Customer Reviews

Here Come the Choppers

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

 

 

This guy's brilliant. Some people think he's a very bitter dude, but these are the folks that just don't get this guy. He sings songs that represent all of us; it isn't always about just him. He's never been afraid to let us know how he feels, and it's made for some interesting listening over the years; this one's no exception. And yes, Loudon's sense of humour is as sharp as ever. This disc showcases a fuller sound than his last couple, and I think it works very nicely here. We need more raw musicians like this today. People with guts that put it out on the line for us to hear.

'Here Come the Choppers" is the 21st wheel rolled out by my favorite wheelmaker ( the literal meaning of "Wainwright") and the reason for the endurance of this artist is quite simply his indefatigable brilliance.
In a Country and Western vein, Country and Eastern Loudon has guitar great Bill Frisell and others decorate his 12 latest compositions to give a pleasant, laid back feel to words and thoughts which, upon closer listening can be quite disturbing.
The title track "Here Comes the Choppers" brings Baghdad back home to LA where the entire commercial culture , namely Rite Aid, K-Mart, Whole Foods, Sabines, Staples, Office Depot , More Better Meaty Meat Burgers, and even the tramp who lives in a dream out of a Ralph's shopping cart (yeah, like he's shopping too) are about to be wiped out by an enemy attack. "Attention shoppers. Get out of the stores. Here come the choppers." Intense guitar fuzz and reverb create the sound of choppers and the paranoia to perfection. Enemy Inspectors find "instruments of torture" (the fitness equipment !) in the Meridian Health club so it must be blown to smithereens. Hysterically funny idea. Is this what we used to call an anti-war song? It's a lot more than that-- a giant send up of American "culture."
The album opens with a dig at obsessed fandom in the form of "My Biggest Fan" , a 400 pound misfit who follows him around and knows every detail about his personal life and his career.
"No Sure Way" finds Loudon on 9/11 in the subway, bypassing the World Trade Center stations and letting him out in Chinatown, shaken and confused.
In "Had to be Her" we learn that "Love is a lesson" and "Love is a Lesion." "Hank and Fred" is an elegy for Fred Rodgers taking place in Montgomery, Alabama where Loudon also visits Hank Williams grave. "Half Fist" tells us of grandfather Loudon Waiwright I, his proclivity to violence which grandson fears he may have inherited as he contemplates is own half fist, same he sees in a photo of grand dad. Grandma is portrayed in a sprightly song called "Nanny," "she didn't bake or knit, she didn't give a sh*t..." she smoked, drank and took Loudon in when he was busted for pot in the sixties. Cool.
"God's Country" is a send up of the religious right containing such quotable lines as, "Man made rules but they don't matter; man-made laws have no real power."
"Make Your Mother Mad" and "When You Leave" are two songs about the tragedy of a broken family which include people we all know like Kate McGarrigle, Rufus and Martha
Wainwright. The first, a father -daughter romance, spirited and humorous, the second, pained and painful. He left to "save his skin" but finds the skin grows slack "when those you've left don't want you back."
"Here Comes the Choppers" sounds so nice thanks to the excellent musical arrangements but is no background music .
Listen to it with full attention on a personal CD player you will be amazed at what you find.

This cd rewards careful listening, each song a rich, concisely-told story. Country economy at its best. Prodded by a previous review belittling the insights in the 9/11 song No Sure Way, I'll just mention a few of the obvious ones: the odd feeling of surviving when others have died, the disturbing nearness of such suffering ("hell's not far below"), and the feeling of being out of place where such violent things happen. This cd is rich in songwriting. The acoustic playing is gorgeous. No peripheral connection between Hank Williams and Fred Rogers, as argued earlier, in the song Hank and Fred. Just to point to the most important: a life's suffering (Williams) ameliorated by the encouragement and presence of such a positive influence as Fred Rogers ("One New Years Day, Hank slipped away, slumped over in the back. I hope he had his cardigan, on in that cadillac.") Finally, where has there ever been such a cogent, gentle description of the near-death experience of extended tv watching? ("Everyone is dying to be on tv") Here "To Be on TV" can have the double connotation of being "on" a drug. This is great country/folk/blues/whatever song writing, and this cd is full of great songs.

Loudon Wainwright III's music is earthy and raw, but somehow as sophisticated as its more respectable competitors. Like always, he uses humor as a shield here, and like always, not too effectively. He's at his best when not trying to be too serious. Funny songs about his grandmother, or the death of Fred Rogers, tell us more about him than the serious mask of his trip past the WTC on the subway.

The killer track of the album, though, is the one that says the least about him personally - "Here Come the Choppers" uses his trademark humor to wrap a view of the terror of a chopper attack - only this time, it's on the streets of LA, not some faraway village of strangers. I bought this album two hours after hearing that song!

A HUGE plug must be made here for his A-list band, including Bill Frisell on guitar and Jim Keltner on drums. Just... wow. It's a full yet loose sound, rocking or swinging or bouncing or crying as needed.

As one grows older, some things don't work as well as they used to, especially with us 50-something American males. With me, it's my knees, eyes and hearing, especially my hearing. I just don't hear the lyrics as well as I did 20 years ago.

So when I was listening to HCTC for the first time, I cheated by looking at the liner notes for the lyrics. Bummed was I when I found only half of them listed. Why?

Most of Loudon's appeal comes from his clever use of language and his uncanny ability to weave imaginative word stories. I was disappointed that LWIII didn't provide the tools for a hearing-impaired old geezer to enjoy them.

On *Here Come the Choppers*, many things also don't work for My Man as well as they used to. He falls a bit short on the lyric frequently. And in another duplicitous turn he is often drowned out by an albeit magnificent backing band.

His selection of songs come from familiar sources---love gone wrong (or twisted), New York, nostalgia for his screwed up family life, and things that affect him. In the old days, you'd painlessly feel his pain. Here it seems like he's singing in the third person, disconnected, not all there. In the past he spoke from his heart, or ego, or liver. Like on *Hank and Fred* he never tells us WHY he's sad about Fred `s death, nor tells us why he connects Fred with Hank.

Some of the Old Loudon genius remains. *When You Leave* has the greatest impact, about another favorite LW III songwriting subject, Regret, is tearfully represented. *Nanny* is a bouncing Western boogie-ditty about his not-so-conventional Granny, a fun nostalgic ride thru Loudon's youth.

I promise that if I listen to this again and begin to appreciate it more, I'll write a new review with the additional insight of familiarity.

It's always like getting a letter from an old and interesting friend when a new Loudon record comes out. You can't wait to open the thing and see where he's at.

My favorites recordings are some of his more recent records so I'm inclinded to like the later era Loudon the best. As always, he's original and fresh and open. And funny. I find the music pretty cool on this one though at first it was odd. Now I dig it.

That's all I'm going to say about it.

All but two songs on this album are Loudon at top form. The problem is that it starts with its weakest material. To compound an already weak pun, "Biggest Fan" is a thin sight gag. "No Sure Way" telegraphs its emotionalism, which is not like Loudon at his best.

What's left is choice. "Had To Be Her" is rockin' ear candy describing common heartache played out in an over-calloused, culture-cluttered heart. Like "Reader and Advisor" from "Fame and Wealth" it would have been the right light material to start a LWIII album with. Also, please note, it rocks.

To me, an over 40 white male American music lover, "Hank and Fred" describes territory in my heart and soul. I don't cry at shows or books, or music usually. But on the inside, I cry tears of pity for my own sad, aging, carcass, with a smirk on my lips, whenever I hear this one. And I wish to God I was playing the mandolin part. It's smart, it's witty, it's a great tune beautifully arranged and it contains truth. "To Be On TV" deepens the feeling, only this time the subject is not just the way gentle, crazy, white men die. It's all of us, wasting ourselves away. But listen to it anyway. It's lyrical and beautifully done, not preachy.

"God's Country" is light fun about the Americans who wander and the Americans who stay home. "Nanny" is also fun, wicked, loving but unsentimental. A reminiscence about another great Wainwright lady, his Grand Ma. Grand Pa is reviewed in "Half Fist" but it ain't so funny. It's about inheriting a violent soul. I don't like to think of myself as a violent soul. But being a husband and a father has shown me, time and again, that I have one. I've never hit anyone in this family. That's why it's a half-fist. It never closes all the way, but it never fully opens, either. Another searing arrangement.

I don't have time to go on about the landscape Frisell and Leisz paint over this album. It's a drive by of country, rock, blues and atmospherics that deepen every song. They create the context that deepens each song beyond the simple sense I make them out to have in this review.

"Make Your Mother Mad". Wow. How do you justify what a s*** you are to your family and the world? You write another rockin', funny a** song. But since you're over 40 you also have to tell the truth. "When You Leave" isn't light entertainment, so I can't listen to it as often as the rest of the songs on the album. But it's a painful and brave look right in the face of regret. I don't know how anyone can manage to be this honest in private, let alone in public. And he knows, for all its merit, it will never be enough to win an ounce of forgiveness from any of the real life people he needs it from, and the fault is still his. In this case, they've said as much in their own beautiful songs.

Then "Here Come The Choppers". A big deal over nothing or the recognition that we live in the silk gloved palm of the big steel fist? I think it's the second, obviously. If it suited the time and purpose, this gov't would run your a** over in a tank or you kill you from a Huey, without a fare-thee-well. It's also funny as hell and brilliantly arranged. A blues-rock groove that flows and breathes and builds.

Don't get "Things"? Just wait, you will.

I like this album, and I love a couple of the songs. I think No Sure Way is eery, engaging, moving, and a brilliant 9/11 tribute or recollection. It comes from personal experience -- he was there and wrote it shortly afterward. The other great song is Here Come The Choppers, which is funny, intense and a good commentary on Southern California's helicopter culture. Ironic drama that's part apocalypse, part snide travelogue of Meaty Meatburger territory where you never know who's hiding from the choppers in your backyard garbage cans.
The other songs are all good enough to mostly keep you from skipping to Choppers, and I like anything about Hank Williams, especially when it comes from an Alabama road trip with Steve Buscemi.

Can't get this one out of the changer. You know how some artists in this time of their lives get caught up in the same old thing? This isn't the case with LWIII. Very fresh sounding, and the work by Bill Frisell is a perfect fit. Great job.

Although disappointing, even a weak effort by LW III is worth a listen. In "My Biggest Fan" we find Loudo flattering himself with the assumption that long time fans would want to know on a more personal level the maladjusted egotistical spoiled rich kid painted in musical self-portrait so brilliantly over the years. And yes, we all get the comparisons with Dylan et al. so perhaps these tiresome jokes can be retired soon? "No Sure Way" offers nothing insightful, interesting, or moving about 9-11 but at least it's the pleasant sort of nothing you can hum along with. "Make Your Mother Mad" is equal parts funny and creepy, "Half Fist" and "Nanny" drag yet more of those wild and crazy Wainwright relatives out for a brief turn around the stage, and "Things" includes a verse that begins "This song's almost over." Ouch.