Customer Reviews

Changing Horses [Vinyl]

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Ben Kweller is an all-around fantastic musician with a surprisingly large underground fanbase. He's multi-instrumentally talented, and on this and past records, he shows us his versatility in that area. His first album in 3 years, Changing Horses is an risky experiment for Kweller, transitioning from contemplative, mid-tempo piano pop to a country sound. I won't over-pun such a title with excessive remarks regarding Kweller's genre change on Changing Horses; although, it is easy to do. Anyhow, the switch has been made and the stage is set. All we need now are the results.

Changing Horses starts warmly; a lengthy B note, followed by Kweller's convincing vocal slides and scoops. "Gypsy Rose," Kweller's opener, is a naturally successful track, utilizing traditionalistic country lyric phrases and solid, complementary rhythmic devices. The melody is sleepy, but sufficient, and is very pleasant.

Kweller's vocal performance is respectably polished throughout Changing Horses; especially on mid-tempo, country ballad "Hurtin' You" and bittersweet love lament "Ballad of Wendy Baker." Not only is the way he sings refined, but what he sings is also impressive, focusing on poetic description and artistic originality. "Old Hat" exemplifies this mellifluously with lines such as "My tornado, love, tore it all down / Now I am face down in all this muddy guilt," while the slow but steady musical accommodations really drive the emotion home.

Always considered a musician who focuses on his melodies, Kweller breaks all kind of melodic barriers on the record; first, by keeping his melodies retainable and enjoyable; second, by carefully crafting his hooks; and last, by dishing out countless surprises. "Gypsy Rose," "Sawdust Man," and "Fight" all exhibit strong, likable tunes, while "Wantin' Her Again" and "Things I Like To Do" disclose hook-based melodies (both additionally appealing). He then keeps it interesting with other clever creations, like the melody in "On Her Own."

Changing Horses is meticulously consistent, seamlessly flowing between funky, mid-tempo tunes to gospelesque anthems to evocative, heartfelt offerings. "Homeward Bound" is a compelling end cap for the brief album, and is executed carefully, tying up any and all loose ends.

The only complaint I hold against the record is its lack of personal proximity. In other words, it feels noticeably distant, especially compared to Kweller's other works. The songs themselves are substantial enough, though, to maintain a favourable outlook on the album as a whole. For this, I give Ben Kweller credit, where it is obviously due. Country music is his roots, and Changing Horses is a very wholesome homecoming in that sense.

Going country seems to be the cool thing to do nowadays with the alternative/indie set, but on acoustic-hippie hero Ben Kweller's fourth record, it seems much less like an affected art than a natural fit for the former power-pop auteur. The eternally boyish Kweller, more well known for his charmingly earnest lyrics and straightforward guitar-oriented rock `n roll, has always had a vaguely sort of country twang to him, from his slightly accented vocals to his childhood in the Texas heartland, but it hasn't been as wholeheartedly embraced as on the metamorphosis that is Changing Horses. Hey, if Jessica Simpson can do it, Kweller certainly had a decent shot at pulling it off.

Kweller makes it a point to let the listener know that things have changed right off the bat, with the folksy riff that opens the album on "Gypsy Rose" and his fragile, lilting vocals announcing "now you've got me goin' / somewhere no one could find." No more bland guitar anthems or tongue-in-cheek pop toss-offs for this Ben; "Gypsy Rose" and the following "Old Hat" are as country as anything you're likely to hear out of Nashville, but Kweller's endearing accent and tasteful instrumentation, replete with pedal steel guitar, saloon-style piano, and soft drum brushes, make this more of an admirable emulation than a hubristic parody.

Indeed, it's Kweller's respect for old-school country that makes Changing Horses such an interesting and authentic experience, especially for those familiar with his past work. Kweller takes the standard conventions of country and does more than passable imitations of them, such as on the entertaining backwoods barroom sing-a-long "Fight," where he extols the listener to "fight `til your dying day" amidst a honky-tonk piano and multi-tracked harmonies. Like Conor Oberst's latest works and Ryan Adams' forays into alt-country, Kweller has a good understanding of Americana folk tradition and music, imbuing his vocals with the proper amount of longing and grief on ballads like "Hurtin' You" and calling up images of that great American symbol, the road, on driving guitar-and-drum based rhythms like the surging closer "On Her Own." Occasionally, he might get a little too country for some longtime fans' tastes, such as the corny love ode of "Things I Like To Do," but, with all due respect to his previous work, it's nice to hear a change-up every other album or so.

Changing Horses does suffer, however, from what afflicts practically every Ben Kweller album; it remains on a one-track mind the whole way through. Much as Sha Sha or On My Way played the same brand of witty pop rock for twelve or so songs, so does Changing Horses relentlessly maintain the country shtick for the entire length of the record, with little to no variation. Kweller's fairly vanilla lyrics, which detail love lost or love won or love in some way shape or form throughout most of the album, don't exactly help in differentiating the songs from each other, but they don't necessarily detract from the material either.

For an experiment in form, Changing Horses is an undeniable success. For an artistic accomplishment, it falls a little short in its strict adherence to the standard country formula of tear-in-my-beer lyrics and pedal-steel guitar. Songs like the `60s pop-meets-redneck-guitar-picker "Sawdust Man" and the haunting strings and bubbling bass of "The Ballad of Wendy Baker," however, prove that country doesn't have to suck, and that Kweller more than makes for an acceptable country-rock tunesmith. Maybe next time he'll trot out an entire album of Afro-Caribbean jazz...dare to dream!

I've been a huge fan of Ben Kweller ever since my dorm-mate in college turned me on to his music.

I've always enjoyed how Kweller can take classic sounds and turn them into something new. His first album was very folksy, his secon Beatles-esque. His third attempt has ups and downs, and I'm still turning it around in my head.

It seemed he went as far as he could with one style of music and decided to switch it up - a refreshing decision!

He goes back to taking old sounds and making them new - this is very neo-Cash. Love it.

Don't know why it took this long to write a review of this album, but here goes: I've had this album since its initial release. Impressed with the music clips I listened to, it was immediately added to my queue. Changing Horses is by no means my introduction to Ben's music as I've heard a couple of earlier efforts on compilation albums, but I was attracted to its pared-down backing and songwriting simplicity. Now, with that in mind, consider the content of each song with a delivery compared to the greats of the past, like Jimmie Rodgers (not the pop singer) and Woody Guthrie and I'm not just being nice. Kweller has a presence here that betrays his boyish looks and knack for his fun-loving performing raves. He's even been compared to writers like Randy Newman. (I would say, Randy Newman with an Arlo Guthrie attitude.) Artistically, he stands with his contemporaries, which include the likes of Ben Folds, Rufus Wainwright, Teddy Thompson, and Carl Newman. He's influenced by everyone from The Beatles to Garth Brooks.

Ben makes perfect use of "placement" on this disc. Not that his "full-blown" solid rock songs aren't great, because they are. These songs simply wouldn't work in a rock `n' roll setting. Take the tender "Ballad of Wendy Baker" for example. A small string section is used, but doesn't intrude on the arrangement. The traditional feel of "Homeward Bound" and "Fight" is a welcome presence here. The former has that sense of longing we can always relate to and the latter has a country Pentecostal camp meeting tone. The poetic "Old Hat" recalls the metaphoric style of Smokey Robinson, while the piano driven "Sawdust Man" is one of those good time country songs with surprising tempo changes. A page out of the Beatles' Abbey Road song book, it again displays Ben's passion when he's caught up in the moment.

If you like banjos, dobro and crying steel, this disc hits the spot. It's a short, 35 minute, 10 track song cycle, but a welcome change complimenting Kweller's style to a T. I hope he incorporates this style in future projects, while retaining his full-blown enthusiasm to rock out with the best of them. Looking forward to the next one. Take care, Ben.

Ben Kweller's Changing Horses is a classic album. It features 70's country rock style with great lyrics and memorable melodies. Check it out for yourself.

[DW]

Ben Kweller is a young man. He was a young man when his stellar debut, 2002's Sha Sha, was released and he'll be a young man (in sound at least) until he gets throat cancer. He's also a happily married songwriter with a curly mop top and a whole lot of songs. These are just a few of the many things you could possibly already know about the artist behind the recently released Changing Horses. He's kinda/sorta a southerner (Frisco, then Texas, now New York City); he's been a semi-famous critic's darling for some time now (okay, maybe not); he likes both roots and pop music; and, most importantly, someday he's going to write really good songs. Until that day comes, with Changing Horses added to the stack, we now have four collections of perfectly enjoyable - and always youthful - pop tunes.

First things first: the voice. Kweller's boyish chime has been one of the most welcoming and comforting around since his debut, coming off like a Blue Album-era Rivers Cuomo on a Something Else By-era Kinks bender. He's boyish, witty, charming, sweet, insightful and - dare I speak loudly - one of the most unpretentious songwriters of his era to be taken seriously (moment of silence for Jack Johnson). All the Kwellerisms his fans have come to know continue here, though to much different results. Save for his eponymous 2006 disc (an all-out D.I.Y. pop record), Kweller has always been on the fast-track to the twangy sound of Horses. On My Way (2004), his by far best effort yet, was a lean, mean young man's answer to Ryan Adams' Gold - a flagship record for the Americana movement the early part of this decade saw. Horses takes things further, offering an even more country-infused songwriter sound than Adams' own country best, Jacksonville City Nights.

And it works. It works because it's Kweller (who thus far hasn't failed) and he brings his steady and familiar bag of tricks to the plate. Sure, the songs are overly twang-y (there's literally a pedal steel floating around somewhere at almost every second), but the writing and singing is all very well considered and executed. None of the lyrics dig too deep, none of the playing is too fancy and none of the arrangements move beyond his four-piece comfort zone. While none of the tunes reach the anthem-worthy levels we known Kweller to be capable of (ahem, "Wasted and Ready"), there is much variety here, from the slow rumbling folk of opener "Gypsy Rose" to sing-along tunes like "Old Hat," "Sawdust Man" and "Homeward Bound." Ten songs, all good, all consistent in sound and style. Kweller just simply knows how to make albums.

Alas, Changing Horses - and every Kweller album - is yet another letdown in some ways. Here's a kid, clearly capable of so much, who keeps coming so close to greatness. It all works and is all definitely worth hearing and even getting to know but similar to, say, Bright Eyes' fantastic I'm Wide Awake It's Morning, Horses isn't a legacy-building work, like, say, Gram Parsons' Grevious Angel. All that said, Horses will sound very good when played alongside any album mentioned in this review, even if the twang comes off as a little too forced. The kid is four-for-four with three doubles and a triple. Not bad for a 27-year-old who seems to do what he does for the heck of it.

Slightly high and lonesome, Changing Horses may not change your life, but it will certainly add to it, and heighten your regular music fix.
Before we delve into the music, please take note: prior to spotting the disc in a local record store, I had never heard of Ben Kweller. It was the artwork that sold it, which I recognized to be that of Madame Talbot, the inspired Gothic Americana artist from the great Northwest. I figured that anything she would be a part of would be worth getting a hold of, and I was right. No regrets buying this record sight unheard.
Talk about no depression in heaven, there is also none on earth once you hit play and the music starts. All the right ingredients are there: steel guitar, crisp acoustic picking, gospel flavored piano, sweet harmony vocals...everything y'all would want in a damn good record.
The fun begins with Gypsy Rose, opening with dobro and shifting to a waltz. All in all, it is slightly reminiscent of Dylan's Free-wheelin' era, though more of an introspective journey than Bob's socio-political fare of that time.
Fight is a country-gospel number that deals with a trio of characters: a truck driver, an intern of some sort, and the song's narrator. It speaks of life's ups and downs in terms like the monotony of making a living on the road, heartbreak and love lost, and the daily trauma's that any one can go through, distilling it all symbolically as a game of poker. With its chorus of "...you gotta fight, fight, fight, fight all the way...you gotta set your sight on the Lord in your life...you gotta fight all the way.." it is a real up-swingin' tune that will get your feet tapping.
Sawdust Man reminds my ten year old daughter of Lennon's Crippled Inside, and I cannot argue with that. Musically it is certainly the offspring of the southern United States, much like the aforementioned song, with dobro and piano but again, unlike John's song this is more personal poetry lyric-wise than an address on the state of the Union.
The record closes with Homeward Bound, a sad lament along the lines of Desperado, which in any other era would become an iconic ballad like that of the Eagles.
From Dylan to Lennon to Beck, Changing Horses is the next logical progression in confessional song writing rather than merely a pleasant rehash of good music.

The amount you'll like this record seems to be inversely proportional to the expectations you have about a new Ben Kweller record. Having never really heard of the guy before picking this up as a Deal-o-the-Day, I find it to be a modern classic - something like an "After The Gold Rush" 2009, though I wouldn't make sure a direct comparison. Some folks seem to be complaining that this is "country". Okay, this ain't country. It's not 4 chord pop. It's music that comes from a mindset that might have seen a few firebugs hovering over a hollow just after sunset. In short, if other modern artists had a quarter of the heart this album pulses with, music might start meaning something again. Since that won't happen, get this thing and sleep with it under your pillow. Sweet dreams.

I will keep it short and sweet; Ben Kweller would be the only artist I would buy a ticket to go and see right now

Very good album. Different than his previous efforts. More country/bluegrass in nature but still singer songwriter...