17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Short - but oh so sweet......, July 27, 2010
This review is from: 10 Songs for the New Depression (Audio CD)
"Songwriting's not hard, it's well understood... Anyone can do it and everyone should" sang Loudon Wainwright in 2003 ('Something for Nothing').
That may well be easy for him to say!........ now 63 years young and with over 40 years' worth of golden material behind him, Loudon just cannot stop writing wonderful songs which will by turns enchant, amuse, inform, amaze and occasionally depress you. The man is quite simply the greatest post-war American songwriter - and I'll stand on Bob Dylan's, Townes van Zandt's AND Steve Earle's coffee tables in my soccer boots and say that. In terms of consistent songwriting quality, insight and introspective honesty there is nobody who comes close to Loudon.
This short collection, barely 30 minutes in total, has been available via download for a while but now gets a long-overdue CD launch. It is Loudon's second successive concept album following 2009's Grammy-winning tribute to Charlie Poole. The two projects are of course related because Poole was a victim of the original Great Depression and here is Loudon with his ten odes to the latest one. All Loudon's trademarks are here - the razor-sharp wit (tracks 1, 4, 7), the astute social commentary (3, 5), the intensely personal track (2) and the tribute to a hero (6 - superb). The stand-out track for me is the short but brilliant 'Fear Itself' which is vintage Loudon. Only at the end of the CD does the level tail off a bit, with the final two tracks being slightly below par. But overall - as per usual - the craft, attention to detail, vocal timing and beautifully precise guitar picking (for which he is hugely underrated) are all present and correct.
Let's hope there's still some gas left in the LWIII tank and at least a couple more great albums come along before he hangs up the guitar case. Try to catch this songwriting genius at one of his remaining 2010 US tour gigs. If you haven't seen him before it could be a night that changes your musical life....
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2 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Why so much?, March 16, 2011
This review is from: 10 Songs for the New Depression (Audio CD)
I love Loudoun, but why is this so expensive? For only 10 songs? 30 minutes? Can't afford this in this depression.
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