They are saying time heals all wounds, however that maxim has by no means utilized to Lucinda Williams. On her seventh studio album, 2003’s World With out Tears, Williams brings her distinctive mixture of heartache, carnal need, and strong-willed resolve, and lays it out for all to witness.
Take heed to World With out Tears on Apple Music and Spotify.
Not that she’s ever shied away from darkish topics. Williams is a blues singer, in spite of everything – that’s mirrored within the construction and impassioned supply of her songs. However one factor is evident: she was mad as hell when she recorded World With out Tears, and she or he was not going to take it anymore.
No person’s martyr
Williams has made a profession carrying her ache on her sleeve, however she’s no person’s martyr. On World With out Tears, she introduced the rock’n’roll sensibility of her breakout hit Automotive Wheels On A Gravel Highway and the unflinching introspection of Essence for an additional intensely private report that showcases the perfect of her lyrical capacity.
At 50, Williams might have left the world of Nashville behind however the “drunken angels” with a candy aspect adopted her to Los Angeles, the place she settled into the native roots-rock scene. For an artist whose earlier albums had been dogged by delays and manufacturing shake-ups, Williams took a unique method on World With out Tears, bringing in producer Mark Howard (engineer on U2’s All That You Can’t Go away Behind, Bob Dylan’s Time Out Of Thoughts, and Emmylou Harris’ Wrecking Ball) and recording what’s primarily a stay album in a studio arrange inside an LA mansion that dates again to the 20s.
The album opener, “Fruits Of My Labor,” languidly unfolds, with a few tremolo guitar picks, a low-slung melody, and Williams’ unmistakable drawl. Whereas Essence was lyrically succinct, World With out Tears sees Williams return with a pointy pen in hand, portray poignant vignettes of the heartbroken: “Baby, I remember all the things we did/When we slept together/In the blue behind your eyelids.”
It’s the best track on the album to digest, however this meal will get heartier because it goes on. “Fruits Of My Labor” is adopted by the scuzzy single “Righteously.” Set to some fiery riffs, Williams takes on masculinity in a direct and highly effective approach on a track that has extra weight to it – although it’s nonetheless not as terse a slap to the face because the songs that comply with.
A scholar of the college of arduous knocks
Following this appetizer, Williams actually digs into her demons – or these of her family members – from drug abuse (“Ventura”) to childhood trauma (“Sweet Side”) and failed relationships (“Minneapolis”). There’s no proof that Williams recorded the latter whereas mendacity face down in mattress through the throes of a depressive assault, however it positive sounds that approach. Few are fortunate sufficient to have skilled the form of ache Williams sings about right here: it’s romantic within the darkest sense, sure, however it’s additionally important to understanding and appreciating the core of her attraction.
For newcomers to Lucinda’s work, it’s clear she’s impressed by one other Williams – Hank, that’s, one other longtime scholar of the college of arduous knocks. However one other affect can be at play on World With out Tears. On “Real Live Bleeding Fingers And Broken Guitar Strings,” Williams has plainly acknowledged the track was impressed by Replacements frontman Paul Westerberg. As she sings “I climbed all the way inside your tragedy/I got behind the majesty,” it looks like a well-recognized dynamic to Williams, and is without doubt one of the most self-aware moments on the report.
Concurrently celebrating the perfect elements of masculinity whereas tearing it down, the track “Overtime” is Williams reconciling with what looks like tons of of break-ups, hundreds of goodbyes, and a handful of ships that handed within the evening – and it’s the place she turns her razor-like notion in the direction of herself. The track sees her settle for what she’s been advised are her flaws, but it’s sung with such confidence that it’s tough to disregard a sure sense of obstinance.
Uncooked sensuality
The uncooked sensuality and graphic lyrics of “Those Three Days” should have floored Williams’ viewers after they first heard it. Once more, she’d confronted intercourse, relationships and ache earlier than, however by no means with such sincere, earnest lyrics. It’s no marvel she thought to report the emotional blues anthem “Atonement” immediately after it, screaming “Come on!” numerous occasions in a tune that’s filled with rage and a necessity for restitution. The bass guitar reverberates off the ageing partitions of the LA mansion.
“American Dream” is a rambling, tragic surge that leads straight to the grave of the pink, white, and blue. It additionally shows the big selection of vocal kinds at play on this report. From her trembling warble on “Overtime” to her almost-detached rapping on “American Dream,” Williams channels a unique persona with its personal vocal cadence for every style, be it nation, blues, or Southern rock.
Regardless of all of the scars and lovers misplaced, Williams nonetheless wouldn’t commerce away the ache as she ponders what it will be like on a “World Without Tears,” a lazy waltz which you can clearly envision two barflies swaying alongside to. Closing observe “Words Feel” hints that you could be lastly unravel what haunts Williams and drove her to commit these songs to tape. Was it a misplaced love, in spite of everything? Was it a lack of hope normally? Who’s to say?
Launched on April 8, 2003, World With out Tears helped convey the blues again onto the charts, reaching No.18 on the Billboard Album Chart and proving unhappy songs and waltzes will all the time have a keen viewers.
World With out Tears will be purchased right here.
