FEATURED REVIEW.............................................................29 AUG 2005
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Artist:
RODNEY CROWELL |
A recent NPR spot refers to Rodney Crowell as "an alt-country icon." The latest issue of No Depression gives him four pages (ND #59, 40-43). What the hell has gotten into people? Alt-nothing. Rodney Crowell is mainstream, establishment Nashville. We're sorry, Mr. Crowell, but dubbing your latest album The Outsider doesn't make you one.
(The aforementioned issue of No Depression, it should be noted, also devotes eight pages to Marty Stuart. Apparently things are a-changin' over at everybody's favorite alt.county rag. What's next, a Big & Rich profile?)
To those of you who suspect that we are being too harsh on Mr. Crowell, call the nearest Clear Channel pop country cheeze spigot and request the recent Keith Urban hit "Making Memories of Us": "I'm gonna make you a promise / If there's life after this / I'm gonna be there to meet you with a warm, wet kiss." A fine example of Rodney Crowell's songwriting, it is.
The only thing we can figure is that both NPR and No Depression have mistaken Crowell's politics for his music. To put it simply, Rodney Crowell is no Toby Keith. For this, we dig Crowell too.
The first of several socially conscious tracks on The Outsider is "The Obscenity Prayer (Give It to Me)," a rollicking send-up of American avarice. "Give to me my tax cut, outsource," Crowell sings, "Build me my own private golf course / The Dixie Chicks can kiss my ass / But I still need that backstage pass."
"Don't Get Me Started" furthers the indictment, with a bit of added venom. "The rich corporations / Have turned a deaf ear / They don't care who goes hungry / They've made that much clear," Crowell spits, "East Timor's genocide to the core / The Indonesian legions come and give 'em what for / When the Coalition Army doesn't come to your aid / You might as well face it there's no money to be made."
The self-explanatory "Ignorance Is the Enemy" picks up where "Don't Get Me Started" leaves off.
Unfortunately, however, the compelling social commentary is slathered in a thick layer of cheeze. From the backing singers who chant "gimme gimme gimme" on "The Obscenity Prayer," to the horn bleats and fingersnaps on "The Outsider," to the overblown pretense that is "Ignorance Is the Enemy," The Outsider is a study in cheeze. Everything is slick and well-varnished--and with angel references to boot.
We wish the album had been recorded live to tape--with no overdubs--in, say for example, a converted barn. Scuffed up and demo-raw, it might really have been something.
In summation: We like the politics. We don't like the cheeze. Four cheezeballs.
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A NOTE ON THE RATING SYSTEM:
5 CHEEZEBALLS = UNLISTENABLE SCHLOCK
3 CHEEZEBALLS = A DIFFICULT SLOG
1 CHEEZEBALL = THE ODD FORGIVABLE MISSTEP
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