Essence

Lucinda Williams (Artist)

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 5, 2001)
• Original Release Date: June 5, 2001
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Lost Highway
• ASIN: B00005B8GS
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (184 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #4,899 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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  #12 in	Music > Blues > Acoustic Blues
  #29 in	Music > Alternative Rock > Alternative Styles > Alternative Folk
  #78 in	Music > Blues > Contemporary Blues

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com's Best of 2001

Few artists in recent memory have been able to wring more from less than Lucinda Williams. The hauntingly beautiful, wistful, and often breathtaking Essence is another case in point of how far raw emotion and honesty can carry an artist. Williams's singing is at its paralyzing best throughout 11 bare originals, an incredibly affecting vocal performance by a woman who was not blessed with exceptional tone, range, or pitch. Throughout, her voice is incredibly naked, vulnerable, and wrought with feeling. "Blue" and "Broken Butterflies" are gorgeous anti-lullabies whose simple melodies belie their poignant ruminations. The title track is a sultry and susceptible sex-as-drug come-on while "Reason to Cry" has all the hallmarks of a classic country lament. The only departure from the subdued mood is "Get Right with God," a rousing gospel tune that practically begs for salvation through punishment and is the rare acknowledgement of a world beyond Williams's own fears and desires. More meditative than the personal narratives found on Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, Essence is ultimately more powerful. Williams wallows in sorrow and weakness, and the result is moving and disarming. --Marc Greilsamer

Product Description

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential Lucinda, June 5, 2001

By	"rachel875" (Jacksonville, AL) - See all my reviews

Yes, I know...everyone went insane over Lucinda's last recording, the stellar "Car Wheels on a Gravel Road"-the narratives about dead ex-lovers and dead friends, and I suppose everyone was waiting for more of the same. But let's face it-she's only got a certain number of friends or lovers who have met tragic ends. She's explored the ground of being a Child in the backseat/About 4 or 5 years/Lookin' out the window/A little bit of dirt mixed with tears This record deals with feelings that everyone has felt at one time or another: longing (Bus to Baton Rouge, I Envy the Wind) lust(Essence, Steal Your Love), loneliness (Lonely Girls)...plus other topics ranging from religious ecstacy to weariness over dealing with someone who can't let go of the past. "Essence" may be a departure from Lucinda's last record, but its a departure that is as rich and beautiful as anything on her previous records. The instrumentation is flawless, the writing is intense and intensely personal, and her voice tells you she's lived every song. This record needs to be in your collection.

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Back to Obscurity, July 2, 2001

By	Ray S. (Liminga, MI) - See all my reviews

Well, judging by the reviews posted here, all the one-timers who bought and appreciated Car Wheels just don't get it with Lucinda. This is her best work if you are a fan, and if you're not, don't waste your cash and go back to mainstream country where you belong. Yes, story-telling journeys through the bayous and pool halls of the South are fertile territory for great songs, and the up-tempo songs like Passionate Kisses and 6 Blocks Away were fun, but the purest, most honest and ultimately best artistic works come straight from the heart, and Essence has that kind of emotional intensity at its rawest. I don't know if this makes sense to the casual fan, but if you really love Lucinda's earlier works, you owe it to yourself to listen to this at least 10 times before you dismiss it. It's her best work, and bravest, and that says a lot. She really is our unique songwriting treasure.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "For Girls Under Heavy Blankets with Heat Rising.", May 3, 2006

By	Sally "aduzi" (Montana) - See all my reviews

This mournful, erotic album is my favorite of Lucinda Willams work. I'm not usually a fan of female singers who play guitar, but this lady is a real musician, a poet and an emotional magician. She writes her own music and lyrics - plays on her heartstrings, sings from her soul. Her rough but vulnerable, husky, cowgirl voice tells you all you need to know about late nights in bars, too much booze, cigarettes, and a long time looking - and longing - for that one guy.

Her songs are deceptively simple. Their power comes from her images, her delivery and the way the music supports the lyrics. "Lonely Girls," the first cut, sets the stage for the rest. The brisk, light melody, juxtaposed against her sorrowful wail, pushes the sadness deeper. Backup for the predatory "I'm Gonna Steal Your Love," beats like an excited heart. She drags out the words, savoring every anticipated pleasure. The slow, rocking instrumental to "I Envy the Wind," and her voice, almost breaking with sorrow as she tenderly, and with exquisite sensuality, describes the way the elements are free to touch the one she longs for, is painful to hear. The words to "Blue" create the most delicate and beautiful images of the color blue - that particular deep, purple blue that suddenly surprises the eyes and the heart in an ordinary moment. But the lodestone at the center of this amazing album is the pulsing, and obsessive "Essence," with a beat that drives her passionate lyrics of carnal cravings to a boiling point.

In between these heated cuts are tender, sad songs of lost loves. The last cut, " Broken Butterflies," is a personal message to a lover whose anger destroys beauty and love. All this is the stuff of lonely girls.

The music ranges from the whining, bleeding sound of country and western, to jazzy blues. Especially delicious are: the sultry openings for "Are You Down," and the sexy, staccato guitar opening for "Can't Put the Rain Back in the Sky," with it's organ echo, and. punctuated drum beat with a brushed whisper.

The only cut that seems out of place is "Get Right With God." Perhaps a little penance is necessary after these hot, lustful numbers. It's the most upbeat number on the whole album. Maybe we needed it.