Lucinda Williams - West

"I shudder to think what it would mean, if the President wore pink, if a prostitute was Queen...
if dogs became kings, and the Pope should cum; if hobos had wings, and God was a bum"


Perfect if:
You like strong folk female singers
You're in a melancholic mood


Try something a little more exciting if:
You're looking for something upbeat
You like music more than voice


Before I listened to this album, I didn't know much about her.  I only discovered this album because I was searching for a bluegrass song collaboration she did with someone else.  So I knew she was an older country folk singer, and soon found out she is sometimes considered one of the female country outlaws.  But if you're one who will disregard her simply for being country, ignore that last sentence.  This album is not just for country fans.  Lucinda has a mournful voice and tells a story packed with emotion.

She is one of those "real" singers: gritty, honest, and rough but somehow melodic and sings about subjects to which we can all relate.  If ever you're in a melancholic mood, West is the perfect album.  Each song is about a depression or tragedy, though some have a hopeful undertone.
The music itself is simple.  Often, a guitar is all that she really needs.  In fact, she did an entire tour with only her guitarist to accompany her.  As a result, most of the songs are slow passionate ballads.

There are two main wistful songs you should check out.  'Unsuffer Me' is an electric guitar based song where she yearns to be released from a withering relationship.  'Are you Alright' is the opposite, a mournful song where she lost her love and hopes that, if he doesn't come back, he is at least well.

'What If' is a song simply asking what if... What if things were reversed?  What would happen to your prejudices if the things you knew became the opposite?  There are no answers in her song, just a demand that you consider another point of view.

If you're not in the forlorn mood, there is one song that is slightly more upbeat.  Her bad girl attitude makes it's only real appearance in 'Wrap My Head Around That', and while it's still a bit slow, is a good song no matter your preference.

SR-71 - 3 Album Discography

The SR-71 Blackbird was a supersonic spy plane developed by Lockheed Martin in the '60s.  It is the fastest airplane ever built and is capable of outrunning a bullet.  It was eventually taken out of service after being replaced by satellite technology which...
Oh wait.  I'm confusing my music blog for my advanced military hardware blog. Sorry about that...

Read this blog if...
you're feeling nostalgic
you fondly remember the music of the late '90s and early '00s

Skip if...
You can't appreciate power punk rock like you should


Why would I write a review on a defunct band that hasn't released an album in almost ten years?  Because I didn't have a blog back then, and I have a lot of catching up to do, that's why.  Or maybe it was just because I suddenly remembered how much ass 'Right Now' kicks, and decided to do a bit of nostalgic music listening.

You should all remember that song.  A cheesy punk pop asking "Whyyyyyyyey, why do you always kick me when I'm hiiiiiiIIIgh? Knock me down til we see eye to eeeeeeeeeye....Figured her out and while she may not be miss right, she'll do right now."

That song was completely awesome and if you disagree...well, I'd have to question why you didn't just skip this entry in the first place.  Is it because you're just that dedicated of a fan of my blog?  That's sweet.

Actually, while looking into this band for the first time in years, I discovered some interesting things.  For one, the first album Now You See Inside, released all the way back in 2000, and featuring the hit song mentioned above, is actually quite terrible.  Shoot...no negative reviews.  Scratch that.  Let's say the album doesn't live up to the one awesome hit that came out of it.  Sure, the song 'Politically Correct' is decent considering its a lot slower.  But I have to question if they understand what the term Politically Correct means.  I guess most people don't really, so we'll just overlook that.  There are some hints of them being a good band in this song, but the rest of the album is entirely too slow for a power punk pop band.  They have typical power pop punk rock guitar chords, but it gets really emo.  More of what I would have expected from Something Corporate (remember them?).  There are some pretty funny songs though - not intentionally, but some of the metaphors they use are hilariously cringe worthy, particularly in the song 'Non-Toxic'....he's a newspaper (that no one has time to read).

The next interesting thing I learned is that 'Right Now' has a sequel song!  Oh, now I've suddenly got you interested again, huh?  Well they followed up with a second album called Tomorrow released in 2002.  It contains the song 'She was Dead' and follows a very similar song style to 'Right Now'. 
Most of the emo in this album is replaced with even more power punk intensity, making it a better album than the first, music and vocal wise.  Even the couple slower sad songs are more like ballads than emo whining.  The three singles released from this album seem like an odd choice, though.  They're probably the three darkest, more intense tracks on the album.  'Tomorrow', 'My World', and 'Goodbye' are good enough songs, but I would have probably recommend the aforementioned 'She was Dead' or 'Lucky'.  These two songs have the excitement that we all want from our '90s-'00s power punk.  The rest is just to showcase that they're somewhat decent musicians, but we don't care about that.  

The last interesting factoid is that apparently the hit song '1985', made popular by Bowling for Soup, was originally written by SR-71 and appears on this last album.  But they released Here We Go Again in Japan.  Not America.  Apparently by this time everyone in their home country was over this band, so they signed up with a Japanese company, and there was only enough interest to release the album there.  At least they allowed us Americans to have it shipped across seas.  This is somewhat ironic because this album is full of American songs and references.  It starts with the rather depressing 'All American' and continues with 'Axl' which basically has the exact same theme as '1985' - someone stuck in the past yearning for the days when they were relevant.
The album even has another song that might be the next sequel to 'Right Now'.  'Here We Go Again' continues the similar theme, and this version is actually reminiscent of The Offspring, as far as the guitar style goes.  In fact, the whole album is a little more alternative rock than power punk. If '90s alternative rock is more your thing, you might find this album better than their second one.

Because they were quickly becoming irrelevant, SR-71 gave their song '1985' to Bowling for Soup to cover and make it awesome.  And awesome, they made it.  They changed some of the more depressing lyrics, made the character sound less pathetic, and rocked it way harder.  Mitch Allan even appears in the Bowling For Soup music video of this song-he slowly walks by and just sadly shakes his head.  Tragically appropriate.

We all know why you came here.  So, without further ado, I give you the trilogy of 'Right Now', 'She was Dead', and 'Here we Go Again'