Search - Lambchop :: Nixon

A Troubled Administration

Daniel Edwards | 04/10/2000

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I'm a Lambchop fan, so I had already planned on acquiring "Nixon". I hastened my purchase after reading the gushing reviews (especially those in the UK) about it. Well, to quote an earlier Lambchop tune: "Oh, What A Disappointment". I DO admire the band's ambition - "Nixon" is sonically a wonder, the arrangements, stunning - by far the best sounding Lambchop album yet released. But unfortunately the slickness of the production has weakened the directness of the songs - there's not the immediacy of a, say, "I Will Drive Slowly". It appears that at times Lambchop doesn't know what it wants to do or be. In my opinion, the results are a bit disjointed. Maybe it's my pet peeve, but I don't need another middle-class white band trying to redefine "soul" music. "Nixon" comes off as a po-faced replica of Curtis Mayfield and Marvin Gaye. The album is basically a pastiche, no matter how lovingly Lambchop treasure their influences. On a less constructive note, Kurt Wagner's falsetto is truly hideous. He has neither the range or the ability to pull it off. Instead of sounding like a sexy ladies man, his raspy squeaking more closely resembles that of a famous, porcine muppet. Like it's namesake,"Nixon" has failed in its mission and has left behind what I consider a flawed record."

Too cool for Nashville

Daniel Edwards | Canberra, Australia | 03/05/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Like Nixon's presidency, this album has received a mixed response. Some magazines hailed Lambchop's fifth effort as the countrified rebirth of Curtis Mayfield, while others damned it as 2000's latest conceptual folly (file under Radiohead). Taking sides, the preachers are right and the damners are the fools, because forty-something Kurt Wagner has produced one of the few genuinely soulful albums of the past decade. He and his increasingly large band may be living in Nashville, but Nixon goes way beyond the limitations that city has imposed on country music. `Grumpus', `The Old Gold Shoe' and `The Book I Haven't Read' are as good as anything from the Stax songbooks: relaxed, laid-back gems from a man who seems as comfortable with his day-time job of floor-laying as he is with his night-time occupation as Nashville's most overlooked. It is on `Up with People', though, a contender for the best song of last year, that Nixon crosses into genius territory. A slow rhythm gradually builds into a choral arrangement into which Lambchop proclaim that they `are screwing up our lives today', and make it sould like it's the best possible thing one could be doing with your life. Play the song in the morning before going to work, or after listening to an album by Arab Strap. Then play it again. Then play the rest of the album. Then buy it again, because it really is that good. Five stars for the coolest, most soulful and most beautiful album to come from Nashville in years."

The groove

Daniel Edwards | 02/09/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I should say the the only reason this hasn't gotten five stars is because I've only listened to it a couple times so far. It's great though. If you've liked past Lambchop albums, you will not be disappointed. They are moving further away from the Jack's Tulips/How I Quit Smoking days. There is more of a soul feeling on this record and some songs would fit perfectly on a Marvin Gaye record. It's pretty strings heavy, which is great. It all just sounds very lush. I couldn't help but smile as I listened to this record and drove home from work. It makes great driving music. I have tickets to see them in a couple weeks and, having seen them before, I highly recommend their live show."