Miranda Lambert - Crazy ExGirlfriend (11 tracks) +Album Reviews

A superb follow-up record

DanD | 05/01/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Miranda Lambert promises to be the next Dolly Parton. Not that Dolly Parton could ever be replaced, but the country music world is in need of a new, feisty blond who can write and sing songs that no one else wants to. Miranda Lambert, with her blunt honesty and pure talent, is capable of doing so, and doing it better than any of her peers.

CRAZY EX-GIRLFRIEND is appropriately named; several of these tunes sizzle with bottled up hatred, from the opener "Gunpowder & Lead" ("his fist is big but my gun's bigger/he'll find out when I pull the trigger"), to the title track, even to the whistful "More Like Her" ("You don't look much like a man from where I'm at," she sings mournfully). Other tunes are simply insights into darker lifestyles; "Down" and "Desperation" will depress the hell out of you, while "Guilty In Here" tackles a woman who uses the men in her life, and can't stop ("Is it guilty in here, or is it just me?"). Other songs are a bit more light-hearted, including Gillian Welch's whimsical "Dry Town" and Lambert's superb "Famous in a Small Town."

This album stands as one of the best yet this year. Miranda Lambert is one of the best songwriters on the scene. She wrote or co-wrote all but three of these tracks, and those she didn't write ("Dry Town" by Welch, "Getting Ready" by Patti Griffin, and "Easy From Now On" by Carlene Carter) fit right into the flow of the album. Her voice can be sharp as a razor or smooth as butter; her delivery is always top-notch. All of these songs shine with personality and grit; it takes pure talent to deliver every one of these songs, and Miranda Lambert is the best woman for the job."

Gunpowder Lead and TALENT

Judith Agee | SmallTown, Indiana USA | 05/07/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Listen to the first two tracks on this cd to hear how diverse Miranda can be.

Gunpowder and Lead is leather and electric and the very next track Dry Town is blue jeans and root beer. I love it.

There aren't any throwaways on this cd.

Desperation, a Miranda composition is a fine story song.

Same with Famous In A Small Town, a Miranda/Travis Howard song.

The whole cd has a great cohesive feel to it. Though the songs are all

very different in beat and intensity. Great lyrics throughout.

For the life of me I cannot understand why Miranda is not

everywhere on country radio and why she isn't winning the awards.

She writes her own stuff, she is a musician, she has a very unique vocal style in today's country, and she is naturally gorgeous.

Don't depend on the limited view of country radio play, get this cd for yourself.

You will be doing yourself a great favor.

"

I'm convinced that

D. Pitts | Urbana, IL USA | 05/04/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"she's one of the greatest talents this country has ever produced. I don't like most of what Nashville, and Sony especially, is presently putting out. Pop country is trite, immature, and targeted at rather low intellects. I buy a lot of country music, 90% indie, but Miranda Lambert is special. Her introductory album was a top 3 best release in the country all year (rivaled only by The Wreckers and The Meat Purveyors) and so far this year she has no equal. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend offers the same, if not better, maturity of writing, versatility, excellence and independence in style and total performance as her first album. She is by far the greatest female country solo artist presently, and perhaps in our nation's history. This album has no rejects, all keepers, and of my more than 600 country albums collected over 50 years, top 10. Stop reading the rants of this old fart and buy the damn album."

An excellent follow up to Kerosene

Pen Name | Fairbanks, Alaska | 05/11/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Miranda Lambert's "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend" is an exceptional sophomore release and refreshing change from much of the county music that is on the radio today. Most of the album has the same feel as her debut album, Kerosene and Lambert's vocal range can be described as a female Hank Williams Sr. mixed with some Loretta Lynn. Lambert's voice is very raw and has a feel of "old country," rather than the typical over-produced and mixed recordings of most of the female country artists today. As I had to do with "Kerosene," I listened to this album many times before I could appreciate all of the songs on it. And literally every song is good.

One of the reasons this album is so exceptional, is that Lambert wrote or co-wrote 8 of the 11 songs, and the only thing she does better than singing is songwriting. Perhaps this understanding of the songs is the reason that her singing comes across with so much conviction.

1. Gunpowder and Lead, 4. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend - fast-paced, and the only two songs that deviate slightly from Lambert's "old-country" feel and sound more contemporary. "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend" could almost be called a sequel to "Kerosene." These will likely be the only radio-friendly singles. Given the chorus, they could just as easily have been sung by Gretchen Wilson, however a closer look at the lyrics show that despite the tempo of the music, these songs have a much more serious nature at second glance.

2. Dry Town, 3. Famous in a Small Town - A closer look at Lambert's life growing up in Longview, Texas.

5. Love Letters, 6. Desperation, 7. More Like Her - These are the only three songs written entirely by Lambert, and lyrically, are the best songs on the album. The tone in all three is pretty different, but they all have the quality of exceptional writing, that somehow the producers were able to put to fairly good music. "Love Letters" is a true country ballad, yet retains a modern feel.

8. Down, 9. Guilty in Here - Somewhat forgettable songs, but they grow on you and are still fairly good.

10. Getting Ready, 11. Easy From Now On - Lambert did not co-write either of these songs, which is unfortunate since they are two of the best on the album. "Easy From Now On" is probably my favorite musical track, and I enjoy her version even more than the one originally sung by EmmyLou Harris.

Ultimately, "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend" is a follow up well-worthy of Lambert and showcases some exceptional songwriting and vocal talent. This is not traditional country music filled with ridiculously cheesy lyrics and the same chorus every 30 seconds, but introspective writing and an excellent followup from this rising young artist."

LET ME FIRST SAY I HAVE COME TO LOVE THIS ALBUM

Crabby Apple Mick Lee | INDIANAPOLIS, IN USA | 07/31/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Let me first say I have come to love this album. I became an immense fan for Miranda Lambert with her first album, KEROSENE. That record was such an unexpected breeze of fresh air that (with some fear of being a turncoat to my country icons) I called it one of the best country albums in a long while. Who knew that a winner of what was essentially a T.V. contest would put forth a CD of such enjoyable force and quality? CRAZY EX-GIRLFRIEND misses some of the shine of its predecessor; but not by much.

GIRLFRIEND struck a bitter note which spoiled the whole album for me on my first listen. . Given my enthusiasm for Lambert's first album, I was supposed to like this one as well. What was wrong? All that week, I went around trying to figure out why. On the following Saturday, three beers and two shots of whiskey into watching FORT APACHE for the nth time, the root became apparent and it had been right there in my front of face all along.

*Gunpowder and Lead* is song I can't deal with. Well, I do deal with it: I hate it. In my line of work, I incidentally (very incidentally) get my nose pressed up against the glass looking at the banshees of domestic violence-- whether I like it or not--and I do not. Domestic violence is not a funny subject. Far too many couples end their troubles at the business end of a gun. More than a few women have laid in wait to meet their men head-on with firearms only to have the confrontation turn badly for them. (A rule from the Old West is the still stands up: Never point unless you mean to shoot. Never shoot unless you mean to kill.) Some advice the violence in this song is more like that of a Roadrunner and Willy Coyote cartoon than the real thing. Well, at least for this song, I'll have to excuse myself. I can't go there.

So when the first song is skipped, the heart of this CD comes into focus. Love loss, rejecting a faithless lover, jealousy and anger at seeing the ex-boyfriend's new love, wishing you were more like her, the glories and crap of a small town, and guilt. Miranda's singing winsome throughout as she moves from humorous to matter-of-fact, angry, sexy soft kitten, and the despair of lost happiness. This is a mature woman's outlook without a hint of *Moon and June* infatuation.

The crown of the album is at the end. *Dry Town*, *Famous in a Small Town*, *More Like Her*, and *Guilty in Here* are favorites of mine. Nevertheless, Lambert tackles one of the loveliest and heartbreaking songs in American music: *Easy From Now On*. I won't say Lambert excels Emmylou Harris' version of thirty years ago; but Lambert's does give it a run for its money. The images and emotions embedded in the lyrics and melody are likely to be with you for the rest of your life--and that ain't a bad thing. *Easy From Now On* makes this album worth your money.

"

Search - Miranda Lambert :: Crazy Ex-Girlfriend

CD Details

Synopsis

Similar CDs

Similarly Requested CDs

CD Reviews