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Recent Articles

Recent Articles By Roy Kasten

  • The Campbell Brothers
    8 p.m. Friday, February 15 and 11 a.m. Saturday, February 16. Edison Theatre, 6445 Forsyth Boulevard
  • Nina Nastasia
    8:30 p.m. Saturday, February 9. The Bluebird, 2706 Olive Street.
  • Richard Thompson
    8 p.m. Monday, February 11. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Boulevard
  • Parachute Musical
    9 p.m. Friday, February 1. The Bluebird, 2706 Olive Street.
  • Giant Bear
    9 p.m. Wednesday, February 6. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Avenue.

National Features

  • Houston Press
    "It Was Like an Armageddon Movie"

    For days after Hurricane Rita, a Texas prison was hell on earth.

    By Chris Vogel
  • SF Weekly
    The Candidate

    Our columnist knows Ralph Nader's running mate all too well.

    By Matt Smith
  • The Pitch
    How Not To Be a Rap Star

    First of all, lay off the Ecstasy.

    By Nadia Pflaum
  • Village Voice
    Project Runaway

    What becomes a gossip columnist most?

    By Michael Musto

The worst record of Lucinda Williams' career begins beautifully: Watery guitars, throbbing bass, distant trumpet, a melody as good as "Amazing Grace" and harmony singers bring the chant, "Are you all right?" to life. For one song, the session hotshots (Bill Frisell, Jim Keltner and Rob Burger) and studio geniuses (Hal Willner and Williams' fiancé, Tom Overby) of her new LA home suit her. For just one other song, "Everything Has Changed," she makes an ocean of experience as real and in-the-blood as her hometown of Lake Charles, Louisiana.

And then the avant-jazz-rock mid-tempo seas slosh, lyrical conceits dilute, and her voice pleads for Smith Brothers. If every other critic is correct that West is an "adventurous" departure — turntablism, check; synth programming, check — that only means Williams has advanced to about 1989. But Alice in Chains would have seen through the boilerplate of "Unsuffer Me," and Steve Vai would have laughed at the wankology of "Come On." When Williams isn't working very hard to distance herself from herself, she just repeats herself — crypto-Pentecostal sex appeals, check; postcard place-name dropping, check — because this time, she has little to say and little voice left to cover her tracks.

Write Your Comment show comments (1)

  1. I wonder, Roy, has your opinion changed about West?

    Comment by Laura — August 30, 2007 @ 09:06AM

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