Dixie Chicks - Taking the Long Way
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Free Music Notes for Taking the Long Way
Free Music Review: The Best of the Best!!!
Hit: 5 Stars
The Chicks are back with their long awaited album. All I have to say is...WoW!!! Its just so amazing. The vocals, the lyrics, the harmonies, the instruments, the music...its just to much to say to try to describe this album!!! Well I have just heard this album 7 times and I can not put it down and I know you wouldnt either because this is the best of best. Whether you like the funky type like I like it, the slow lullaby, or the lyric bound sounds of not ready to make nice. This album is for anyone willing to give it a true listen and be in awe of this cds emotions and truth. Here are my ratings on the songs:
Taking the long way: 10/5. One of my favs. Very autobiographical.
Easy Silence- 5/5
Not Ready to make nice-10/5. Their 1st single and another fav of mines because of deep lyrics.
Everybody knows- 5/5
bitter end-10/5. Another fav. The harmonies of this song just outdues it all.
Lullaby-100000/5. All I have to say if no one likes this song they seriously need to check themselves. lol its just that great.
Lubbock or leave it-10/5. Love the attitude and courage the girls had with this song.
Silent House- 10/5. This is a deep topic to talk about to me and the song is just perfect to me.
Favorite Year- 10/5. Love the music and words of this song.
Voice inside my head-10/5. A very deep topic either about abortion/adoption, but I really think it is towards adoption, but we will never know till the chicks confirm.
I like it- 10/5. Very funky and something you could dance to.
Baby hold on- 10-/5. Gosh you will fall in love with this song the first time you hear it. The pleading of natalies voice is just to much to handle for me.
So hard-10/5. Love the topic of this song. The Chicks outdue themselves with this one.
I Hope-10000/5. Can anymore be said? Its the best I have ever heard in my life. This is the ideal way people want life to be for themselves and for everyone else and the Chicks just had the guts to say it for us all.
All in all this album is an answer to all my prayers. Its just the true meaning of what music should be. There are no flaws and you will truly enjoy every second of a journey the chicks lead us through. Thank you Chicks and thank you everyone for reading this. Now go out there and buy it :D
Free Music Review: 4.5 Stars for New Dixie Chicks
Hit: 5 Stars
While the mainstream media is in a dither about the new direction of The Dixie Chicks, fans will recognize that this is really the next obvious step. Lets face it, The Chicks were never really part of country music's mainstream. They were played more because Sony didn't know what else to do with an artist who sells that many albums. However, by the time Home came around, it was plain that The Chicks were more alt than country. Lost in the shuffle of The Controversy is the sad fact that the singles from Home were getting diminished airplay long before Natalie said word one about The Prez, for no other reason than because they were "too country." So we find up in a place that fans have been expecting to find The Chicks since their first album, with the aptly titled Takin' The Long Way Round.
The problem is that this leads them into a whole new territory of music. While they can easily compete with people like Allison Moorer (though her better songs tend to be far more poetic) and Kasey Chambers and they are certainly a notch above people like Elizabeth Cook, they don't have the extra edge that puts them in the same league as Neko Case or Patty Griffin. They don't push the envelope quite as much or write with quite enough poetry. But for a debut album, which in a sense this is, this is a very good album.
The song on Takin' The Long Way are darker than anything on their previous albums. This however, if reflective of a maturity that allows for emotions that aren't filtered through bubble gum. One of the blessings of Alt-country, which benefit's The Chicks on this album, is the ability to be hard edged and hard nosed. While this album might have a hard time on mainstream radio where political thought is insipid at worst ("Angry American") or twee at best ("We've Got Nothing But Love To Prove."), it will fit easily in between Merle Haggard and Jenny Lewis. Plus the songs of love and hate of small town America blends easily between similarly themed songs by Lori McKenna and Charlie Robison. Another benefit of leaving the mainstream for Americana, is that the latter allows for songs by, for and about grown-ups, which allows them to move past the juvelania and sappy love songs of their former contemporaries into studies of a deeper and more philosophical nature.
Free Music Review: Thank you Chicks!!
Hit: 5 Stars
I have to admit that I didn't buy this album when it first came out. Rather it took me until they won 5 Grammys for me to pay attention. After the Grammys, I rented their documentary (one of the greatest things I've ever done!). Now I regret not being a diehard fan and following this amazingly talented band from the beginning. I missed out on 10 years! I've been trying really hard to catch up since!
Like all the Chicks' albums, as I've discovered, this one grows on you with each listen. The lyrics are honest and tell a story - a personal story - and the music wasn't slapped on haphazardly like most albums. Emily and Martie are musicians first and foremost. They take their time with the music, making sure the nuances, the solos and the emotion are just right. They are a perfect match with Natalie who is first and foremost a singer and an entertainer. She understands how to put emotion into a song - whether it be happiness, sorrow, confusion, bitterness, anger, tenderness or love. She sings everything with conviction and passion. I love it!
The documentary was great because you got to see the story behind each of these songs, and each one is intensely personal. There are some political allusions, but only because politics - and the desire of some to blow nothing into a huge something - affected their lives so profoundly. However, you won't find it to be a political album. If you didn't know their history, you would have no clue that politics are being referenced or even where the Chicks stand. Many of the songs are about relationships, and there's a great one for their kids.
If you love this album, you HAVE to work your way back through all the Dixie Chicks albums. Go back through Top of the World Live, Home, Fly and Wide Open Spaces. You'll appreciate each one more as you go backwards. You'll appreciate the growth of a band that has become one of country's all time greats. (Country may not play them on the radio these days, but they still claim them as one of their greats...ironic, no?) In me, they have made a life long fan, simply by being who they are and paying attention to the music (plus they're awesome in concert!).
So, my review? I love love love the Dixie Chicks. Buy this album! You won't regret finding a new passion.
Free Music Review: Taking the high road
Hit: 5 Stars
It is nearly impossible to dissect this work from what is now Natalie Maines' most famous line, apologizing that the president of the United States comes from Texas, the same state the Chicks are from. This single line and its penultimate apology will always be stapled to any press release, any review, any tour announcements until the genealogy of this band is gone in about six hundred years.
In a world of instant media, demand for clarification and the final crucifixion of those who it is believed are un-patriotic, it would have been very easy to walk back those words. For a while, they would have received some bad press for being disingenuous, but ultimately the world would have ignored the comment. There was an apology, necessary for some amount of damage control, it doesn't take the honed skills of Jacques Clouseau to figure out that this was an insincere act, probably done because Maines felt poorly for putting her bandmates in some deep water.
I find it curious then, at a time when the President's poll numbers are lower than the Intelligence Quotient of a developmentally disabled gorilla that huffs paint thinner mixed with melted down lithium ion batteries that people still have a problem with Maines choosing to speak out. When we see just how much people knew, just how much was covered up and by whom, the out and out bumbling that would actually make Clouseau look up and say "Idiots," it confuses me why people still think Maines was off, and as such, have chosen to label this band on some kind of modern McCarthyian blacklist.
This is a strong album, and more than that it's not just a little bold. Anyone could have let it slide, and published a book in ten years, or gone on Barbara Walters to sob in front of the camera, describing how hard it is to be rich, famous and beautiful. Instead, they went into a studio, put it to music and stuck by principles, and more than that, they actually put out an album with more of a rock feel than a country or bluegrass sheen.
The highlights of this album for me are "Easy Silence," "Not Ready to Make Nice," "Everybody Knows," and "Lullaby." Political correctness for the sake of political correctness aside, there is an appeal in this album, and not just aesthetically or artistically.
Free Music Review: One of the Greatest Albums of 2006
Hit: 5 Stars
With this album the Dixie Chicks have made a real masterpiece. This is by far their most consistent and most personal album, which really says a lot, considering how strong their three previous albums are. Rick Rubin's production is simply perfect for their music.
For the first time they have released an album of entirely new originals. The album has been long awaited, not least due to the controversal statements of Natalie Maines, which made many fans turn their back the group. It seems all this controversy made the girls want to make the perfect album - and in my opinion they have succeeded. Each song is a gem; some are potential classics.
The album starts off extremely stongly with three outstanding tracks. "The Long Way Around" is simply so catchy that it must be the obvious choice for their next single.
The album contains a handful of great ballads, and "Easy Silence" may very be the strongest - a very moving and personal song, which also could turn out to have hit-potentials.
"Not Ready to Make Nice", the first single, deals lyrically directly with the political controversy, and muscially it's another outstanding track.
"Everybody Knows" and "Bitter End" are more "country" and traditional Dixie Chicks - both fine tracks.
"Lullaby" is what it says - a quiet acoustic lullaby - and a beautiful one.
"Lubbock or Leave it" is an up-beat bluegrass rocker; not unlike some of the tracks from "Home", though heavier produced.
"Silent House" is dark ballad - lyrically dealing with getting old.
"Favorite Year" is another personal favourite; a very catchy track sounding a lot like Sheryl Crow, which is really no surprise, as Crow co-wrote the song with Martie and Natalie.
The funky and groovin' "I Like it" shows that the girls are not afraid to step completely away from their country-roots.
"Baby Hold On" is a fine rock-ballad - interesting sound on the lead guitar.
"I Hope" was released a Katrine charity track; another soulful recording and a worthy closing track.
"Taking the Long Way" is one of the greatest records released this year, and is very likely to be an album that 2006 will be remembered for.