Customer Reviews

Oh (Ohio)

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

 

 

Ever since I heard Lambchop--it was Nixon--for the first time, I was hooked. Americana being a new label for me then, I approached them skeptically but was blown away by their music, both Kurt Wagner's lyrical mischief and boldness, and the palette of sounds available in such large band, an array of possibilities you don't always hear.

Pretty much everything they put out up until Is A Woman, I thought, was extraordinary ... never quite the same but maintaining a certain mood and musical thread. After that things were not bad but following albums, although each of them contained gems, did not carry the creative weight of its predecessors.

Ohio is a return to what Lambchop does best, the languid melodies full of nuances and thoughtful twists are back. The melancholy in Wagner's voice is more poignant, I think, and he sounds more determined, as laid back as he's always sounded, to touch you deep inside your heart.

The band is stunning, a tribute to risking being so many and never making a ton of money--until Nixon, Kurt work sanding floors to support himself--that pays off big dividends in this album again. I believe there's a remarkable difference where each instrument in a band comes from a member rather than a studio session player. These guys inhabit and bring their personal touch to these songs, something virtuosos for hire don't always bother with.

Speaking of the songs, although hard to pick some over others, some beauties must be mentioned. Sharing a Gibson with Martin Luther King Jr., Ohio, Popeye, I Believe In You or I'm Thinking of a Number, can be included in a serious Lambchop collection.

All in all, Lambchop's back--although they never went astray--with a powerful album. Power that grows from Wagner hardly raising his voice beyond a whisper and a band that's less concerned with shining individually that glowing together.

OH (Ohio) cannot be described as a triumphant return to form for Kurt Wagner and the boys (aka Lambchop) because they never went off form in the first place. The reality is that Lambchop are genetically incapable of releasing substandard albums. It could be said that Oh (Ohio) is Lamchop's best work since Is a Woman but that would only mean that it is better than their previous album, Damaged. On every Lambchop album, there are a couple of songs that are less good than the rest but that is only because the rest tend to be rather outstanding, as in, among the greatest songs in contemporary music. As for the requisite AGSCM songs on this album, they are 'Slipped, Dissolved and Loosed', 'Popeye' and 'Please Rise'. These three are superlative. 'Slipped, Dissolved and Loosed' is that rare beast that is perhaps greater than superlative. It is musically, lyrically and everything else-ily unimprovable: a spellbinding confection of brilliance. Wagner's voice, much-maligned, never sounded so beautiful, so moving. Popeye's 'sha-la-la-la, you're getting on' chorus is achingly wistful but the driving, percussive instrumental coda at the end serves as a wonderful antidote. Kurt Wagner is, together with Will Oldham, America's greatest living songwriter, better than Dylan, better than Young, better than Reed. Slipped, Dissolved and Loosed is yet another of his songs that proves it. Lambchop, though critically acclaimed by many over the span of Wagner's career, remain the most underrated musical act in the world and the negative reviews in some quarters for this marvellous latest opus leave me astonished.

Don't let Lambchop fool you. Though one can mistake the band's sound for, as David Berman so aptly puts it, "country restroom on the radio", Lambchop is another alt-country superband that's redefining genres. If you don't pay close enough attention, it'll pass you by like the falling of leaves with the onset of winter.

Nashville's best-kept secret, Lambchop is so subtle you'll never know it's there until their sound filters into your subconscious and you find yourself humming their songs on any rainy day, on the way to the grocery store, or drifting off to sleep after a particularly trying day.

Kurt Wagner is an exceptional wordsmith, and combined with the extreme fullness of his band's complement, ranging to maybe a dozen musicians, his musical vision is parallel to the imaginagtion and cleverness of Howe Gelb. Yet while Gelb is more over overt in his musicianship, Wagner keeps tightly inward, straining to restrain his musings into impressionistic rock and roll, if there is such a thing. More so than Gelb, Wagner softly speaks into the microphone more often than he sings, letting his atmospheric guitar-driven melodies take over.

It takes a careful ear to discern exactly what Wagner is singing about, but it's certain that a whole lotta effort has been invested into his themes. Excelling tracks on OH (ohio): Ohio, National Talk Like a Pirate Day, A Hold of You, Close up and Personal, I Believe in You. Think of Lambchop as a soulful, resigned, oft humorous but always genuine rock and roll band...for the quiet times.

When I saw them play in NYC in 2008, I walked out. I guess Kurt's whispering voice just doesn't carry well in a large room, resulting in hiccuping vowels occasionally surfacing from the wash of lush instrumentation . I wasn't expecting much with the cd, but to my surprise, the songs here are really quite expertly put together. Think the sparseness of Nixon with the more sophisticated orchestration of C'mon/No you C'mon.

Kurt's tragicomic voice and lyrics, combined with careful, subdued instrumentation makes Lambchop uniquely so once again. "Ohio" opens with thumping, deep, unmuffled drums, which eventually gives way to "I'm Thinking of a Number," a piece that echoes a Nashville soul that the band hides so well. The gently upbeat "National Talk Like Pirate Day" rouses up the lines "This is my song, don't sing along" which immediately gets me chuckling, thinking of all the people at gigs who sing along, drowning out the actual performer from being heard. "A Hold of You" is pure Nixon, almost intimate enough for a trio in a smoky jazz cellar bar. "Sharing A Gibson" showcases that eerie low voice of Kurt's that we all love.

"Of Raymond" has a very AOR feel to both music and lyrics, with sophisticated horns and woodwinds in the breaks, as if Burt Bacharach was accompanying the band but you're never quite sure whether Austin Powers is going to run out from behind a corner and pour nutty coffee on the whole affair. "Please Rise" is a slow march, almost a national anthem to all who commence on the absurd landscape that Lambchop has sowed. "Popeye" has a mysterious ambient-like opening- easily the most interesting song for me. Kurt's Sha-La-La-La's are so weightless it made me levitate from my chair. It slowly unfolds into lush quiet piece, aided by the combination of an expansive vibraphone and a piano. "Close up" and "I Believe in you" are rich, luxuriant pieces, demonstrating the expertise Mark Nevers and Roger Moutenot put into the production efforts.

Definitely a collection that comes across better in a quiet setting.

Though I have been a Lambchop fan for some time, Oh (Ohio) took me a little while to get into. At first I found it too uniformly low-key and mellow, but after repeated listens it slowly grew on me to the point that it is now one of my favorite Lambchop albums.
There isn't anything here I dislike, though I find the cover of Don Williams' I Believe In You to be off-key and rather weak. My favorites are the title cut, National Talk Like A Pirate Day, the musically interesting Sharing A Gibson With Martin Luther King Jr, and the one I consider the album's best: Close Up.
If you like alt-country bittersweet and slightly melancholy, Oh (Ohio) should be an album you enjoy. Kurt Wagner and company have rarely sounded better.

I've been back and forth on this release several times and I think I finally have a handle on it. The first five songs are just about perfect. After that, however, things drop off precipitously, with the exception of Popeye and to a lesser extent Please Rise. The CD limps to a close with Close Up and Personal and I Believe In You. Oh (Ohio) is worth the money alone for A Hold Of You, Slipped Dissolved and Loosed, and I'm Thinking of A Number.