Steve Earle - Revolution Starts Now
List Price:
Our Price: $9.99
You Save: $7.99 (44%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.71 (click here)
Category: Music CD
See more CD details
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store
Canadian Music Store
CD Details
Artist: Steve EarleEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2004-08-24
Music Label: Artemis Records
Soundtracks:
- The Revolution StartsĀ?
- Home To Houston
- Rich Man's War
- Warrior
- The Gringo's Tale
- Condi, Condi
- F The CC
- Comin' Around
- I Thought You Should Know
- The Seeker
- The Revolution Starts Now
Music reviews of Revolution Starts Now
Music Review: A Master Of His Craft, Earle Is Caught Trying Too Hard
Rating: 3 Stars
Much of Steve Earle's strength as an artist has been centered around his writing ability; over the last two decades he has honed a style that is both thoughtful and intelligent, observant and direct, yet, at the same time, never preachy or anything less than heartfelt. Many have come to consider him the new Dylan (heck, even Dylan himself has sung his praises for Earle!). That's why THE REVOLUTION STARTS...NOW, Earle's tenth studio album of original material, is some what of a letdown - there's a forced emptiness to much of the material, a feeling that Earle's just trying too hard. Things kick off well enough with "The Revolution Starts...", a trippy, 60's-influenced rocker that serves as a sort of call to arms, exhorting the listener to get involved and make a difference. With it's slightly echoed vocals, hand claps and to-the-point lyrics ("Yeah, the revolution starts now/In your own backyard/In your own hometown/So what you doin' standin' around?/Just follow your heart/The revolution starts now"), Earle delivers both a crisp commentary about change starting with one person and a great pop song, all wrapped up in 3:10 minutes. "Home To Houston" and "Rich Man's War" are a pair of tales about the vagaries of war, with the former centering on a young trucker who feels the only way to improve his lot in life is to inlist, while the latter is about two young men from different ends of the world who have a lot more in common than they'll ever realize, the worst of it being lives controlled by richer, more powerful, men. "Home..." has an almost Beatles-meets-Bill Monroe vibe to it, while "...War" is a sort of South of the border shuffle. It's at this point that the disc really starts to fall apart. Up next is the overly wordy "Warrior", a song that is so over the top both lyrically and musically that you would never guess it to be an Earle composition. The noisy arrangement only helps to reinforce the feeling that Earle has hijacked a thesaurus and is determined to show just how many big words he can cram into one song. Things aren't much better with "The Gringo's Tale." Earle has done this sort of song before, and he's done it better. While the song has a gorgeous arrangement - particularly the emotive strings - there's an emptiness to the lyrics and vocals that ultimately causes the song to come up sounding forced and fake. Then there's "Condi, Condi" and "F The CC." The first cut, a romantic (wink, wink!) ode to Ms. Rice, is supposed to be tongue in cheek, but just comes across as goofy, and is way, wAY, WAY out of place with the rest of the disc. The same can be said about "F The CC." While no one would (or should!) argue with it's message - freedom of speech and expression - the execution of said message is laughable. I mean, here you have one of America's premiere lyricists coming across as a snotty-nosed little kid who's seeing how many times he can get away with saying the F word. I know Earle is doing it for a certain cause and effect, but I've come to expect more (and better) from him. Add noisy, thrashy instrumentation and you truly have a low point in Earle's career. Things rebound nicely though with "Comin' Around", a stripped-down duet with Emmylou Harris. It's amazing how comfortable and right these two have come to seem as duet partners in just the past few years. They complement each other's vocals, never hogging the spotlight, always sharing in a glorious give and take. Truly one of the all-time great Country pairings of the last 50 years! Toss in a little hypnotic harmonica floating in and out and you have one of the disc's best cuts. The same could be said about "I Thought You Should Know", a song about a desperate attempt to find a kindred soul, and the past heartache that can make that search so hard. The bare-boned arrangement and honest lyrics are among Earle's best, including a heartbreaking chorus ("If you're thinkin' 'bout breakin' my heart/You might as well just pick up your little black dress and go/Somebody else already tore it apart/And I thought you should know"). The disc ends with the optimistic "The Seeker" and a encore of "The Revolution Starts..(Now)." I really don't know how I feel about ending the disc with said reprise - on the one hand, "Revolution...." is my favorite cut on the album, so hearing it again is totally cool, but on the other hand hearing it's fresh-faced joy and careless abandon only reminds you how stale and shallow much of the rest of the disc sounds. Here's hoping this is only a minor bump in the road that is Steve Earle's career, and that he'll soon be back to the unforced brilliance that was so evident on 2002's far-superior JERUSALEM. Finally, as per all my 2004 reviews, I do have to give the disc an extra half a star for including the lyrics.
Description of Revolution Starts Now
All products are BRAND NEW and factory sealed. Fast shipping and 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed.Earle rushed The Revolution Starts ... Now to stores ahead of the 2004 presidential election, and given that timing and the songwriter's righteous lefty stance, the disc's topical content should surprise exactly no one. Even still, it's light on invective, allowing Earle's deftly drawn characters to make his points for him. Plainspoken people swept up by larger events, they include the truck-driving protagonist of rig-rocker "Home to Houston," who dodges rockets while running supplies in Iraq, the disaffected vet in "The Gringo's Tale," and the American soldiers and Palestinian boys whose lives run parallel in "Rich Man's War." At times, Earle is less artful, and the going gets patchy: the title cut is a guitars-blazing call to arms, but "Warrior" (a ponderous spoken-word piece that apes Shakespeare), "F the CC" (a ragged denunciation of culture cops), and "Condi, Condi" (a faux-reggae mash note to Condoleezza Rice) don't hold up as well. Interestingly, the less-pointed material finds the cantankerous crusader at his best, as on the aching Emmylou Harris duet "Comin' Around," a late-night barroom blues called "I Thought You Should Know," and the hopeful closer "The Seeker." There, Earle slips in one last, subtle message: "There's a new day tomorrow and maybe I'll hold, something brighter than gold to a seeker." --Anders Smith Lindall
Alternative Rock CDs
Music Genres
Bestsellers in Alternative Rock CDs
Bouncing Souls - Maniacal LaughterRelease date: 1996-01-26; Music CD
Best price: $30.00
Blondie - Parallel LinesRelease date: 1994-07-29; Music CD
Best price: $149.98
Doors - L.A. WomanRelease date: 1993-04-09; Music CD
Best price: $99.99
Amon Duul - Phallus DeiRelease date: 1997-04-08; Music CD
Price in other shops:
Tangerine Dream - MelroseRelease date: 1990-10-02; Music CD
Best price: $74.98
Tangerine Dream - Private Music of Tangerine DreamRelease date: 1992-11-10; Music CD
Best price: $5.00
Price in other shops:
![Ska Explosion [VHS] Image](/images/Ska-Explosion-VHS-6303381014-X.jpg){kind=small}
Ska Explosion [VHS]Cleopatra; Release date: 1995-02-28; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $14.99
Price in other shops:
![Little Earthquakes [VHS] Image](/images/Little-Earthquakes-VHS-6302488664-X.jpg){kind=small}
Little Earthquakes [VHS]Atlantic / Wea; Release date: 1992-11-10; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $12.50
Price in other shops:
Exileby Geoffrey Oryema
Music CD
Best price: $4.95
![Louder Than Live [VHS] Image](/images/Louder-Than-Live-VHS-6301627865-X.jpg){kind=small}
Soundgarden - Louder Than Live [VHS]A&M Video; Release date: 1991-07-01; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $183.90
Similar CDs
Steve Earle - TownesRelease date: 2009-05-12; Music CD
Best price: $9.88
Price in other shops:
Steve Earle - Exit 0EARLE,STEVE; Release date: 1990-10-25; Music CD
Best price: $2.98
Price in other shops:
Steve Earle - I Feel AlrightEARLE,STEVE; Release date: 1996-03-05; Music CD
Best price: $4.19
Price in other shops:
Steve Earle - Guitar Town (Remastered)(Bonus Track)EARLE,STEVE; Release date: 2002-01-29; Music CD
Best price: $2.68
Price in other shops:
Steve Earle - Train a CominEARLE,STEVE; Release date: 1997-01-28; Music CD
Best price: $4.04
Price in other shops:
Steve Earle - The Hard WayRelease date: 1996-02-06; Music CD
Best price: $4.04
Price in other shops:
Steve Earle - El CorazonEARLE,STEVE; Release date: 1997-10-07; Music CD
Best price: $2.60
Price in other shops:
Steve Earle - Washington Square Serenade (DIG)Baker Drivetrain; Release date: 2007-09-25; Music CD
Best price: $8.93
Price in other shops:
Steve Earle - JerusalemRelease date: 2002-09-24; Music CD
Best price: $11.13
Price in other shops:
Steve Earle - Transcendental BluesRelease date: 2000-06-06; Music CD
Best price: $9.00
Price in other shops: