Search - Robert Earl Keen :: Farm Fresh Onions

Love ya' Robert, but this ain't it

James L. Gideon | Killeen, Texas, USA | 11/05/2003

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Robert Earl - Still I love you, but this is so very hard to take.Sounds like you might'a had some rejects from your last two recording sessions, had an obligation to produce a new album and just used all those rejects. It's not bad music, in fact it's pretty good. But it's only pretty good. Were I not an REK die-hard, and heard this album, I'd never buy it. I'd just say it's another pretty good singer/songwriter doing pretty good stuff, as many Texas musicians do, and I can't buy them all. But I am a Robert Earl Keen enthusiast, so I did buy this record (CD). And I guess that's okay - I have to have everything you've done. And maybe it'll get better as I play it again and again.Meanwhile, I have the actual REK: "Corpus Christi Bay" "Lynville Train, "Levelland," "The Road Goes On Forever" and so many more I won't try to list them here - Until today the only REK song I ever fast forwarded through was the title cut on Gravitational Forces, which really really sucks. Everything else was sacrosanct. If I'd heard it a thousand times, I still had to hear it again. I could not make myself stop listening to any REK song. But after hearing the songs on this album once, I fast-forwarded through most of them, and don't really care to hear them again.REK's strength is best exhibited in his story telling songs (his Texas `aw shucks' delivery in some songs is so effectively contrasted with his dooms-day tone on other tunes - in all of which his voice quality is just exactly right), his humour, the deep down understanding he expresses in his words and his delivery, as if he's lived every moment of whatever it is that he's singing about. God how I love that.This CD is disappointing. But I still have everything he's done previously. And I'll keep on listening to those and hoping for better in the next album."

Farm Fresh Relief!

Billy R. Locke | 10/16/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have followed Robert Earl Keen's career for years. I am a big fan and I buy every one of his records. Farm Fresh Onions is a record that I did not expect him to make, but I am glad that he did. This record unquestionably distances REK from the dime-a-dozen "Texas Songwriters" (who know who you are) that are clogging your musical arteries with "Texas Music" sludge and convincing people that Texas is only about tacos, beer, and floating down the river. On FFO, the big dog is on the front porch and he's claiming his territory by pissing all over mediocre "Texas Music" with this superb album; An album that is not done justice by labeling it "Texas Music", as I've already done twice.The liner notes state that this record was all about having fun in the recording studio, and that ethos comes through on this record, like it never has before on a REK record. If you've seen REK live, you know that he is indeed a lot of fun, but that only occasionally comes through on his records, until now. Although there are dark moments on this record ("Let The Music Play" and "Famous Words"), this record is mostly about fun."Furnace Fan" opens the album and sets the high water mark of any song REK has written thus far, only to be one-upped by the following song, "All I Have Is Today", a n upbeat musical mantra for all the "Shiny Happy People" out there.Shawn Colvin's guest vocals on the McMurtry song "Out Here In The Middle" are welcome, but not needed. The song doesn't need the help and would be fine with REK alone.REK seems to have found his inner hippie on "Floppy Shoes" and "Gone On", two loose-as-a-goose upbeat songs, complete with bouncy piano and organ. "Beats The Devil" is a wonderful "All Along The Watchtower" rave-up and is sure to become a favorite of his live shows.Where this album really stretches out is in it's middle and it's end. Although not as in your face as the beginning of the disc, "These Years" and "Let The Music Play" really show us that REK has not forgotten his "old" fans. Both are introspective, somewhat dark-stark, with "LTMP's" emotional subject landing somewhere between bitterness and resurrection. Emotionally, they are the album's low points but musically, they are two stellar REK songs.The record's tone ends in the way the Artist intended: with a laugh. A self-deprecating take on the title track is a fine way to close out an album that has all the makings of not just a great REK album, but a great album, period. Willie fans, Neil Young fans, Lyle fans, and great music fans take note: Robert Earl Keen may have just found his way to that elusive Hall Of Fame after all."

Outstanding

Billy R. Locke | San Antonio, TX USA | 11/01/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Don't listen to anyone who doesn't like this production. REK is dead on like he always is, but introduces some new wrinkles. The same intelligence that you expect is there, with the same quirky occasionally humorous style that you also expect. There are people without enough mental abstract capacity to "get it" that will not like this work. These are the same type of people who never got over Roger Waters leaving Pink Floyd. Don't listen to them, listen to REK. They don't understand that the only constant in life IS CHANGE. This is a great work and he and his band deserve credit for it. "Texas Music" has long been about partying, rivers, stale burritos, lost loves, and other universal stuff. REK reaches inside himself (and us) and expresses both sides of all of our personalites. But stops to have a little fun (as usual) along the way. This one should put REK & Co. on the map. If it doesn't I'll be very disappointed. But I WILL keep listening."