music is good.