Tennessee

Lucero (Rock) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 24, 2002)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Madjack Records
• ASIN: B00006JJ59
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #26,047 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The big buzz coming out of Memphis., October 30, 2002

By 

Scott Porch (Savannah, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tennessee (Audio CD)

Memphis is the only place in the world this band could have come from, and that's where they came from. Memphis is seedy, dark and makes for more decadent fun than I should have had during the three years I lived there. It has a thriving live music scene, a rich history of blues and and rock and roll, and plenty to write songs about.

Lucero's Ben Nichols writes about familiar blues territory of lost love in one rocker of a song ("Starlite Diner") but isn't above writing about lost balance in a lovely ballad ("I'll Just Fall") about getting falling-down drunk. He has a hard, raspy voice that reminds me of Mike Ness (Social Distortion), and its distinctiveness will be one of the major reasons for the band's inevitable breakout. (The biggest reason will be the band's stage presence; I've never seen better musicians have a better time on stage.)

"Tennessee," produced by Cody Dickinson (North Mississippi All-Stars), is more of a studio album than the band's first CD. The background vocals and heavier layering were jarring at first, but my reference point was pure live and a very live-like first album; it improved significantly with repeated listening. The instrumentation is solid: a good variance from song to song of electric and acoustic guitars, stand-up and electric bass, and, occasionally, steel guitar.

The songwriting isn't complicated -- girls and drinking -- but Nichols handles it with a sophistication of a Ryan Adams or a Jeff Tweedy (Wilco) and is often remarkably visual. "Smoking the cigarettes more than I should/My hands won't stop shaking and that can't be good/I would forget you if I only could/Think about anything else," he sings in "Slow Dancing," with a voice that sounds like he has sung one song too many but it's OK because you know he's supposed to sound like that, which, come to think of it, is exactly what I liked about Memphis.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hometown Fan, September 16, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Tennessee (Audio CD)

As one of Lucero's legion of devoted hometown fans, I cannot recommend their albums highly enough. They're particularly strong in their ability to cross the genre lines that so often divide a local music scene; Lucero, incredibly, manages to appeal as much to the hip young punks as they do to country-western types, and to unite them as one enthusiastic audience.

As good as the albums are, they hardly do justice to Lucero as a live act. Here in Memphis when the band plays at Young Avenue Deli, the energy they pump into the room is simply staggering, matched only by the energy of the crowd around the stage. When you see dozens upon dozens of long-time fans singing along, every lyric as familiar and welcome as the taste of the beers they hold in their hands, you know you've struck gold. Amazing stuff.

For god's sake, somebody come take the boys to the people. The world needs Lucero.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Again, March 10, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Tennessee (Audio CD)

For quite some time Memphis has gone voiceless. The city to which Robert Johnson ventured to find his death, from which Elvis benefited the world , and from which Sam & Dave sang sad songs of lonesome heartache, has gone without its true reflection from which it inspired the world. Again, the world can be inspired by the heat and muddy banks that have influenced the delta soul. This soul has finally been truly reflected again through Lucero and its modern conujurations of country, rock, and punk.