Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Triumphant Return to Recording, March 4, 2008
Lucinda Williams spent six years working on "Car Wheels on a Gravel Road" and every one of those years can be heard in the depth of her songs. Carlene Cater hasn't recorded an album since 1995, and although she hasn't been working on "Stronger" all the years we've been missing her voice, the album is as profound and multi-layered as if she had been in the studio all that time. Instead she has been busy living. Falling in and out of love, grieving, growing, and her new album is infused with all the wisdom and power gathered from those experiences.
The title song "Stronger" is the heart of the album. A tribute to her sister Rosie that sends chills down the spine and makes us revisit our own losses with a tinge of hope. The melody in "Spider Lace" haunts us with its subtle beauty and "Bring Love" reminds us of the power of love to beget redemption, no matter what we are leaving behind when we embark on that most fragile and exquisite of journeys.
It is "Judgement Day," however, that always stays with me the longest. Inspired by former boyfriend Howie Epstein's death, Carter has created a masterpiece of loss and regret, of the anguish that comes from loving someone whom we cannot save. And yet, if art has any ability to heal and forgive, then this album has achieved it. Whether you are new to Carter's transcendent voice and lyrics or you have been following her career through the years "Stronger" will make you ecstatic to have her recording and performing again. Welcome back.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Country-Rock Legend at Her Very Best, March 4, 2008
Carlene Carter has had one of the more erratic and mercurial musical careers in country-rock-roots music over the past few decades, but she has never been anything less than a monstrously talented singer-songwriter. A blazing talent. Her commercial peak came in the early 90s, when she racked-up a series of big country chart hits ("I Fell in Love," "Come on Back," "Every Little Thing," "The Sweetest Thing") that seemed destined to bump her to superstar status.
A series of well-documented troubles got in her way: run-ins with the law; drug travails; and most heart-breakingly, an 8-month stretch wherein she lost her mother (June Carter Cash), step-father (Johnny Cash), longtime companion (Howie Epstein), and little sister (Rosie Nix-Adams).
The only positive side of this woe is that Carter remains one of the few great artists who can sing about life's more serious troubles from direct experience, much like Merle Haggard and, yes, Johnny Cash. But her music is indelibly her own, as this outstanding new album, 'Stronger,' demonstrates.
Carlene Carter has always been fun and uplifting, even as she pierces through the layers to get right at the heart. This album ranks with her very best work, and, in many ways, exceeds her previous best.
The voice is full and resonant, and her songwriting as incisive and electric as ever. The whole album plays like a "full circle" piece (which is saying quite a lot, for her particular life). The rousing, kick-your-heels-up joy of country-rock hymns like "Bring Love" hearken to her heyday gems, but with new urgency and emotion. "Light of Your Love" does the same, with outstanding rhythm and genuine hooks galore. She also notches one of the most haunting and brilliant pieces of roots music by ANYBODY with her song "Spider Lace"--a chillingly good, jaw-dropping ode to those who get left behind in matters of the heart.
From song to song, she weaves her musical tapestry with such command and conviction, that you can't believe she's still THIS GOOD. The production is tight and sparkling, letting the songs sell themselves, and every one of them is a winner. The magic of this awesome record is that Carlene is full of light and life and remembrance that strengthens the listener and makes you want to sing along, as her best work has always done.
Fitting, then, that the final track here is "Stronger," one of the best country tear-jerkers in ages--a song about loss and yet new life, new possibilities, that will be one of her all-time classics. Hard to believe, but Carlene Carter is back, and she is at the very top of her game. This is a proverbial "desert island" disc, and a must-have for fans of country, country-rock, or roots-rock. Classic. Classic. Classic.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
+1/2 -- Stirring comeback of country, country-rock and pop, March 15, 2008
It's hard to believe it's been 13 years since Carter released her last album (Little Acts of Treason), and over 25 since she burst forward with 1980's Nick Lowe-produced Musical Shapes. But eight years after her last album, Carter was knocked flat by a year that could drain anyone's artistic batteries: 2003 brought the passing of her partner (Heartbreakers bassist, Howie Epstein), mother (June Carter Cash), step-father (Johnny Cash), and sister (Rosey Carter Adams). Her subsequent slip off the sobriety wagon dug the hole deeper, but also provided a path to recovery, a new marriage and, finally, the focus to turn a decade's worth of life material and personal growth into new songs.
The album's first take was produced by John Carter Cash and sold at live shows. Carter subsequently returned to the studio with John McFee (Clover, Doobie Brothers) to rework the songs and basic tracks. The result is fuller and more refined, but still crackles with the artistic renewal of a career reclaimed and the life force of a spirit renewed. Carter sounds stronger in every sense, and opens herself up to remember, grieve and rediscover the sunny side of life. Her ten new songs (along with a remake of 1980's "I'm So Cool") range from the country-rock opener, to the Carter Family sound of "To Change Your Heart," and the rich guitars, pedal steel and waltz time of "Spider Lace."
Carter addresses her troubles head-on with the title song's elegy for her sister, revealing that recovery and newly found strength can be found as the flip-side of tragedy and loss. It's tremendously sweet, sad, sorrowful and hopeful. The heartaches pile up in "The Bitter End" and "Break My Little Heart in Two," but the former affects the sort of country tinged rock Dave Edmunds plied with Rockpile, while the latter swirls around the dancefloor in a surprisingly non-chalant two step of twangy pedal steel.
There are moments of pain here, but at mid-age they seem more controlled rather than controlling, and balanced by awakenings of happiness. Hope fuels perseverance on "To Change Your Heart," and the optimistic attitude of "Why Be Blue" is highlighted by banjo and twangy guitar. Carter's new husband, Broadway veteran Joseph Breen, was both an instigator of and inspiration for her renewed interest in songwriting, and duets on the tribute to Johnny Cash, "It Takes One to Know Me." And lest you think that Carter's lost her youthful rowdiness, she still sounds at home with the sassy lyrics of "I'm So Cool," though McFee's modern production isn't as earthy and sleek as Nick Lowe's original.
A hiatus as long as Carter's often suggests a creative dry well that leaves an artist devoid of musical inspiration. But her time on the sideline not only brought life experience that begat the emotional material of great songwriting, but also the itch and drive to produce a vital album of original music. Her voice shows no signs of rust (only the deepening of age), and though many of her new songs are rooted in the country-pop-rock of her early career, they still sound contemporary. There's a lot to love here, whether you were a Carlene Carter fan back in the day, latched onto country with the surge of country-hybrids like Mary Chapin Carpenter, Lucinda Williams or Deana Carter, trace your tastes back to the original Carter Family, or simply like honest country music with a kick. 4-1/2 stars, if allowed fractional ratings. [©2008 hyperbolium dot com]
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