Nixon

Lambchop

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 8, 2000)
• Original Release Date: February 8, 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Merge Records
• ASIN: B00003XA9R
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #80,589 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

There's an unspoken rule in rock music that the more musicians added to a band, the worse the group gets. Yet, there is always the band that breaks the rule. Nashville's Lambchop are currently riding with 13 members these days and everyone of them is essential to constructing the endless variety of sounds. They've even added the Nashville String Machine and a choir to their already overloaded crew. Their fifth album, Nixon, is the greatest actualization of their sound to date. At times, it recalls lush romantic movie music ("You Masculine You," "Nashville Parent"), at times perfect late-'60s, early-'70s Philly soul ("What Else Could It Be?") or dreamy countrypolitan ("The Distance from Her to There"); but no matter, it is always ensemble playing of great empathy and support. Singer-songwriter Kurt Wagner expresses clever joy and gentle sadness, but with punch-drunk horns and Westernly pedal steels sweeping like tumbleweeds, it's easier to just get caught in the sway and go with it. --Rob O'Connor

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Too cool for Nashville, March 4, 2001

By	Daniel Edwards (Canberra, Australia) - See all my reviews

Like Nixon's presidency, this album has received a mixed response. Some magazines hailed Lambchop's fifth effort as the countrified rebirth of Curtis Mayfield, while others damned it as 2000's latest conceptual folly (file under Radiohead). Taking sides, the preachers are right and the damners are the fools, because forty-something Kurt Wagner has produced one of the few genuinely soulful albums of the past decade. He and his increasingly large band may be living in Nashville, but Nixon goes way beyond the limitations that city has imposed on country music. `Grumpus', `The Old Gold Shoe' and `The Book I Haven't Read' are as good as anything from the Stax songbooks: relaxed, laid-back gems from a man who seems as comfortable with his day-time job of floor-laying as he is with his night-time occupation as Nashville's most overlooked. It is on `Up with People', though, a contender for the best song of last year, that Nixon crosses into genius territory. A slow rhythm gradually builds into a choral arrangement into which Lambchop proclaim that they `are screwing up our lives today', and make it sould like it's the best possible thing one could be doing with your life. Play the song in the morning before going to work, or after listening to an album by Arab Strap. Then play it again. Then play the rest of the album. Then buy it again, because it really is that good. Five stars for the coolest, most soulful and most beautiful album to come from Nashville in years.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The groove, February 9, 2000

By A Customer

I should say the the only reason this hasn't gotten five stars is because I've only listened to it a couple times so far. It's great though. If you've liked past Lambchop albums, you will not be disappointed. They are moving further away from the Jack's Tulips/How I Quit Smoking days. There is more of a soul feeling on this record and some songs would fit perfectly on a Marvin Gaye record. It's pretty strings heavy, which is great. It all just sounds very lush. I couldn't help but smile as I listened to this record and drove home from work. It makes great driving music. I have tickets to see them in a couple weeks and, having seen them before, I highly recommend their live show.

17 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Troubled Administration, April 10, 2000

By A Customer

I'm a Lambchop fan, so I had already planned on acquiring "Nixon". I hastened my purchase after reading the gushing reviews (especially those in the UK) about it. Well, to quote an earlier Lambchop tune: "Oh, What A Disappointment". I DO admire the band's ambition - "Nixon" is sonically a wonder, the arrangements, stunning - by far the best sounding Lambchop album yet released. But unfortunately the slickness of the production has weakened the directness of the songs - there's not the immediacy of a, say, "I Will Drive Slowly". It appears that at times Lambchop doesn't know what it wants to do or be. In my opinion, the results are a bit disjointed. Maybe it's my pet peeve, but I don't need another middle-class white band trying to redefine "soul" music. "Nixon" comes off as a po-faced replica of Curtis Mayfield and Marvin Gaye. The album is basically a pastiche, no matter how lovingly Lambchop treasure their influences. On a less constructive note, Kurt Wagner's falsetto is truly hideous. He has neither the range or the ability to pull it off. Instead of sounding like a sexy ladies man, his raspy squeaking more closely resembles that of a famous, porcine muppet. Like it's namesake,"Nixon" has failed in its mission and has left behind what I consider a flawed record.