Customer Reviews

Positively Na Na

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

 

 

A seasoned music fan well into my fourth generation, I have come to accept that the best of cutting-edge music is never going to be heard on the radio. That's why I was so blown away when I heard Tommy Womack's song "Skinny and Small", off the Positively Na Na CD, on my local public radio affiliate, WNCW, out of Spindale, NC. After trying several record stores w/o being able to convice the clerks that I wasn't looking for "Bobby" Womack, I finally located the CD and sat down for the most entertaining forty minutes of bluesey, rocking, country-fied fun that an un-hip southern white boy can hope to have past his 40th birthday. Womack's distinctive voice, clever, often hilarious, lyrics, and straightfoward arranging/recording style make it possible, with enough wattage and cold beer in your respective systems, to close your eyes and imagine you're in an off-the-beaten-path Nashville music hall enjoying the real neo-country roots revival that is cranking out the finest underground music since punk splattered itself on the big-city music scenes of London and New York. Womack alternately pokes good-natured fun at over-sexed Yuppies: "he's one of those guys whose hair never dries" on "A Little Bit of Sex"; Gays: "they're gonna drink that boy out of the closet tonight" on "Johnny Bought a Ring" to addressing painfully poignant real-life issues in his confrontation with a junkie acquaintance in "Ill Give You Needles", the best raw ballad I've heard since Steve Earle's "Billy Austin". (and it won't blow out your bass speakers) So, if you're looking for slick pop-country pablum, don't stop here. But if you want what I consider the best ''sleeper" CD of 1998, do like Tommy Womack says in his book "Cheese Chronicles": "... hitch (y)our sled to the rock and roll dream ... grab the whip and yee-the-hell-hah!"

"Positively Na Na" is one of my favorite punk albums (my wife swears it's country music), but I know better!!! There is some excellent dobro, banjo and pedal steel fretwork that does give the album a country-tinged feel, reminiscent of "Exile on Main Street"-era Rolling Stones. Tommy Womack's lyrics (as could only be written by someone raised in Madisonville, Kentucky) are always funny, sometimes sad, and the bouncy tunes keep me humming along as I drive my car heading south with an Oreo Blizzard between my thighs and "Sheila's on the Road" coming out of the speakers. And, the album includes an old Government Cheese-era chestnut, "Skinny and Small," an uproarious nerd-revenge classic that was darn funny in 1987 and still is funny today. I see Womack as an emerging Nashville songwriter, and country and rock artists should consider covering his witty, clever, and catchy songs.

POSITIVELY NA NA pulls off a rare feat -- it's both witty and wise, often within the same line. Tommy Womack's collection of songs about local weirdos, sweet hitchhikers, and revenge-minded skinny and small folk, manages to rock like STICKY FINGERS-era Stones yet has the insight and compassion of Ray Davies' finest work. The title track captures perfectly the lament of the aging music fan, and a tear wells up in my eye every time I hear Tommy sing "Who keeps up with bands?" Miles Bob says four stars, and while you're here, pick up Tommy's tome THE CHEESE CHRONICLES over on the book side of Amazon.com.

I was introduced to Tommy's music earlier this year, which means I've missed out on his genius for way too long. A genuine dude, as in the "the dude abides" ala Big Lebowski....

Playing this disc I can't help but tear up, with memories of a relationship gone south. Nostalgia aside, or even included, this is one of my personal top FIVE of all time. This is from Tommy's time when stardom was still within reach, and despite his struggles with not having attained it, I'm not convinced that we would have his amazing musical legacy if he had achieved his dream. Sorry Tommy, I love you man, but I just don't think you would have been the same if you had "made it". I know it would have messed me up. So in spite of the pain that "non-stardom" has caused you, the world is better off with you being you. Tommy, you don't need fame. A bit of fortune would have been damn handy, don't we all know it, and hang in there bro, that too will find you - keep the faith.

A great recording by a righteous dude. That's high praise from me.

Tommy has a true gift for songwriting. Although his voice is not a Vince Gill's but more like a Steve Earle his music is themed around everyday life and not some one pining for some woman. Nashville needs to look at more songwriters like him.