Search - Lucinda Williams :: Essence

Lucinda Williams
Essence
Genres: Country, Alternative Rock, Blues, Folk, Pop, Rock

Track Listings (11) - Disc #1
1. Lonely Girls
2. Steal Your Love
3. I Envy The Wind
4. Blue
5. Out Of Touch
6. Are You Down?
7. Essence
8. Reason To Cry
9. Get Right With God
10. Bus To Baton Rouge
11. Broken Butterflies

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CD Details

All Artists: Lucinda Williams
Title: Essence
Members Wishing: 0
Total Copies: 1
Label: Lost Highway
Original Release Date: 1/1/2001
Re-Release Date: 6/5/2001
Genres: Country, Alternative Rock, Blues, Folk, Pop, Rock
Styles: Americana, Contemporary Blues, Acoustic Blues, Contemporary Folk, Singer-Songwriters, Folk Rock
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPCs: 008817019727, 0008817019727, 008817019741

Synopsis

Amazon.com's Best of 2001

Few artists in recent memory have been able to wring more from less than Lucinda Williams. The hauntingly beautiful, wistful, and often breathtaking Essence is another case in point of how far raw emotion and honesty can carry an artist. Williams's singing is at its paralyzing best throughout 11 bare originals, an incredibly affecting vocal performance by a woman who was not blessed with exceptional tone, range, or pitch. Throughout, her voice is incredibly naked, vulnerable, and wrought with feeling. "Blue" and "Broken Butterflies" are gorgeous anti-lullabies whose simple melodies belie their poignant ruminations. The title track is a sultry and susceptible sex-as-drug come-on while "Reason to Cry" has all the hallmarks of a classic country lament. The only departure from the subdued mood is "Get Right with God," a rousing gospel tune that practically begs for salvation through punishment and is the rare acknowledgement of a world beyond Williams's own fears and desires. More meditative than the personal narratives found on Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, Essence is ultimately more powerful. Williams wallows in sorrow and weakness, and the result is moving and disarming. --Marc Greilsamer

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Member CD Reviews

Pam M. from MANCHESTER, CT
Reviewed on 2/12/2013...

A Gem!

Steven B. (stevenmbell) from ONEKAMA, MI
Reviewed on 6/9/2010...

Lucinda at the Top of Her Game!Honest songwritting with lirics that make you cry or Make you Open a Can of Whuppazz.Makes me think of home and how good or bad I can have it.She is a True American Icon.The kinda girl to take home to momma!She is a fairly accomplished Musician also.

Jim D. (JayDee) from ORLANDO, FL
Reviewed on 9/23/2009...

Its a nice departure from the releases that preceded it, and one that I highly recommend.

0 of 1 member(s) found this review helpful.

Sonoko F. from MONTCLAIR, NJ
Reviewed on 1/31/2007...

Lucinda Williams delivers another brilliant cd. From Amazon.com:
"Amazon.com's Best of 2001. Few artists in recent memory have been able to wring more from less than Lucinda Williams. The hauntingly beautiful, wistful, and often breathtaking Essence is another case in point of how far raw emotion and honesty can carry an artist. Williams's singing is at its paralyzing best throughout 11 bare originals, an incredibly affecting vocal performance by a woman who was not blessed with exceptional tone, range, or pitch. Throughout, her voice is incredibly naked, vulnerable, and wrought with feeling. "Blue" and "Broken Butterflies" are gorgeous anti-lullabies whose simple melodies belie their poignant ruminations. The title track is a sultry and susceptible sex-as-drug come-on while "Reason to Cry" has all the hallmarks of a classic country lament. The only departure from the subdued mood is "Get Right with God," a rousing gospel tune that practically begs for salvation through punishment and is the rare acknowledgement of a world beyond Williams's own fears and desires. More meditative than the personal narratives found on Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, Essence is ultimately more powerful. Williams wallows in sorrow and weakness, and the result is moving and disarming. --Marc Greilsamer"

1 of 1 member(s) found this review helpful.

CD Reviews

Essential Lucinda

rachel875 | Jacksonville, AL | 06/05/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Yes, I know...everyone went insane over Lucinda's last recording, the stellar "Car Wheels on a Gravel Road"-the narratives about dead ex-lovers and dead friends, and I suppose everyone was waiting for more of the same. But let's face it-she's only got a certain number of friends or lovers who have met tragic ends. She's explored the ground of being a Child in the backseat/About 4 or 5 years/Lookin' out the window/A little bit of dirt mixed with tears This record deals with feelings that everyone has felt at one time or another: longing (Bus to Baton Rouge, I Envy the Wind) lust(Essence, Steal Your Love), loneliness (Lonely Girls)...plus other topics ranging from religious ecstacy to weariness over dealing with someone who can't let go of the past. "Essence" may be a departure from Lucinda's last record, but its a departure that is as rich and beautiful as anything on her previous records. The instrumentation is flawless, the writing is intense and intensely personal, and her voice tells you she's lived every song. This record needs to be in your collection."

Back to Obscurity

Ray M. Sharp | Liminga, MI | 07/02/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Well, judging by the reviews posted here, all the one-timers who bought and appreciated Car Wheels just don't get it with Lucinda. This is her best work if you are a fan, and if you're not, don't waste your cash and go back to mainstream country where you belong. Yes, story-telling journeys through the bayous and pool halls of the South are fertile territory for great songs, and the up-tempo songs like Passionate Kisses and 6 Blocks Away were fun, but the purest, most honest and ultimately best artistic works come straight from the heart, and Essence has that kind of emotional intensity at its rawest. I don't know if this makes sense to the casual fan, but if you really love Lucinda's earlier works, you owe it to yourself to listen to this at least 10 times before you dismiss it. It's her best work, and bravest, and that says a lot. She really is our unique songwriting treasure."

"For Girls Under Heavy Blankets with Heat Rising."

Sally | Montana | 05/04/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This mournful, erotic album is my favorite of Lucinda Willams work. I'm not usually a fan of female singers who play guitar, but this lady is a real musician, a poet and an emotional magician. She writes her own music and lyrics - plays on her heartstrings, sings from her soul. Her rough but vulnerable, husky, cowgirl voice tells you all you need to know about late nights in bars, too much booze, cigarettes, and a long time looking - and longing - for that one guy.

Her songs are deceptively simple. Their power comes from her images, her delivery and the way the music supports the lyrics. "Lonely Girls," the first cut, sets the stage for the rest. The brisk, light melody, juxtaposed against her sorrowful wail, pushes the sadness deeper. Backup for the predatory "I'm Gonna Steal Your Love," beats like an excited heart. She drags out the words, savoring every anticipated pleasure. The slow, rocking instrumental to "I Envy the Wind," and her voice, almost breaking with sorrow as she tenderly, and with exquisite sensuality, describes the way the elements are free to touch the one she longs for, is painful to hear. The words to "Blue" create the most delicate and beautiful images of the color blue - that particular deep, purple blue that suddenly surprises the eyes and the heart in an ordinary moment. But the lodestone at the center of this amazing album is the pulsing, and obsessive "Essence," with a beat that drives her passionate lyrics of carnal cravings to a boiling point.

In between these heated cuts are tender, sad songs of lost loves. The last cut, " Broken Butterflies," is a personal message to a lover whose anger destroys beauty and love. All this is the stuff of lonely girls.

The music ranges from the whining, bleeding sound of country and western, to jazzy blues. Especially delicious are: the sultry openings for "Are You Down," and the sexy, staccato guitar opening for "Can't Put the Rain Back in the Sky," with it's organ echo, and. punctuated drum beat with a brushed whisper.

The only cut that seems out of place is "Get Right With God." Perhaps a little penance is necessary after these hot, lustful numbers. It's the most upbeat number on the whole album. Maybe we needed it.

"

WOW

Keith Bergendorff | Brightwaters, NY USA | 11/09/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I really liked Sweet Old World and loved Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, but I was totally unprepared for this CD which literally just ripped my heart completely out. From these reviews I guess some Lucinda fans see the simple lyrics and spare arrangements as dull or lazy, to me they're clearly deliberate and integral to the raw yet poetic tone of the entire recording, which often ventures beyond her country/folk roots to a more elemental mode of musical expression. While very simple, when taken in context with the mood and delivery (what delivery!) of each song, these stripped-down lyrics have incredible strength by virtue of their powerful and emotionally charged imagery. I found myself ready to cry halfway through my first listen to "Lonely Girls" and was pretty much a helpless wreck through the remainder of the CD. It's still incredibly powerful about two dozen listenings later. Some tracks are of course stronger than others (and the live loop effects do get a little tiresome), but on the whole this is the most intimate, unaffected, sensual and heartbreaking music I've heard in a very long time. It's been haunting me day and night since I first heard it."

Another masterpiece from Lucinda Williams!

Invisiboy2001 | Chicago, IL United States | 06/08/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Fans who were taken in by the bowl-you-over approach of Lucinda's previous album, 1998's "Car Wheels On A Gravel Road," may find "Essence" a tad understated and even a little dull. But given the slightest chance, "Essense" can be easily recognized as a brilliant 11-song meditation on love and desire, complete with across-the-board stellar performances from Lucinda and all the recording artists who contributed. This collection is a complex hybrid of rock, folk, country and blues. Lucinda's voice seems effortless and is lackadaisical and powerful with its delivery, especially on the tracks "Essence," "Steal Your Love," and "Are You Down." However, Lucinda's ultimate power on this collection is her ability to evoke maximum emotion from a listener with a minimalist approach to the lyrics and almost paralyzing instrumentations. Never one to rest on her laurels, Lucinda has produced another cutting-edge collection that should keep her fans entertained and perplexed for quite some time. A great piece of work. Simply great."