miranda lambert

Did you see her last night on the CMA Awards? I really like the new album, but I thought her performance was off last night.

nope i don't believe they were broadcast in england

Oops, yeah, I hadn't thought of that. Forgot where you were. She sang that song last night.

I only recently noticed that little bit of tape-looped high-pitched something or other (flute) at the beginning and end of "Down." Nicely done.

It's half past ten, another six pack in

just kills me, it's rap-like in its internal rhyme and bluntness, it sounds like fat joe could say it

I need to hear this album. I was thinking of going to the record store and buying Britney Spears, Joni Mitchell, and Miranda Lambert.

put those women in a sack, throw them in the ocean, and see who survives.

also, you can sing these lyrics to the tune of "copperhead road"

also, you can sing these lyrics to the tune of "copperhead road"

which makes this at least the second time she's written a song threatening to commit violent revenge against her cheating man to the tune of a steve earle song. (and both of them are great.)

I love this album.

This album is great, especially any track where she goes all crazy vengeful fires-of-hell psychobitch.

Yeah, that's really novel.

those are my least favorite tracks!

(xpost) Boohoo. :_( Scary female country singers upset me.

Miranda Lamber is about as scary as a flannel shirt.

and as hot?

Initially disappointment that it wasn't a Stones covr, but it's pretty damn good.

disappointed

OFL the reliance on hot guitar riffs is a plus (not sure if the power chord-anchored John Prine cover is a minus though). Despite perfect lines like the one about the dog she buried in her backyard, "The House That Built Me" is a "Mama I'm Alright"-"Me and Charlie Talking" retread (I'd rather hear flinty-eyed autobiography from her than any other singer-songwriter her age though). I've warmed a little to "Dead Flowers."

The opening riff on "Maintain the Pain" (clunky title) is straight outta Rush, to these ears.

this rules, her best album by far

Yeah? Another one I plan on picking up tonight.

need to get this. i see she's covering one of my favorite fred eaglesmith tunes.

Better than Kerosene, almost as good as Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. I'm shocked, considering how lukewarm I initially responded to the singles.

Brilliant album, sceptical after singles as well. She's just doing the right thing here -- she couldn't possibly top Crazy-Ex on its own terms and seems to just play around here, vary her vocals, have a good time. Three superb albums in a row, where will it end?

I like it fine, but not nearly as much as the other two albums. (And "Maintain The Pain" actually reminds me more of Hole than Rush!)

My Spin review:

http://spin.com/reviews/miranda-lambert-revolution-columbia-nashville

And I say more (as do other people) here:

http://www.thesinglesjukebox.com/?p=1339

So chuck you'd rate them Crazy Ex-Girlfriend >>> Kerosene >>> Revolution ?

Probably. But really, the first two run about even for me; "Kerosene" itself is by far my favorite song by her, though the second album is slightly more consistent. Both made my top 10s the year they came out.

(Actually, Crazy Ex Girlfriend was my #7 album of 2007, and I'm pretty sure Kerosene was my #2 or 3 of 2005, though I'd have to dig out the list to make sure. It's possible 2007 had tougher competition though, who knows.)

After a couple of days spinning this it feels almost equal to the two others. I think 'Kerosene' is the prettiest and 'Ex-GF' the spiciest, and I take them both as different sides to her and wouldn't want to duel them. This is just so rich, though, I love the feel of her voice and the overall production.

Why was I crossing my fingers when I first put this on? Two excellent albums, can she keep it going? And she does. I feel the same with Brad Paisley's albums. This will end up in my Top 10 albums of the year, along with Paisley. It's funny, she's had only 1 Top 10 single on the Billboard Country charts (#7 "Gunpowder and Lead") but she's the most critically acclaimed female Country singer around.

My favorite tracks, fwiw (though definitely not in this order): "White Liar," "Only Prettier," "Me And Your Cigarettes," "The The Way The World Goes 'Round," "Time To Get A Gun." Pretty sure that none of these come anywhere near my favorite tracks on the first two albums, though.

I'm guessing the people who like the new album more than me also don't think it blands out toward the end (i.e., the last four tracks)? Curious what people hear in those, and in "Makin' Plans," which I also have basically no use for (at least not yet). Also think "Dead Flowers" is probably Miranda's worst (well, most mediocre) single ever.

I feel that way about "White Liar." It does tail off towards the end, but albums with more than twelve songs are, according to the Soto Book of Common Law, guilty until proven innocent. I'm also bored of her gun schtick.

To me, it's all about that middle part with the two-minute rockers: "Me and Your Cigarette," "Maintain the Pain," "Airstream Song."

"Maintain The Pain" is a little too grunge-draggy for me, I think, and "Airstream Song" a little too cutesy. Like them both okay, though, and I could change my mind. Do agree that the guns are getting old, but then again maybe she sticks with them because that's what she's good at.

I'm looking forward to hearing this.

Xgau in his new CG; I won't link to the MSN site, since whenever I go there I get virus alert messages:

Miranda Lambert: 'Revolution' (Columbia)
Grade: A MINUS

Of course she's quieting down as she grows up, plus covering her bases, so after half a dozen winners she levels off into a nine- song sequence that begins lame with "Makin' Plans," ends lame with "Virginia Bluebelle," and strides along quite nicely in between. And since growing up also means learning to hit your target without discharging your weapon, the grinning "Only Prettier" and the killer metaphor "Me and Your Cigarettes" establish a welcome lightness. In case you had any doubts, Lambert asserts her distance from Music Row by covering John Prine, Julie Miller, and Fred Eaglesmith, the last of whom buys her a gun. Which I guess is how it comes to pass that, in the one that she wrote with her squeeze, the girl catches the boy in bed with some other her and shoots that sinner dead.

Yeah, an A- is about right.

Yeah. Quite like this, although it does peter off towards the very end. The two minute blasts in the middle are the highlight (Me & Your Cigarettes and Airstream Song especially). Particularly like the Eaglesmith cover and Only Prettier for the ways they push my buttons and aggravate my oversensitive political dog whistle ears. Only Prettier is the first time I feel like the target of Miranda's evisceration and it stings.

This woman is a miracle of deliciousness!

Particularly like the Eaglesmith cover and Only Prettier for the ways they push my buttons

as an eaglesmith fan i think it'd be a mistake to hear that song as exactly pro-gun. it's really about a mostly futile reaction to powerlessness. "time to put something between me and the sun." (plus, it's funny.)

Her voice does a good job of mediating too.

Lambert asserts her distance from Music Row by covering John Prine, Julie Miller, and Fred Eaglesmith

Not sure I buy this, btw. Toby Keith's covered Eaglesmith and Paul Thorn before; Gary Allan's covered Todd Snider. And I'd be surprised if Miranda is the first person to cover Prine or Miller. So it's not as unheard-of a practice on Music Row as Xgau seems to imply. Nasvhille likes good songs, and singers often go outside the mainstream looking for them.

I do agree a lot of the album has a certain "alt-country" (whatever that means anymore) feel, though (and said so in my Spin review.)

George Strait had a country #1 with Prine's "I Just Want to Dance with You" in 1998.

btw I love Revolution but haven't yet gotten my thoughts in order about it.

Hell, didn't John Mellencamp in his Coog days co-write a song with Prine? (Coog's a roots-rocker too, but still, he was a pop star then)

Yeah, that sounds kinda familiar...

Anyway, it might be worth noting that, on her previous album, Miranda covered Gillian Welch, Patty Griffin, and Carlene Carter, who all share her gender.

No, it's not a bad record. My problem is with some of the shticky fastones.

Yeah the slower numbers on this are where it’s at

The last track, “livin on the run”, is a nicer uptempo one

I’m curious though, does anyone rate “Vice” in their top ten Miranda songs? It maybe top 5 for me. So many great lines

It's not top five but I like it.

"january heart" and "run" stick out to me as two where the lyrics are simple and direct and some of the emotional weight of the song is pushed onto the arrangements in a way that is really effective. "january heart" reminds me of some of the good album tracks on 'golden hour' but miranda teases it out into shimmery electric guitar land

i mean honestly "run" is a complete stunner to me, i think i would put that up there w/ some of the best of 'weight of these wings' ... it's definitely cut from the same cloth. i love the simplicity of the first verse ("you took too long to see i was unhappy / and i took too long to tell you that i was / gonna run") and the wordless emoting leading into the bridge/outro part really really hits for me

i mean that bridge/outro whatever is killer -- "oh this freedom i found baby sure wasn't free / i owe you a lifetime of apologies" ... i feel like she returns here to the end of "runnin just in case" -- "happiness ain't prison, but there's freedom in a broken heart." one of my all time fav lyrics and i like the different perspective on it in this song. she really summons the spirit of the great moments in her discography at that point in the song imo

i also really like "wildfire" as one of those back half of the album tracks of hers that locates christine mcvie in the sphere of influences

Yeah agree about “run”. It gets me every time.

“I hate love songs” suffers from a familiar, muted chorus but the verses are great and some of the darkest stuff she’s sung

"Run" is def one of the two or three best: a sequel to "Runnin' Just in Case." It makes sense that it's her first solo songwriting credit since 2016.

Keepers: "Armadillo," "Run," "No Man's Land," "Wildfire," "Dammit Randy," "January Heart."

If y'all want another album whose slow ones are in the same vein, Carly Pearce's latest is excellent.

XP I'd have "Vice" in my top 5 official singles for her, if I'm being pedantic about chart singles vs album tracks. It's a career song for damn near anybody else.

Agree w Alfred, again, that the album is *good*; will maintain that it's *her* second-weakest, but that's more of a statement on the quality of the rest of her catalogue than it is an indication that this is a poor effort on its own.

Started a new job so haven’t been able to read/post in a while but came by to see if my reservations were shared. I would agree with the sentiment that it is her second weakest album (after FTR). Like that one, it’s got a handful of songs I like and a common sound, but the songwriting doesn’t quite hold my ear, a shame given the credits. There are four songs I’d rank: Dammit Randy, Run, I Hate Love Songs, and Living on the Run (which continues her long history of knocking her covers out of the park). On the plus side the thing sounds great, as does she. I wish there were more risks; more Pink Sunglasses and Track Records and fewer Alimonys, which I don’t find particularly clever.

i could probably write a book about how miranda is (at least for me) some idealized version of cool southern woman, but really it's all there in her voice. the way she says "don't i look good?" in "pink sunglasses", her voice cracking slightly at the build up for "run"... melts me as a true admirer of cool southern women

like Brad Paisley she was good at writing Songs About Stuff.

was???

I don't anticipate future "Pink Sunglasses"s.

eh, i'm anticipating a cool late career of some fashion. not sure why i'd doubt her.

i think these last few records mirror a lot of bigtime county star's albums. a lot of good stuff that doesn't veer too far from their wheelhouse, some corny shit performed well, and always well produced

that is, bigtime country artist in their late 30s early 40s

Well, sure, this album augurs no decline, though I've colleagues who think it started in 2019.

i would agree with a slight decline in album material in that period, but her singing/performing is still top notch

for me, her being good at writing Songs About Stuff is less of a factor than being such a great performer

wildcard goes into the canon with the rest of her classics for me. it’s definitely not on the level of WoW, platinum, revolution but those are best albums
ever material and i honestly don’t think it’s too far off. the second half of that album from “bluebird” on hits as hard as any stretch from those other albums imo. the first half is slightly patchy comparatively but i have a hard time not seeing a half dozen classics on that album. i really enjoy putting that one on front to back

marfa tapes and on is where it enters different territory for me. start to get into concept-y albums, more hokey homages than usual, a little less turmoil in the lyrics etc

tbc I'm not part of the country crew consensus. I love Wildcard (wish she'd done more loud guitar things like "Locomotive"; and "Settling Down" gets stuck in my head often enough for me to consider perhaps all-time-best track)) and Palomino's a thrill too.

I took like three songs off wildcard that I should revisit bur I would agree with my edited version

I also admit that as a Miranda fan I’ve always preferred her softer side to the bangers. I’m a sentimental country fan at heart

Bluebird is a hell of a song

a deserved hit

god "Dark Bars" slays me

“Dark Bars” might be my favourite track of hers, though a top twenty would just be so uniformly strong

yeah Dark Bars is amazing

Ok so the four songs i removed from Wildcard are (Alfred’s fave) “locomotive”, “messin’ with my head”, “white trash” and “way too pretty for prison”

“fire escape” is the only one i’d for sure remove, i always skip that one

Agree with Heez's list and would add the one about the wash

i love “mess with my head” ... she should write more songs that sound like the cars!

yeah i love that one too

Yeah “mess with my head” is great

Ok readded

Living on the Run is such a great closer. Would gladly listen to an album of songs like it.

thank co-writer David Allan Coe

People you thought were...

Don't forget, as great as her strictly solo stuff has been, Marfa Tapes and the Pistol Annies records (especially #1 and #3) push her into the stratosphere.

Wildcard still sounds great to me. one of the highest ratio of hits in her catalogue. Jay Joyce was a good fit for that one and is no doubt a big reason Mess With My Head, Locomotive, and Track Record all pop.

xp I too really like the Marfa Tapes. "They Closed Down the Honky Tonks" is the only good song about covid lockdown that i can think of.

love the Marfa Tapes

I'm the only skeptic. I like Lambert with million-dollar production.

"Track Record" came up on shuffle yesterday. Are there other country songs that sound vaguely like the Cure?

Yeah it’s true. I know ppl that would kill to hear Robert Smith come in after that intro.

It really is an incredible album. The synths on “dark bars”, the cool little crazy horse solo on “fire escape”

Also “holy water” is so good.

Mmm, a sailin' snake, oh, from the bullpit
At the church on Maine
They're makin' deals with the Devil
In the good Lord's name
I'm stuck at home missin'
A dirty soul cleansin'
Ain't got a dime for the time
I believe in music
Personal communion
He'll lead you right to the light