Because You Gotta Have...Nixon
(My take on the new Lambchop Album, 2/17/2000)
While watching the ole MTV last weekend, I happened to notice one piece
featuring the deftones. The singer was talking about making their new
album and staying true to their art form. Anyhow, he said something to the
effect of "I was talking to Fred [Durst of Limp Bizkit] the other day and
he's worried about making the new album. I mean, he's already made
'Nookie' and how's he going to outdo that? I mean if he doesn't come close
to that hit, he's afraid he's going to be forgotten." I argue that for
most people, it wouldn't be hard to outdo 'Nookie' and besides, George
Michael has an entire back catalog to cover before they have to get
worried. As much as we all hated that song, we all know Limp Bizkit won't
get any bigger than the point at which that song was popular. Or at least
we can hope.
So it got me thinking. Could Kurt and Co. outdo their 'Nookie'? In my
opinion, the tiny red letters on the spine of "Thriller" stand up against
any other album that I own. To me, "Thriller" is Lambchop's 'Nookie.'
The big difference between Limp Bizkit and Lambchop is that I'm just the
only one that I know that sings the Lambchop choruses ("I'll show your
punk rock ass!").
So before I purchased Nixon this week, I thought what if Lambchop never
gets their nookie again? What would I do? [First, I would probably
continue to dig Lambchop.] The Salesman and Bernadette was a gorgeous
work, but it was Vic songs with Lambchop MAKING his best album. What
another man spills was damn good, but it didn't quite have the cohesion or
flow of Thriller. Pavement's superb 'Wowee Zowee' is the same way. Full of
fantastic songs and possibly some of their best singles, but as a whole,
it just didn't quite fit all together. Some of the riffs, progressions,
and lyrics on Spills could make me weep, (especially "Schucks"). Again, as
an album it never came together for me. I suppose never really saw them do
a lot of the songs from Spills live. By the time they came through Atlanta
on the Bernadette tour in 1998, they ended up playing most of what was to
become Nixon. Either way, Spills just never hit me like Thriller, Hank,
and Jack's did. Again, I think the live thing may do it to me.
I used to always say that you can never judge a record by its cover,
unless, of course, it was a jazz or soul album. I continue to follow that
to this day. So I bought nixon the other day, got it home, and just looked
at it. I had that notion again. It looked like no soul album I'd ever
seen, but I just knew it was going to be good. I'd heard a few of the
songs from b-sides (the spanish 7" with "the book I haven't read"
[incorrectly titled on the single]/ "the distance from her to there") and
they composed what was possibly Lambchop's best single to date; yes it
might even be better than nine/moody fucker, their first merge 7inch.
In the past and still to this day, I have arguments with my friends about
what is and what isn't soul music. I argue that Black Sabbath's first
album is one of the best soul albums ever made. The themes common to all
soul songs are there: love, love lost, or trying to get love back. So
maybe Black Sabbath has references to Lucifer. Oh well, you should still
check it out again. In addition to Black Sabbath, Memphis, Detroit, and
Philly, there's so much more to the genre of soul music. Country music is
soul music through and through. The same themes run through, but it's
different approach to presenting the themes. I've read article after
article about Lambchop being a country band trying to incorporate soul
music; I'm now convinced that the only reason critics say that is because
they're from Nashville and they have a pedal steel. If Lambchop is a
country band, then it's a soul band moreover. Since the inception of their
first album, the classic soul influences have continued to leak into the
lambchop studios. Whether it's from members spending a lot of their lives
in Memphis or Jonathan's encyclopedic knowledge of the topic, Lambchop
have embraced it and become a better band for it. And Kurt's learned a
damn good falsetto in the meanwhile.
Even though Lambchop may have adapted their sound when compared to the
first record, if you listen to the albums in progression, it makes sense.
The overt classic soul influences from Spills, combined with the Smoking
strings of Nashville, mixed with the Thrilling Neversland atmospherics,
makes for the next logical step: Nixon. Each one of their albums has a
slightly different approach to the songwriting, composition, and
production. Moving from Jack's obsessions with death to obsessions with
the loved ones, Lambchop continues to make some of the sweetest soul music
out there. Nixon is no exception. It is the rule.
So you can take that cookie. And stick in your...
Jamie
http://listen.to/lambchop
PS
A rumor was going around that Lambchop had a b-sides compilation coming
out. Well, that seems to have fallen by the wayside for now, and I think
the rumor may have stemmed from the work put into this album. Fully four
songs (up with people, the book i haven't read, the distance from her to
there, and the petrified florist) have already been released. None of the
previously released versions are present on this disc. Instead each track
has been reworked with orchestra, atmosphere, and even a gospel chorus in
some instances.