Customer Reviews

Dusty

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

 

 

This CD was released on Fred's website back in August and I got it then. I'll admit, it was slow to grow on me. It's kind of different for Fred. There are no upbeat numbers here, and the songs are more lushly orchestrated than you'd normally expect on a Fred CD. The songs on this CD are mostly about loss, from a friend to a girl, to a vanishing lifestyle. But Fred really shows his songwriting and singing skills to their fullest. Among the many great cuts are Ship, Crowds, Hey Baby and Codeine. Wichita, about a young man, an old-timer and a stolen racehorse, is one of the finest and most moving cuts on the CD. All in all, one of my favorite CDs of the year. The songs are sad, but beautiful.

Fred Eaglesmith's newest CD is a small affair. But like many small affairs, it's more intimate & immediate. My favorite track is the upbeat "Tunnel" with the little xylophone sounds giving it a sparkling feeling, "Now she's standing in the darkness, a shattered world, she's broken hearted, I light the light at the end of the tunnel." It's hopeful & cheerful. "I 75" is another great song that stands up with the best of Fred's work, "His gearshift is stuck & he can't move his truck & he's lost between low & high & the river of cars, they fall like stars down on I 75." Lyrically, Fred's a workingman's poet. "Hey Baby" is another utter delight, a lustful urgency puts an edge in Eaglesmith's vocal as the track builds with a delightful percussion and then the high-pitched organ almost jumping out of its skin, "You say you love me, you're thinking of me & that you'll always be true; And then you're gone, I'm all alone & you're with somebody new & it makes me blue." The other tracks are also good with "Rainbow" and Fred's 7-minute "Wichita" that is the centerpiece of this set of particular note. Another great set from one of North America's best! Bravo!

Fred Eaglesmith: Dusty

Do you know what a "mesa" is? If your answer is no, then words
like "rusty," "dusty," "leather boots," "cough," "flies," and "texas"
should clue you in. Right from the start of the record, the road
tested, listener approved Fred Eaglesmith makes it clear that he's
not from around here. He's from Canada. He was a hobo. He's
seen poverty, divorce, and pain pain pain...

This particular album, Fred's 12th? (maybe his 20th... who knows?)
is a willing victim of very stylized production. This kind of
production is a necessity if an album is going to pull the listener in
enough to make him/her listen to the whole disc all the way
through. It seems at first as though this producer decided to make
the theme, "Casio Keyboard Beats." This decision tells me, and
many others that he's just trying ot mix it up, and he's essentially
flushing the album down the toilet. But nope. It's far from being
flushed! The seemingly inexpensive beats lead your ear to the
other instruments and to the beauty of the melodies. There is
something quaint, and at the same time ballsy about using such
cheesy beats as the foundation for a song. Some numbers even
sound like he used a glorified metronome.

In any case, it makes for a fresh album, that will not find its way out
of the cd changer, or the head of its listener for a long time.

Perhaps there are those out there who won't be as enthusiastic
about "Dusty." But I'm willing to bet they are the ones who haven't
been deserted, and have never seen the predictable drama that
comes with poverty. In the second track, "Tunnel" Fred sings about
the way his lady can straighten his paths and be the inspiration for
living the good life, and fighting the good fight. There are two more
songs that lay between this song of devotion and thanks and the
sorrow-filled, moving break-up song titled, "Rainbow." Fred asks
in "Rainbow," '...what are you supposed to do, when your rainbow
breaks in two...?" In just two songs, Fred went from thankful, to
broken... and this change is justified in the songs sandwiched
between the two. In "I-75" (the third track) a picture is painted of
trapped souls trying to escape the personal hell and strain they are
in. They all try to drive down I-75 to get away, only to fade away
like falling stars. And in the next song (the fourth track), Fred is
further lamenting his tough situation and praying to the Lord for a
rest. So there you have it... life is tough, and when its as tough as it
is in tracks three and four, it can take its toll and cause the sad
break-ups we've all seen in track five.

Every song is different story. Each story with common threads:
being strung out, looking for an escape, heartbreak, alcohol, drugs
and the grime of life. This isn't the typical "Woe is me" album that
turns into a whining-fest from the start. This album is bitter sweet,
and it's that ability to mix two unorthodox things together that
makes Fred the talented artist he is. Who else can get away with
putting coedine and cattle in the first line of a song? The question
is important, and the answer is obvious...

When I first listened to this album, I thought it was a bit dry. But that changed. It just took a few listens to get my head around what was going on here. The arrangements are simultaneously sparse and lush. Majestic in simplicity. More intricate than is apparent. Great beauty all around. The songs are brilliant.

Fred Eaglesmith continues to evolve and defy expectations. I wouldn't want it any other way.

Fred Eaglesmith is a masterful singer/songwriter.What he conveys in his songs revolves around loss,despair and loneliness and his voice aches of weariness.Take a listen to I75,Wichita,Codeine and Carne del Toro and you will think to yourself " how many miles has this guy traveled ?" The musical arrangements are rather sparse, but that only adds to the stories Mr. Eaglesmith shares with his listeners.The Texas reference is made because I saw Mr. Eaglesmith at Gruene Hall in Gruene, Texas and he put on a wonderful show! Greg

I was surprised to see only good reviews, so I feel I owe it to those that are reading the reviews to get my take. This album definitly hasn't grown on me yet. I have all of Fred's Albums and this is his worst. If you don't own any albums, do not buy this first...it is definitly not a musicians favorite album of Fred's either. Generally his music is full of Willie Bennett and cool fills and fast driving train tunes and farm losin' music, but this is like the soundtrack to a funeral. Nothing more boring than listening to keyboard drums.
Maybe the day will come when I like it too, not today though...and I feel I wasted 20$ on this album??
One bright spot is Codeine. If you see the song LIVE though and are expecting a similar version on the CD...don't buy this album...its a completely different version.

I love Fred Eaglesmith. I have 14 of his CDs. I want an Eaglesmith soundtrack at my funeral. In short, I am complete Fredhead.
So, having said all that, it hurts me to have to say that DUSTY is the worst Eaglesmith CD I've ever heard, and I have no idea what Fred was thinking when he made it.
The instrumentation is basically a Casio keyboard playing what I can only term twink organ. Fred's singing, always so strong, feels enervated, as if he's just going through the motions. Missing is the strong live playing of his regular band (a programmed beat is provided by the cheap sounding keyboard) and there are none of the gorgeous harmonies of Willie P. Bennett. A few, or maybe more than a few, of the cuts might actually be good songs. I can hear I-75 and Wichita, for example, being great if they had been recorded on any of Fred's other CDs.

Because this is Fred Eaglesmith, I have listened to DUSTY four times hoping I'd grow to like it. I haven't and will probably never listen to it again. Fortunately, his other CDs are nothing like DUSTY and we can hope that this was a one time mistake.

I love the songs on this album. Eaglesmith has a major talent for songwriting. He captures the life gone wrong but still trying better than any other songwriter out there. When I've heard these songs live, I've loved them (especially Codiene with Willie).

But and this is a big but...When the violins come in, this album goes from stark and compelling to just plain sappy.

A great collection.
"Rainbow" is a perfect breakup song.
"Crowds" is a beautiful, wistful, first-love torch song, with just the lightest touch of Fred irony. ("I should have kept in touch/Don't know what I was thinking/But it got to be too much/And I sort of took to drinking.")
"Hey Baby" is bittersweet, and sung to an entirely different woman.
"Ship" will click with anyone who has gone through or is going through one of those series of life's trials that seem unending when you're in the middle of them. And "Wichita" just makes the horselover in me cry.

I have more cd's of him, and this one is not on top of the pile; bit too slow and doesn't hold my interest. Not bad but not great either.