Blessed

Lucinda Williams | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 1, 2011)
• Original Release Date: 2011
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Lost Highway
• ASIN: B004HGBUXE
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (57 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #16,183 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Blessed, the stunning new album from three-time Grammy Award-winner Lucinda Williams is set for release on March 1st 2011 by Lost Highway. Considered by many to be one of America's greatest living songwriters, Williams lives up to that and more by delivering 12 new songs that cover an even wider emotional spectrum than her previous work, without moving too far in any one direction. Blessed opens with the gritty kiss-off "Buttercup" then moves seamlessly into the sultry blues of "Born To Be Loved". Williams delves into a heavier subject as she questions the motives for a suicide on the hard-driving "Seeing Black", which features blistering guitar from Elvis Costello. The thoughtful title track slowly builds to a melodic climax as it offers an eye-opening look at what's right in front of us, but too often unnoticed. The poignant and powerful "Soldier's Song" simultaneously tells a tragic story of the soldier overseas and his wife and child back home. On the gorgeous "Kiss Like Your Kiss", Williams lays down one of the most beautiful and fragile vocals she has ever recorded. The original version of "Kiss Like Your Kiss" appeared on the True Blood: Music From The HBO Original Series - Volume 2 and was just nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Song written for motion picture, television or other visual media. It's nothing new to see Williams tug at the heartstrings and stimulate the mind with her songs, but there is a vibe throughout Blessed that is unique to this album in-particular. It's the sound of the wisdom and experience Williams has gained through her years as an uncompromising talent. Combine that with Grammy Award-winning producer Don Was at the helm, and something special is born. Was co-produced Blessed with Eric Liljestrand and Tom Overby, who co-produced Williams highly-praised Little Honey (2008). Blessed features special guests Rami Jaffe on keyboards, Matthew Sweet on vocals Greg Leisz and Elvis Costello on guitar.

The Deluxe Edition comes with a bonus disc called 'The Kitchen Tapes'. These are the demos Lucinda recorded of the songs that became Blessed right as they were born at her kitchen table, where she does most of her writing. To further enhance Lucinda's vision, The Deluxe Edition is available with 8 different album cover images randomly distributed through the manufacturing process. The one cover you get may not be the one you see here, but we're sure you'll agree it's an equally powerful image and another facet of this incredible album. --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars We Are Blessed to Be Her Listeners, March 1, 2011

By 

Rudy Palma "The Writing Fiend" (NJ) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

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This review is from: Blessed (Audio CD)

With the eminent status she has achieved in American song Lucinda Williams could not be blamed for coasting a bit. Much time has passed since the two decades of largely unheeded obsessive perfection that predated her late-90s breakthrough.

How fortunate that "Blessed" finds her lyrical and melodic powers at their zenith. Fresh, blazing inspiration is especially evident in spite of her droll, cool-as-cucumber delivery.

The tempo is subdued, but not in the vein of "Essence" or "West," which were immensely tortured and soul-searching by comparison. A decidedly less precious approach to the songs' overall execution plays to their strengths because Williams' outlook, while still immense with thought and world-weariness, is less clenched and more relaxed. Clipped, factual acceptance is therefore fitting in its thematic dominance.

"Buttercup," one of the few upbeat selections, does not set the stage with its classic rock feel and almost boisterous sense of levity as Williams criticizes a former flame in a nonetheless dignified manner. Its chorus is ingratiating with full throttle guitars and percussion. "Seeing Black," written for Vic Chesnutt, does not cast judgment on the troubled singer/songwriter's suicide but scratches the wounds of those left behind. She probes his motivation with a series of unanswerable questions amid searing guitar work from Elvis Costello.

The shrewdly observed, expertly executed title track finds affirmation in unlikely places - "we were blessed by the neglected child who knew how to forgive/we were blessed by the battered woman who did not seek revenge" - and exemplifies Williams' signature incisive simplicity, the backbone of her talent. It informs more than a few songs here, also among them "I Don't Know How You're Living," typical of her slow-burning, marinated, downbeat best. Her vocals wrench as she contemplates what has become of a former love without any bitterness or self-pity - just acceptance of what has happened - and declares her continued good will.

"Copenhagen" is lullaby-like and huggably warm as it offers an olive branch to an estranged friend, while "Born to Be Loved" is deceivingly simple as it insists upon its title phrase. "Soldier's Song" comes from the perspective of a departed serviceman and the family he has left behind. Her sparing matter-of-factness maximizes the songs' effectiveness.

"Awakening" is a swirling, epic tour de force with deadly serious percussion and guitar work. Her vocals, hanging loose and icy in the mix as she repeatedly declares her intentions to accept the unchangeable are bone-chilling in their funereal restraint amid the song's topsy-turvy arrangement - and appropriately so, since the song is a death of sorts in its resolution to put an end to habits that, for more than half a lifetime, have proven unsatisfying.

"Kiss Like Your Kiss" with its summery, meditative imagery sounds like a safe haven in the storm as it waxes love and comfort. It is the most resolute, unambiguous closing track of Williams' career.

"Little Honey" had many incredible songs, but it was more a hodgepodge than a fully focused, clearly inspired album. "Blessed" is a welcome return in that regard. Her major artistic assets are in full evidence, but she also demonstrates a personal growth that provides a unique listening experience from those she has previously offered and that stands well with the quality of high-watermark albums that cemented her reputation. "Blessed" is destined to join that much-lauded company.

4.5 stars

21 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great - Real Music!, March 8, 2011

By 

applewood (everywhere and nowhere) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Blessed (Audio CD)

I almost didn't order this CD ( I couldn't listen to her recent Little Honey, nor had much interest in West, preferring instead what she did last century, Lucinda Williams (Reis), Sweet Old World, and Car Wheels on a Gravel Road or even the more commercial sounding releases from the early '00 Essence and World Without Tears), but did, due to some glowing pre-reviews, and I'm SO glad.

This could be her best recording yet, the perfect balance of raw vocals and tight polished instrumentation. The main disc is what really counts here, the second "Kitchen Tapes", is nice as a bonus, but wouldn't be much on it's own (demo-like solo versions which sound more like her earliest albums, but not as good).

The songwriting here covers pretty much Lucinda's familiar turf (love, loss, suicide, redemption, sacrifice, and renewal). It isn't so much new, as just really well done - including all the elements that she has done so well for so long. And this is what makes it remarkable, that it sounds so good, so fresh, so real, again.

18 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply the Best, March 9, 2011

By 

Steve Dossey (Somewhere just beyond or before the crossroads) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Blessed (Audio CD)

Lucinda is back with a set of extremely well crafted, poetic songs. The music has a consistent tenor and mood. I prefer the acoustic "kitchen" disc because her melodies and her voice stand out in a beautiful honesty. The band supported disc is also an artistic statement sounding hushed,thoughtful, with candles in a darkened room feel. On the band disc her melodies are only hinted at and her voice is filled with whisper and innuendo, sometimes halting and sounding a bit weary. What I really like about both discs is their originality. Barely any echoes to past songs, except perhaps in theme. This one stands up there with her best. The kitchen disc is a must.