Is the Actor Happy [Extra tracks]

Vic Chesnutt | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 15, 2004)
• Original Release Date: 1995
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Extra tracks
• Label: New West Records
• ASIN: B000295V5I
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #136,619 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #98 in Music > Alternative Rock > New Wave & Post-Punk > Urban Folk

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Vic's Masterpiece, September 17, 2006

By 

Craig Fisher (USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Is the Actor Happy (Audio CD)

Not only is this Vic's best work, but it is one of my all time favorite CD's. His music, particularly his gut-wrenching vocals, is so emotionally evocative and beautiful. In addition, the minimalist arrangements and sharp-edged lyrics further enhance the tunes' delivery. Is The Actor Happy? doesn't have a bad song on the album. I particularly enjoy "Strange Language" on which Vic and his band sound HUGE! I also have to emphasize just how amazing Jimmy Davidson, Alex McManus, and Tina Chesnutt sound on each track; check 'em out on "About to Choke" too, my next favorite Vic album. "Onion Soup" and "Gravity..." are similarly great. A number of songs seem to lean towards sadder, darker themes (e.g., "Wrong Piano", "Free of Hope"), though they are not without they're own tongue-in-cheek optimism. For me, the centerpiece of the album is his duet with Michael Stipe on "Guilty by Association", which hints at Vic's transition from local Athens, GA favorite to critically acclaimed artist. All in all, truly a masterpiece. Note: the addition of several tracks that were not on the original release (Assist through the end of the disc) is cool, but for me the meat of the album will always remain "Gravity of the Situation" through "Guilty by Association".

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An addictive gem, February 19, 2009

By 

Keith Skronek (Novi, MI United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Is the Actor Happy (Audio CD)

I bought this disc having never heard of Vic Chestnutt but saw it was similar to other music I have and it has receive great reviews and critical acclaim. Boy, I'm I happy. Then more you listen, the more tasty lyrical tidbits and turns of phrase you will discover. Brilliant stuff. Brilliantly recorded. I only wish it was available in SACD or DVD-A. Will definitely buy more of his work.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Oh, the gravity, March 29, 2008

By 

M. S. Thomas (Kyoto, Japan) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Is the Actor Happy (Audio CD)

"Well we blew past the army motorcade/ with its abnormal load haulage/ the gravity of the situtaion/ came on us like a bit of new knowledge." With this opens Vic Chesnutt's 4th album, which still stands as his most accessible, and one of his best. Gravity of the Situation, filled with apparent non-sequitors that, examined more carefully, are actually hiliously unsettling miniture portraits of, I guess, a tour of England, is one of Chesnutt's greatest songs. This is followed by the wonderful "Sad Peter Pan," where Chesnutt confesses to wanting to be Aaron Neville, and so, each song has a jewel of a line or stanza, all over a deliciously played blend of country, folk, and rock. Chesnutt is the master of the miniture, and captures "I'll go get the latest Ladies Home Journal (he he he)/ I need some of those sinister, little recipies." A few songs, notably "Free of Hope," are a little too loud; loud just isn't Chesnutt's stength, as evidenced on the well-written, but slightly bombastically played "About to Choke." The expanded album contains bonus tracks such as the fabulous "Parameters," and "Duck in a Tree," a ragged live song that sounds like early Lambchop, with whom Chesnutt would combine to make 1998's The Salesman and Bernadette. There are albums of his which I probably prefer, including Salesman, and maybe Silver Lake, but this is a great place to start in the works of one of the greatest living songwriters.