- ARTiST: Lyle Lovett
- ALBUM: Natural Forces
- BiTRATE: 178kbps avg
- QUALiTY: EAC Secure Mode / LAME 3.97 Final / -V2 --vbr-new / 44.100Khz
- LABEL: Lost Highway
- GENRE: Country
- SiZE: 67.51 megs
- PLAYTiME: 0h 50min 11sec total
- RiP DATE: 2009-10-22
- STORE DATE: 2009-10-20
- Track List:
- --------
- 01. Natural Forces 5:40
- 02. Farmer Brown/Chicken Reel 4:03
- 03. Pantry 4:09
- 04. Empty Blue Shoes 3:00
- 05. Whooping Crane 4:53
- 06. Bayou Song 4:07
- 07. Bohemia 3:20
- 08. Don't You Think I Feel It Too 3:50
- 09. Sun And Moon And Stars 4:37
- 10. Loretta 3:41
- 11. It's Rock And Roll 4:44
- 12. Pantry (Acoustic Version) 4:07
- Release Notes:
- --------
- Always more than a straight-ahead country artist, Lyle Lovett has also dabbled
- in gospel, jazz, folk, rock, pop and even acting. After the big band sound of
- 2007Æs ItÆs Not Big ItÆs Large, this new record mostly returns him to relatively
- stripped-down country settings, on a well-judged mix of originals and covers.
- ItÆs the most satisfying record heÆs made in many a year.
- ItÆs a great irony that country songs donÆt often deal with æthe countryÆ
- itself, stereotypically being largely concerned with cheatinÆ, drinkinÆ and
- æexesÆ that live in Texas. But as its name suggests, Natural Forces is replete
- with images of the natural world, as well as plenty of artful song writing.
- Including one cheatinÆ song. Which they do twice.
- Shot through with a yearning to escape the city, the title track evokes the
- American landscape in a way that recalls Nanci GriffithÆs take on Across the
- Great Divide. After the throwaway humour of the hoedown Farmer Brown/Chicken
- Reel and the upbeat Pantry, which uses food as extended metaphor for fidelity,
- thereÆs a long and often pastoral sequence of slower songs. The most striking of
- these is Eric TaylorÆs majestic Whooping Crane, with its recurring image of an
- endangered bird as a poignant elegy for a lost America. Then thereÆs a waltzing
- rendition of Don SandersÆ evocative Bayou Song: ôFollowing æcoon tracks / To the
- edge of a sandbar / The shell of a clamö.
- Other highlights include a warm, affectionate version of Townes van ZandtÆs
- Loretta and the hilarious, razor-sharp observations of ItÆs Rock and Roll, a
- rumbustious co-write with fellow Texan Robert Earle Keen, which obviously draws
- heavily on experience.
- LovettÆs band isnÆt so large this time around, but features long-term
- collaborators Matt Rollings (piano), Viktor Krauss (bass), Sam Bush (mandolin),
- Stuart Duncan (fiddle) and Paul Franklin (steel guitar). The latter two work in
- gorgeous, melancholic tandem on several songs, most notably the slow waltz of
- DonÆt You Think I Feel It Too. Lovett masterfully disguises his own obvious
- vocal limitations with a trademark quivering vibrato and little groans
- throughout. Natural Forces is a treat from start to finish.