Lucinda Anonymous

West
Lucinda Williams
Lost Highway
Out Feb 13

Track by track, the five phases of dealing with the new Lucinda Williams album:

1. Denial

"It's all Hal Willner's fault!"

Nah, I kid. It's Lucinda's. It's easy to think of West as completing trilogy in Lucinda's post-Car Wheels rootsy adult folk-pop phase. Essence and World Without Tears are unrivalled documents of mature love, loss and life. Breathtaking imagery adorn lyrics which, to this second, catch in my chest when I think of them. Bringing on tribute album impresario Willner signals an admirable desire to keep moving musically. Musically it's sometimes problematic, failing to lift the songs but the problems of West start and end with the songwriting which, except for a line here or there, completely fails to engage me.

Are You Alright?

A good fifteen seconds but a poor opening song. To start it has that familiar, sweet Lucinda Williams lull of acoustic guitar strummed over a vibrating base/bass but five minutes of weak couplets leaves me a bit dazed. I wasn't surprised once by the rhymes, or involved by the story. OK, the story is you left me and that kinda sucks but how many rocking songs has Lu written on that theme? The harmony singing -- as on the rest of the album -- is subtle and effective. Overall the sound is not unpleasant, the swaying chorus refrain invites a singalong but it's a cheap thrill.

Mama You Sweet

My other theory is that the opening of all these songs are rather good, but too repetitive to sustain power over many minutes. The tiredness in her voice is appropriate to the song, it drags the song down rather than pushing it along. The organ and, in the final thirty seconds, electric guitar snakes along impressively. An acceptable minor song.

2. Anger

"Where is my joy?"

Learning How to Live

Suffers the same fate as "Are You Alright" but it has a bit more heart, and another fine piano part (stand up, Rob Burger.) A million songs have been written about coping with a break up and being better for it, but there is still more to say. Lucinda Williams is capable of taking us new places with it but there's a minute's worth of material here. Again, if it were put on in the background I wouldn't dash to turn it off but I don't look to Lucinda Williams for competent and polite.

Fancy Funeral

Perhaps the most disappointing song, since I had high hopes. I liked it after a brief listen a few weeks ago and the topic promises great profundity. Funerals are for the living not the dead and the image can be used in so many symbolic ways to touch on our vulnerabilities, But the lyrics never rise above a banal recitation of unnecessary expenses, with not a hint of any wider meaning. It's an op-ed on the virtues of thrift. I understand the song comes from a real life incident she feels very strongly about and it might be one of the strongest vocal deliveries on the album, but also a real drag.

3. Bargaining

"It must be my fault!"

Unsuffer Me

A very familiar Lucinda special, part spoken, part howl of existential angst. The word "unsuffer" is so wonderful and mysterious, it bears the weight of by itself, although the menacing string section and sound that crashes on you like a wave help. Lu's voice has certainly taken a turn to the Dylanesque crumble which is to my taste. A momentary return to form, it's nothing new in her repertoire but at least it doesn't sound so much like a moping 14 year old.

Everything Has Changed

A simple song, stripped back. Same territory as "Are You Alright?" and "Learning How to Live" but with more mystery and sprawl. By which I guess I mean how a great line can conjure up a whole world of emotion and being extra to its own words, an ordinary lines gives up everything on the first listen. Too many ordinary lines on West. Not that this is a great song, but its a pretty good one.

Come On

Angry Lu can still rock. Oh, still totally loving the organ. Three songs in a row I can work with, despite a few clunky moments and the "you didn't even make me ... come on" refrain is a bit too cute. I love the last eight seconds.

4. Depression

is having a hero and then knowing you have to write a critical review of their long awaited new album.

Where is My Love

Obligatory Delta towns namecheck song which fails to interest, again because of the emotional and literal poverty of the lyrics. It's not that every song has to be "Desolation Row," in numbers like "Lonely Girls" Lucinda has previously taken a familiar theme, added barely more than a couple of lines of text and created enduring, moving art. But there's nothing new or interesting here.

Rescue

An effective slow burn, which just skirts being too slow. The la la las remind me of Leonard Cohen (that's a compliment) and while it doesn't set my world alight it's one of the few songs I thought had something to offer on repeat listenings.

I'd almost skipped ahead to acceptance, not quite.

What If

No yeah, definitely back to depression.

So … what if birds did have bank accounts?

*blink*

5. Acceptance

I listened to the album through a few times and meh'd out about it. Then I created an iTunes playlist with it and some other records I felt like hearing, a few early Townes', a couple of Ray Wylie Hubbard discs and Otis Taylor's White African. I put it on shuffle and set to cleaning the flat. It worked, to an extent. The individual songs are easier to hear, sometimes, when separated from the herd. End to end the samey quality to the soupy rolling production, and also the recognition she's done all this before, but well. Picked out individually, some of the plodding repetition of the music and sentiment locks in and begins to carry you along. Like some kind of lyrical mandalas, perfect for zoning out on the washing up. Cheered, I listened to it straight through again and the feeling leaked away like the bubbles I left in the bottom of the sink.

Wrap My Head Around That

Weird arty nine minute Lu. She's done this exact same song numerous times before, much better. Mocking the –let's face it – dick size of an ex-lover is momentarily satisfactory in a "you go grrrlfriend he's not good enough for you anyway!" kind of way (accompanied by a night of tequila, chocolate ice cream and Fried Green Tomatoes.) On other listens I just find it embarrassing. I'm actually not a huge fan of her hectoring half spoken shtick. Sometimes songs like "Sweet Side" and "Everything is Wrong" can work but it's not my favourite mode although it can be a bit hypnotic.

Words

This has some good moments although feels partially forced and rushed. Listening to a song about how she hopes here words don't fail on an album on which her words have failed it a bit awkward though. I can't look this song in the eye.

West

If this were on Essence or World Without Tears, it would be acceptable filler material but forgotten next to masterpieces like "Fruits of My Labor", "Words Fell", "Blue", "Those Three Days" and numerous others. On this album it's an impressive finish. The lyrics are more what we'd expect – the message is simple ("if you don't come out West with me, you'll never know at all ...") and beautifully sung. It works.

The reviews of West have been, it's fair to say, mixed. Some people still find it a masterpiece (for instance The Observer and Detroit Free Press) and the anti crowd will find critical support from the Village Voice and New Yorker. So there's alot of room for debate here, one person's banal is another's profound. But as someone who has emotionally invested a lot in having Lucinda Williams sing back to me my own story, I'm feeling rather empty right now.