Gary Louris - Vagabonds
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CD Details
Artist: Gary LourisBrand: LOURIS,GARY
Edition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown)
CD Release Date: 2008-02-19
Music Label: Rykodisc
Soundtracks:
- True Blue
- Omaha Nights
- To Die A Happy Man
- She Only Calls Me On Sundays
- We'll Get By
- Black Grass
- I Wanna Get High
- Vagabonds
- D.C. Blues
- Meandering
Music reviews of Vagabonds
Music Review: It gets in your soul
Rating: 5 Stars
I wrote a brief review of this album shortly after receiving it, and I gave it four stars. I had to come back, add a star, and completely revise. This is a monster of a record, and I mean that in a good way -- it just makes a huge impact.
But it takes time, and multiple listens, for that to happen. Gary Louris has a great voice, smoky but very warm -- yet even he admits he's not the loudest, most arresting guy out there. That doesn't matter here; in fact, Louris' unassuming nature works to the songs' advantage. They're all beautiful tunes, and his delivery of them is refreshing because you can't hear an ounce of ego.
The opening track, "True Blue," is so freaking gorgeous and sad that I can't stop listening to it. It's one of those great, great singer/songwriter tracks that comes along once every few years if that. I'd rank it with some of my other all-time favorites, including Jackson Browne's "For Everyman," Bruce Cockburn's "Tokyo" and Bruce Springsteen's "Devils and Dust." It's both quiet and monumental at the same time.
"Vagabonds," the title track, is another winner, as is "D.C. Blues." In fact, there's not a bad track on the album, although my least favorite, "Omaha Nights," sounds a bit overproduced compared to everything else here.
But I can forgive that one. All I have to do is listen again to "True Blue." If you don't get chills when the backing vocals come up on the chorus, or during the lovely pedal steel guitar solo -- well, then, I just can't imagine you like music at all.
In an interview when the album was released, Louris talked about how it felt good at the time to go the rootsy route on this record, instead of using loops and synths and stuff. I'm glad he did, and also glad the players recorded live in the studio. You can hear them pulling together to make every moment count for something. As Louris sings on "True Blue," "strip it down to what you can believe in / pass it on, what is right and true blue." He and his cohorts have done that here, and the result is unforgettable.
Description of Vagabonds
Through his two-decade stint as singer, guitarist and principal songwriter of The Jayhawks and as a member of alt-supergroup Golden Smog, Gary Louris has built a deeply compelling body of music whose artistry and integrity has earned him a loyal audience and the respect of critics and his peers. With his solo debut, Vagabonds, Louris steps out to deliver some of his most evocative and personal music yet with the aid of Black Crowes frontman and longtime fan, Chris Robinson, who co-produced the album s organically soulful performances. Louris trademark introspection and uplift is reflected on the standout True Blue, which offers a compelling blend of acoustic and electric textures. The title track acts as the musical and conceptual centerpiece of the record, with bittersweet, vivid imagery and a surging vocal chorus featuring Robinson, Susanna Hoffs and Jenny Lewis of Rilo Kiley. Natural, resonating collaborations such as these are at the heart of Vagabonds.Gary Louris has shown pop-star eager earmarks since 1989, when his endearing "Baltimore Sun" cracked the honky-tonk playlist that was the Jayhawks? sophomore record, Blue Earth. While Louris dipped his toe in a pop direction after Jayhawks co-founder Mark Olson departed in 1995, he never took the full plunge until now, with his first solo effort. Chiming with guitars and choruses and soaring melodies straight out of 1975, Vagabonds rightfully pens the Minneapolis musician inside a small stable of America?s greatest songwriters--and singers--adding three or four compositions to his career-best list. The 10-song record (produced by Chris Robinson, late of the Black Crowes) polishes the wide-ranging Louris palette with the simplest of instrumentation, including organ and banjo, ethereal pedal steel playing from Josh Grange, and a backing chorale led by Susannah Hoffs and Jenny Lewis. Louris's saccharine falsetto has never sounded better, whether it?s offering Paul Simon-like imagery ("To Die A Happy Man"), channeling John Lennon ("Black Grass") and Nick Drake ("Meandering"), or preaching with the Laurel Canyon choir ("I Wanna Get High"). Jayhawks followers will find comfort in "True Blue"--missing only Olson?s co-vocals--and "D.C. Blues," in which Louris borrows the traditional country line, "Hand me down my walking cane," before declaring, "It?s my game to win / It?s my game to lose." My money is on the former. --Scott Holter
Co-produced by Black Crowes frontman Chris Robinson, you half expect the solo debut by Jayhawks singer-songwriter Gary Louris to blast out of the speakers with a hefty retro-rock swagger. Instead, the veteran alt-country musicians have come up with something better, an unexpectedly sweet and gentle album built around softly strummed acoustic guitars, brushed rhythms and opulent melodies. "Black Grass" evokes John Lennon at his most vulnerable; "D.C. Blues" is a late-night meditation worthy of Chris Isaak's tender croon; and on "We'll Get By" Louris' sterling voice is lifted up by an all-star choir that includes Rilo Kiley's Jenny Lewis, Jonathan Rice, and former Bangles vocalist Susanna Hoffs. At 52, Louris proves it's never too late to grow up gracefully. --Aidin Vaziri
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