Is a Woman

Lambchop

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 19, 2002)
• Original Release Date: February 19, 2002
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Merge Records
• ASIN: B00005Y1UG
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #14,860 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Is a Woman represents another reinvention for the ever-evolving Kurt Wagner and company: this time out they assume the sound of a late-night piano bar, and the results--utterly cool and completely irony-free--are thrilling. The songs are carried by pianist Tony Crow and stripped of their familiar brass and strings; Wagner's guitar is the primary rhythm instrument. Certain touchstones of Lambchop's sound remain--Paul Niehaus on steel guitar, Paul Burch on vibes, Deanna Varagona on baritone sax--but they appear infrequently, and in shadowy form. Throughout, Wagner's clipped phrasing and brilliant, confounding lyrics are the focus; his vocals are front and center, dredged up out of the orchestral bed that buried them on recent discs, and entirely forsaking falsetto. This may not be soul music--at least not in the Memphis-sound sense of that word that applied to the band's preceding albums, Nixon and What Another Man Spills--but it is deeply soulful. --Anders Smith Lindall

Product Description
This record is a subtly beautiful and haunting work of sparse melodies and emotionally rich storytelling. Merge Records.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars kurt wagner's first symphony, March 8, 2002

By	C.C.TURNER (WATFORD, HERTS United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

I first heard Lambchop when Radio 1's Evening Session picked up on 'The Man Who Loved Beer' back in '95. It was a beautiful, maudlin almost wounded song which sounded like country music after several million years of evolution. Since then they have been categorised with the alt.country or the Americana movement.
Their last album, 'Nixon' was their masterpiece and was clearly a move away from any kind of country influences. Kurt Wagner was singing in a much higher register and 'Nixon' was full of a gorgeous, glacial soul.
The new album 'Is A Woman' has received some mixed reviews. It is very different from anything they have done before. There are no traces of country and really very few obvious contemporary comparisons. The songs are pretty much all one paced, there are no radio songs, although the title track does chug up a gear half way through. And yet from the first moments of 'The Daily Growl' you feel overcome with awe at this beautiful record. Listening to 'Is A Woman' is like sinking back into velvet cushions and being bathed in bliss.
Lambchop are known for an ever-expanding line-up - heading towards 20 at the latest count - and yet this is an apparently simple record with delicate, minimal instrumentation. The secret surely is that four people in a band make pop music, Lambchop have created a modern symphony.
'Is A Woman' is an astonishing, refreshing, life-affirming work. It is so good it makes 'Nixon' look ordinary. It's hard to single out any track, they are all so obviously parts of a greater whole and the whole is seamless.
This is not alt.country or any other type of country, they'll have to invent a whole new genre for this one.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Intimate, fragile, understated masterpiece, April 17, 2002

By	"fcux3" (London) - See all my reviews

Another Nixon? Certainly not. The band has deliberately set out to make this a quiet record, and have dispensed with the grandeur that Nixon celebrates. No less magnificent, Is a Woman refrains from its predecessors orchestral splendour, and finds a new sumptuousness in Wagner's rich, gravely tones, accompanied by complimentary but unobtrusive piano and guitar harmonies, This is a side of Lambchop not heard as yet there is no trace of their early country influence it in places more closely follows the blues tradition. Imagine one man at a piano, singing idle reflections, in a dimly-lit bar, as you listen to Wagner tease and caress every word and syllable in his melancholic, yet strangely reassuring way.
The songs pay homage to life's poignant simplicities, with gentle witticisms and lovable self-deprecations. From the obscure to the discernable, this is largely an observational album, of the self and others (note the detectable reference to Vic Chestnutt in Autumns Vicar), life and everything. Is Lambchop a woman? Some might say so, with this exploration of their more delicate, sensitive side. Particularly stunning tracks include the most charming My Blue Wave (when the dog gives you the paw), the wonderfully humorous I Can Hardly Spell My Name, and the gorgeous title track, Is a Woman, with its uplifting reggae twist as climax.
Whether the magic lies in their rustic timbre, Wagner's resonant vocals, or the lyrical beauty of the music, this is a gem. Sit back, and let Is a Woman work its spell on you.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hypnotic, May 7, 2002

By A Customer

Avoid categorizing this music and simply accept it on it's own terms. This is neither mood music or country music. It IS quiet, but also extremely compelling. The melodies engage you and the spare arrangements draw you in. I am not sure what to tell you it sounds like, but I CAN say that I cannot stop listening to it. It feels intimate and stays with you.