Customer Reviews

Last Man on Earth

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Since 1986s "More Love Songs," Wainwright has released album after album filled with heartbreaking and hilarious songs of love, hate, parenthood, politics and mortality. So, while some are proclaiming "Last Man on Earth" his finest moment, I'll just say it's another in a long line of brilliant works.

Though the album is devoid of the kind of humorous novelty songs that tend to pop up on his records -- appropriate since it largely focuses on his response to his mother's death and his own sense of encroaching mortality -- Wainwright's observations continue to mix wit with pathos. And he's pared things down musically and lyrically, with only two songs clocking in at more than four minutes. But who needs more time when he can reel off a brilliant songs like "I'm Not Gonna Cry" and "Donations" in barely two?

The album is highly unlikely to change Wainwright's status as a "cult" figure, another in a long line of sadly underrated and unappreciated modern American songwriters. But it's a cult that anyone who appreciates smart and funny music that matters should be a part of.

I have been a fan of LWIII since I caught his act completely by accident on Saturday Night Live during their first year in 1975. I ran out the next day and bought an album called "T-Shirt" still unavailable on CD today, with such great songs as "Summer's Almost Over" and "New York City Blues" or some title like that (he sang that on SNL). In the last 25(6) years I have faithfully been a LWIII fan, even seeing him live three times (if it was 1,000 times it would have been fine also..saw him once in VT. with about 50 people in audience..sigh...what the whole world was missng.) Making me laugh and cry, and growing up a few years behind him agewise, but going through sooo many of the personal things he has experienced, mostly love and loss of it, through events unknown or personal arrognace, death of parents, families and even hockey. I have been as an apostle turning on new converts to this most wonderful of songwriters who can make you laugh hysterically and then turn on your tears. Now "Last Man On Earth" which is an extension of the brilliance..almost never written as Loudo explains himself in liner notes. If he didn't have a guitar and a gift of words, he may well have killed himself. As one review here says, there isn't one of his classic humorous songs, but I strongly disagree, the title cut may just well be one of the funniest songs he's ever written. Remember that sarcasm underlines all of his funniest works. Many songs for his mom, who was the inspiration, touching lightly on an incestual note in the very end of "White Winos" of you listen. (He was never scared to go anywhere with his words.) I have been many places LWII has been, but I never had the guts to expose them to the world as he does. If this is the last album Loudo ever makes (and God, I hope it isn't) we will all go peacefully and still listen to those who say .."hey, isn't that the gut who wrote Dead Skunk, with a smile on our faces as we think of all the lessons he helped us laugh and accept....evetyone, buy this CD<

First of all, this is easily one of Loudon Wainwright's most consistently listenable albums. If you are looking for a first LWIII album, this would be a good start. It eschews the utter bizarreness of his early albums like "Attempted Moustache" (my personal fav) and "Unrequited" in favor of fairly straight-ahead folk-rock stylings, placing the emphasis squarely on the lyrics. The lyrics and overall quality of the tunes is why I'd give this record the nod over his similar and more recent albums.

Loudon is one of those songwriters that is deftly able to shatter his listeners hearts, but not by spilling his guts in your lap. In fact, what makes the saddest of these songs so damn sad is the fact that he's grumbling, joking, complaining and pontificating as a transparent way to conceal his pain. He might remind one of John Prine in this sense. Or, of some favorite bear-like uncle who would drink half a bottle of scotch at Thanksgiving, sing "Danny Boy" and wind up crying in the backyard at 3:00AM. In other words, he's a loveable, difficult old codger intent on keeping up his wall of manliness, but isn't always able to do it.

Highlights? Where to start. The bob-and-weave balladry of "White Winos" a touching ode to his late mother that hints at a strangled labyrinth of family secrets. "Surviving Twin", a devestating rumination about his father that makes Bruce Springsteens "Walk Like A Man" sound downright slight... of course, the truly hilarious title track is wonderful, and even in it's silliness, crushes us with the pendulum of mortality: "Existence is no picnic as statsistics all have shown/We learn to live together and then we die alone."

I can't gush enough about this album. I love Loudon's
"voices" both singing and poetic... he's a tough-guy folkie... the last man on earth!

If you don't own any Loudon discs and happen to pick this one up, it will cost you dearly. Soon, you'll find yourself working backwards through his catalog and finding ways to see his live shows. Loudon is such a jewel - he's written so many excellent songs over the years that not many people know about. In fact, he's best known for one of his medicre songs (Dead Skunk) and by his appearances on the TV show Mash.

This disc represents a fine return to form for Loudon. His last few studio albums have had their moments, but this disc has more consistency of quality than we've seen in a while. By all means, buy it now, and if you like it, go find "A Live One", "More Love Songs" and the rest. Loudon's songs are an incredible mix of emotions that we all have in our everyday lives. Hearing them through his voice has always made mine seem more real.

A moving album. And funny too, if you like your humor wry & dark. Easily one of his best. Direct & autobiographical, but his clear writing style and wit make it accessible. Such personal subject matter could sound whiny & navel gazing, but Loudon pulls it off, partly by the way he struggles with the feelings in the song itself, revealing himself and trying to cover himself at the same time. He's a fearless writer, with the courage to try to express anything, no matter how painful or awkward. This album is like album "History" in tone & content, except without the humorous and novelty songs; in other words, this album is all "Father & Son", "the Picture," "Sometimes I Forget," but no "Talkin' Bob Dylan", "I'd Rather Be Lonely," or "The Doctor." His last couple albums were erratic IMO, with some great songs mixed with disposable and forced stuff. IMO, he's never been a consistently great melody writer, guitarist, or overall composer; it's his lyrics, entertaining persona, and clean, powerful delivery that are the focus. His rhymes and rhyme schemes, in and of themselves, may be simple & predictable, but I think his lines have a clarity and grace that convey his thoughts, feelings, jokes, and confessions with the kind of power that really sticks with you after you've pressed stop. When Loudon has something to say, his musical limitations are always overcome by his ability to express himself eloquently with simplicity, playfulness, and extraordinary candor. Rest assured, he's not struggling to find something to say. It's a short album but will knock your socks off. If you like clever, literate folk music, I recommend this highly. Also check out "History" & "Career Moves."

I'll keep this short. Haven't bought a Loudon record for a long while, though I've seen him live a couple of times. I think the final track 'HOMELESS' is utterly beautiful, honest, painful, heartfelt. It is worth the purchase price for just this track. It is a very special piece of song writing from a unique and special artist.

This is, quite simply, one of Loudon Wainwright's best efforts to date. There's all the humor, irony and candor that you'd expect, but without the undercurrent of offhanded detachment that has run through so many of his previous albums. His ruminations about the death of his mother and his own mortality are genuinely touching. And since no one else has mentioned it, I'll add that this is one of his most musically sophisticated albums that I can recall, with a nice mix of styles (folk, rock, jazz, even a couple of vaguely renaissance-y sounding pieces) and gorgeous arrangements that complement instead of detract from the songs. And his voice is still in great form. Buy it, folks--this one counts.

I heard of Loudon Wainwright III and his new album on a talk show on National public radio. His songs really hit the spot of a man into his 50's and what he is going through. Stark, sad, and funny at times this album portrays life as it is without all the fluff. Go buy it and support Loudon and his small record company that produced it.

I first listened to this cd at my favorite [local store]. I had not really heard him before other than a scarcely played Hard Time on the Planet in which I barely caught who to credit for a wonderful expression Sept. 11. Sure, I had heard Dead Skunk (who hadn't?), but it was dismissed and did not give any real sense of the body of work. Based upon my affection for the cynical, all too human sense of humor I found in a very few other artists, a friend suggested I check him out. I was hooked with the White Winos song, and found I could not stop until I had listened to (not sampled)each of the tracks. Well, it was a poverty entertainment hour for me -- the glut of my cash on hand was already steaming in a paper cup! But I had to have his music to listen to on the way home, so I bought the less expensive Best of instead. I might have worn it out already! Traveling with my new found friend, I smiled and sighed and laughed -- equally enjoying the light and silly and the serious and touching. Yet, I could not get this one out of my mind. I don't know all the history of LW3, but I know enough to appreciate the straightforward, honest, amazingly naked revelations only he could have provided. There is no pop culture here! There is no machine, no autopilot. Even his silly ditties are his witty take -- warts and all. Springsteen and the others have thier place, but next to LW3 they appear plastic and puppetted by perceptions of marketability. I guess I would have to agree with the jacket on that CD that his one had a deeper maturity, not quite what some fans would be expecting. It is not as light, but in many ways better than all the best of I had been listening to. It is more frankly serious, touching yet NOT depressing. Haunting. Arresting. I surrender! I have to have this CD, and quite likely, as many more as I can manage for so long as he has the balls to hang it out and share himself.

This is a return to classic Loudon form after the somewhat lesser efforts "Social Studies" and "Little Ships." Emotionally this release reminds me of the "History" CD. Where Loudon once stated, "I'm a father, I'm a son, I am just a middle man," now he's "an unmarried orphan, who's children have scattered." While the subject matter (primarily these songs are about the loss of his mother), might lead you to think this is a total downer, the quality of the songs and the emotional honesty make this a stunning record. And the humorous, proud, angry, defiant title track is worth the price of admission.