10288 - LUCERO - ALL A MAN SHOULD DO (2015)
LUCERO
''ALL A MAN SHOULD DO''
SEPTEMBER 18 2015
42:40
**********
1 Baby Don't You Want Me 05:02
2 Went Looking For Warren Zevon's Los Angeles 04:29
3 The Man I Was 04:28
4 Can't You Hear Them Howl 03:54
5 I Woke Up In New Orleans 05:10
6 Throwback No. 2 04:15
7 They Called Her Killer 03:31
8 Young Outlaws 04:04
9 I'm In Love With A Girl (Alex Chilton) 02:25
10 My Girl & Me In '93 05:18
Tracks By Ben Nichols, Except 9
**********
Jon Auer/Vocals (Background)
Randy Ballard/Flugelhorn, Trumpet
Roy Berry/Drums
Ben Nichols/Guitar (Acoustic), Vocals
Sharese Norman/Vocals (Background)
Shontelle Norman/Vocals (Background)
Jim Spake/Saxophone
Rick Steff/Accordion, Organ (Hammond), Piano, Wurlitzer Piano
Jody Stephens/Vocals (Background)
Ken Stringfellow/Vocals (Background)
John C. Stubblefield/Bass Guitar
Brian Venable/Guitar (Electric)
**********
ABOUT THE ALBUM
Jeremy Winograd, www.slantmagazine.com
Nashville is such a musical mecca that it's easy to forget the city lying about 200 miles west not only has better BBQ, but is home to one of the richest musical legacies of the 20th century. From W.C. Handy to Big Star to Three 6 Mafia, Memphis has birthed some of the most important artists in the history of pop music. If there's a single band doing its best to carry the torch and embody (almost) all of those strains of Memphis music today, it's Lucero. Over the better part of two decades, they've excelled at everything from tear-in-your-beer twang to straight-up Memphis soul, a range made cohesive by frontman Ben Nichols's whiskey-soaked rasp and hard-drinking-ramblin'-man vulnerability. And on their eighth album, All a Man Should Do, they encapsulate a broader purview of Memphis's influence, and their own stylistic capabilities as a band, than ever before.
The album includes a cover of Memphis power-pop band Big Star's classic “I'm In Love with a Girl” (the album's title comes from a lyric in the song), and Lucero recruited the band's drummer, Jody Stephens, to sing backing vocals to boot. Lucero's full-band arrangement nicely fills in the gaps of the acoustic original, even if Nichols's vocals, pitched an octave lower than Alex Chilton's high wail, don't quite measure up. There's a poppier underpinning to many of these songs, expressed through electric keyboards and unexpectedly hummable vocal melodies, to songs like “They Called Her Killer” and especially lead single “Went Looking for Warren Zevon's Los Angeles,” on which Nichols's double-tracked vocal hook, rueful-sounding though it may be, proves to be possibly his catchiest earworm to date.
But these forays into greater melodicism don't come at the expense of Lucero's identity as heavily tattooed brawlers and balladeers. All a Man Should Do retains the big-band Memphis-soul instrumentation that defined their last two albums, namely a horn section and Rick Steff's honky tonk piano, while at times returning to a style of songwriting guitarist Brian Venable calls “cowboy emo.” For a band that, for the last few years, has seemingly taken great pains to transcend their alt-country roots, it's a bit surprising to find that the new album begins with a song (“Baby Don't You Want Me”) that would have fit comfortably on 2002's Tennessee. The band successfully melds its past and present, maintaining an emotional pathos without sacrificing the musicality that's come to define much of their recent work. The renewed preponderance of slow, sad songs may mean that much of the album lacks the high-watt adrenaline of their last couple of efforts, but the downbeat style suits Nichols's lyrics, which are particularly vulnerable this time around. Years of singing about women who broke his heart and drinking the pain away seem to be taking their toll. “It's too late to change the path I chose,” Nichols croons mournfully on the quavering “I Woke Up in New Orleans.”
On the album's second half, however, Nichols quits wallowing in regret and elects to do something about it. Midway through the album's most soul-influenced song, “Throwback No. 2,” the track becomes more upbeat and Nichols begins entreating a girl to marry him. Complete with pounding Wurlitzer and a fantastic, emotive sax solo by longtime Memphis session man Jim Spake, this section of the song is one of the album's most musically exhilarating passages. And considering the way Nichols usually sings about girls, his pleas are almost as shocking as it would be to hear James Taylor unleash a violent torrent of gangsta rap. Even on an album full of obvious nods to music of the past, Lucero manages to surprise.
**********
REVIEW/AMG
Mark Deming
Sometimes a man wants to rock out, and other times he wants to sit back with a beer and think about where life has been leading him. Lucero are clearly in the latter mood on All a Man Should Do, which is the most subdued and contemplative album the Memphis-based band has delivered in some time. The songs and the performances are no less passionate than Lucero has ever been, but while this band usually hits like a Dixie-fried fusion of Bruce Springsteen and the Replacements, All a Man Should Do is an album about reflection and even remorse, pondering love that's gone wrong ("They Called Her Killer," "Baby, Don't You Want Me") and places and people that are no longer what they used to be ("Went Looking for Warren Zevon's Los Angeles," "Woke Up in New Orleans"), and the introspective middle-of-the-night feel of these sessions rings as true as the band's most rollicking material. The raspy twang of Ben Nichols' voice never sounds anything less than honest, especially on this material, and Rick Steff's piano and keyboards take a larger place in the arrangements here, with his emphatically placed notes adding just the right high lonesome accent. And if this doesn't always sound like full-on rock & roll, the muscular R&B groove of "Throwback No. 2" and the distant thunder of "Can't You Hear Them Howl" are on hand to remind us these guys haven't gone soft. (They also manage that rare feat of covering Big Star and finding something new in the song with their version of "I'm in Love with a Girl," which features backing vocals from founding Big Star member Jody Stephens.) Saying All a Man Should Do is a more mature effort from Lucero sells short the street smarts and emotional wisdom of their previous work, but this album does find the fine band reaching for something different, and they hit their target with skill, assurance, and clarity.
**********
BIOGRAPHY/AMG
David Jeffries
Tennessee
Adding a Southern flavor to their love of the indie folk-pop of Ida, Memphis alt-country rockers Lucero have suffered the turbulence that comes with the indie scene, but their story of perseverance and survival is triumphant, so much so that director Aaron Goldman made a film about it. Formed by leader Ben Nichols in the late '90s, Lucero took their name from the Spanish word meaning "bright star." After releasing a single on the Landmark label, Lucero -- rounded out by drummer Roy Berry, bassist John C. Stubblefield, guitarist Brian Venable, and keyboard man Rick Steff -- signed with the alternative country label Madjack for their 2001 self-titled debut. Momentum started to build with their 2002 release, Tennessee. With critics picking up on their rock and Replacements edge, a decision was made to sign with the more diverse label Tiger Style. The 2003 release That Much Further West earned them positive reviews and a spot on Rolling Stone's Hot List. Things seemed to be going well, but as the album was catching indie fire, Tiger Style announced they were closing shop.
Nobody's Darlings
The band formed its own label, Liberty & Lament, through a deal with East West and worked on its next album with famed musician/producer Jim Dickinson. Released in spring of 2005, Nobody's Darlings featured the most Southern-fried sounds from the band yet. Mixing archival footage along with footage shot during the recording of the album, Goldman premiered his Lucero documentary Dreaming in America in September of 2005. A month later the film was released on DVD and CD/DVD featuring 13 rare live bonus tracks. The out of print effort The Attic Tapes (originally released prior to their 2001 Madjack debut) was reissued in April 2006 with bonus early demo and rare 7" tracks, which preceded the release of Lucero's next studio effort, September's Rebels, Rogues & Sworn Brothers. Supporting tour dates through the fall followed with openers Rocky Votolato and William Elliott Whitmore. The year 2009 saw the release of Nichols' solo EP The Last Pale Light in the West along with the band's album 1372 Overton Park. Lucero spent the remainder of the year on tour in support of the album.
Women & Work
Lucero remained busy touring in 2010 and 2011. Although they didn't record, they played festivals ranging from SXSW to Coachella to the Van's Warped Tour (Nichols played some solo shows as well). Toward year's end, they reentered the studio to begin Women & Work, their debut offering for ATO Records. Produced by Ted Hutt and featuring a full horn section -- as well as guest vocals from Amy LaVere -- the album was released in March of 2012 and followed by an American tour. In November 2013, Lucero played a three-night stand in Atlanta; the show was recorded with an eye toward officially documenting the group's powerful live show. The two-plus-hour Live from Atlanta followed in August 2014, issued by Liberty & Lament in partnership with Ingrooves. In 2015, Lucero released their tenth studio effort, All a Man Should Do, which included Big Star's Jody Stephens on a cover of the iconic pop band's song "I'm in Love with a Girl."
**********
WEBSITE
**********
TO THE TOP
**********
''ALL A MAN SHOULD DO''
SEPTEMBER 18 2015
42:40
**********
1 Baby Don't You Want Me 05:02
2 Went Looking For Warren Zevon's Los Angeles 04:29
3 The Man I Was 04:28
4 Can't You Hear Them Howl 03:54
5 I Woke Up In New Orleans 05:10
6 Throwback No. 2 04:15
7 They Called Her Killer 03:31
8 Young Outlaws 04:04
9 I'm In Love With A Girl (Alex Chilton) 02:25
10 My Girl & Me In '93 05:18
Tracks By Ben Nichols, Except 9
**********
Jon Auer/Vocals (Background)
Randy Ballard/Flugelhorn, Trumpet
Roy Berry/Drums
Ben Nichols/Guitar (Acoustic), Vocals
Sharese Norman/Vocals (Background)
Shontelle Norman/Vocals (Background)
Jim Spake/Saxophone
Rick Steff/Accordion, Organ (Hammond), Piano, Wurlitzer Piano
Jody Stephens/Vocals (Background)
Ken Stringfellow/Vocals (Background)
John C. Stubblefield/Bass Guitar
Brian Venable/Guitar (Electric)
**********
ABOUT THE ALBUM
Jeremy Winograd, www.slantmagazine.com
Nashville is such a musical mecca that it's easy to forget the city lying about 200 miles west not only has better BBQ, but is home to one of the richest musical legacies of the 20th century. From W.C. Handy to Big Star to Three 6 Mafia, Memphis has birthed some of the most important artists in the history of pop music. If there's a single band doing its best to carry the torch and embody (almost) all of those strains of Memphis music today, it's Lucero. Over the better part of two decades, they've excelled at everything from tear-in-your-beer twang to straight-up Memphis soul, a range made cohesive by frontman Ben Nichols's whiskey-soaked rasp and hard-drinking-ramblin'-man vulnerability. And on their eighth album, All a Man Should Do, they encapsulate a broader purview of Memphis's influence, and their own stylistic capabilities as a band, than ever before.
The album includes a cover of Memphis power-pop band Big Star's classic “I'm In Love with a Girl” (the album's title comes from a lyric in the song), and Lucero recruited the band's drummer, Jody Stephens, to sing backing vocals to boot. Lucero's full-band arrangement nicely fills in the gaps of the acoustic original, even if Nichols's vocals, pitched an octave lower than Alex Chilton's high wail, don't quite measure up. There's a poppier underpinning to many of these songs, expressed through electric keyboards and unexpectedly hummable vocal melodies, to songs like “They Called Her Killer” and especially lead single “Went Looking for Warren Zevon's Los Angeles,” on which Nichols's double-tracked vocal hook, rueful-sounding though it may be, proves to be possibly his catchiest earworm to date.
But these forays into greater melodicism don't come at the expense of Lucero's identity as heavily tattooed brawlers and balladeers. All a Man Should Do retains the big-band Memphis-soul instrumentation that defined their last two albums, namely a horn section and Rick Steff's honky tonk piano, while at times returning to a style of songwriting guitarist Brian Venable calls “cowboy emo.” For a band that, for the last few years, has seemingly taken great pains to transcend their alt-country roots, it's a bit surprising to find that the new album begins with a song (“Baby Don't You Want Me”) that would have fit comfortably on 2002's Tennessee. The band successfully melds its past and present, maintaining an emotional pathos without sacrificing the musicality that's come to define much of their recent work. The renewed preponderance of slow, sad songs may mean that much of the album lacks the high-watt adrenaline of their last couple of efforts, but the downbeat style suits Nichols's lyrics, which are particularly vulnerable this time around. Years of singing about women who broke his heart and drinking the pain away seem to be taking their toll. “It's too late to change the path I chose,” Nichols croons mournfully on the quavering “I Woke Up in New Orleans.”
On the album's second half, however, Nichols quits wallowing in regret and elects to do something about it. Midway through the album's most soul-influenced song, “Throwback No. 2,” the track becomes more upbeat and Nichols begins entreating a girl to marry him. Complete with pounding Wurlitzer and a fantastic, emotive sax solo by longtime Memphis session man Jim Spake, this section of the song is one of the album's most musically exhilarating passages. And considering the way Nichols usually sings about girls, his pleas are almost as shocking as it would be to hear James Taylor unleash a violent torrent of gangsta rap. Even on an album full of obvious nods to music of the past, Lucero manages to surprise.
**********
REVIEW/AMG
Mark Deming
Sometimes a man wants to rock out, and other times he wants to sit back with a beer and think about where life has been leading him. Lucero are clearly in the latter mood on All a Man Should Do, which is the most subdued and contemplative album the Memphis-based band has delivered in some time. The songs and the performances are no less passionate than Lucero has ever been, but while this band usually hits like a Dixie-fried fusion of Bruce Springsteen and the Replacements, All a Man Should Do is an album about reflection and even remorse, pondering love that's gone wrong ("They Called Her Killer," "Baby, Don't You Want Me") and places and people that are no longer what they used to be ("Went Looking for Warren Zevon's Los Angeles," "Woke Up in New Orleans"), and the introspective middle-of-the-night feel of these sessions rings as true as the band's most rollicking material. The raspy twang of Ben Nichols' voice never sounds anything less than honest, especially on this material, and Rick Steff's piano and keyboards take a larger place in the arrangements here, with his emphatically placed notes adding just the right high lonesome accent. And if this doesn't always sound like full-on rock & roll, the muscular R&B groove of "Throwback No. 2" and the distant thunder of "Can't You Hear Them Howl" are on hand to remind us these guys haven't gone soft. (They also manage that rare feat of covering Big Star and finding something new in the song with their version of "I'm in Love with a Girl," which features backing vocals from founding Big Star member Jody Stephens.) Saying All a Man Should Do is a more mature effort from Lucero sells short the street smarts and emotional wisdom of their previous work, but this album does find the fine band reaching for something different, and they hit their target with skill, assurance, and clarity.
**********
BIOGRAPHY/AMG
David Jeffries
Tennessee
Adding a Southern flavor to their love of the indie folk-pop of Ida, Memphis alt-country rockers Lucero have suffered the turbulence that comes with the indie scene, but their story of perseverance and survival is triumphant, so much so that director Aaron Goldman made a film about it. Formed by leader Ben Nichols in the late '90s, Lucero took their name from the Spanish word meaning "bright star." After releasing a single on the Landmark label, Lucero -- rounded out by drummer Roy Berry, bassist John C. Stubblefield, guitarist Brian Venable, and keyboard man Rick Steff -- signed with the alternative country label Madjack for their 2001 self-titled debut. Momentum started to build with their 2002 release, Tennessee. With critics picking up on their rock and Replacements edge, a decision was made to sign with the more diverse label Tiger Style. The 2003 release That Much Further West earned them positive reviews and a spot on Rolling Stone's Hot List. Things seemed to be going well, but as the album was catching indie fire, Tiger Style announced they were closing shop.
Nobody's Darlings
The band formed its own label, Liberty & Lament, through a deal with East West and worked on its next album with famed musician/producer Jim Dickinson. Released in spring of 2005, Nobody's Darlings featured the most Southern-fried sounds from the band yet. Mixing archival footage along with footage shot during the recording of the album, Goldman premiered his Lucero documentary Dreaming in America in September of 2005. A month later the film was released on DVD and CD/DVD featuring 13 rare live bonus tracks. The out of print effort The Attic Tapes (originally released prior to their 2001 Madjack debut) was reissued in April 2006 with bonus early demo and rare 7" tracks, which preceded the release of Lucero's next studio effort, September's Rebels, Rogues & Sworn Brothers. Supporting tour dates through the fall followed with openers Rocky Votolato and William Elliott Whitmore. The year 2009 saw the release of Nichols' solo EP The Last Pale Light in the West along with the band's album 1372 Overton Park. Lucero spent the remainder of the year on tour in support of the album.
Women & Work
Lucero remained busy touring in 2010 and 2011. Although they didn't record, they played festivals ranging from SXSW to Coachella to the Van's Warped Tour (Nichols played some solo shows as well). Toward year's end, they reentered the studio to begin Women & Work, their debut offering for ATO Records. Produced by Ted Hutt and featuring a full horn section -- as well as guest vocals from Amy LaVere -- the album was released in March of 2012 and followed by an American tour. In November 2013, Lucero played a three-night stand in Atlanta; the show was recorded with an eye toward officially documenting the group's powerful live show. The two-plus-hour Live from Atlanta followed in August 2014, issued by Liberty & Lament in partnership with Ingrooves. In 2015, Lucero released their tenth studio effort, All a Man Should Do, which included Big Star's Jody Stephens on a cover of the iconic pop band's song "I'm in Love with a Girl."
**********
WEBSITE
**********
TO THE TOP
**********