Artist: Lambchop
Label: Cityslang Records
Released: 2006
“Damaged” is the eighth (or ninth) studio album from Nashville’s Lambchop, a band you could loosely file under alt-country. And quite possibly their best one! The competition is fierce, though: for some, their peak came with “How I Quit Smoking” (City Slang, 1996), for others it was “Nixon” (City Slang, 2000), and maybe for a few it was the slightly quieter “Is A Woman” (City Slang, 2002) …
In the studio, Lambchop often count fifteen or more regular members, and the guest string trio under the baton of Peter Stopshinski is, of course, indispensable. On top of that, two members of Hands Off Cuba, Ryan Norris and Scott Martin, drop in. They’re longtime friends of the band, and Kurt Wagner (the driving force of Lambchop) admits the record would sound quite different without them. The two are responsible for the sonic intros that weave deftly through the ten chosen songs, wrapping them in even more mysterious haze that drifts somewhere between the real and the imaginary, the current and the timeless. It’s as if those intros walk you into a dream, and at the end of the album carry you back out of it into a new morning.
Besides the exceptional music, there are the equally exceptional lyrics, which would surely earn a place in some poetry collection next to the earlier lyrical masterpieces of songwriter Kurt Wagner. He says this is the most personal thing he’s ever made, which doesn’t mean it’s a string of autobiographical outpourings. It’s a view from a very dynamic angle: critical of society and of himself alike, real and therefore often uncomfortable, but above all deeply understanding.
In the song Prepared (2), the line “I am the most undisciplined of man” is delivered with such devotion that you can feel this person carrying everyone else’s burden on their shoulders. At the same time, completely selflessly and with full responsibility, they take on extra blame that this time “could” also have been theirs, even though they’re only half ready for all of it.
The track I Would Have Waited Here All Day was originally written for the resurrected soul diva Candi Staton, but was ultimately rejected over the “inappropriate” line “Soon you’ll be drying off your dick”. It shows the perspective of a lonely, weary woman (or wife) who clings to memories to get through a day that hasn’t offered her any for a long time. Either way, the song sounds great, so in this case it wasn’t Lambchop who lost out from the rejection!
The lyrics for Paperback Bible are made up almost entirely of the radio show “Swap Shop”, where listeners sell, buy and swap all sorts of stuff. Someone, for instance, is looking for a 27-inch color RCA TV that doesn’t have to work, because they only need it for parts!
We get into sharper territory in the last song, The Decline Of Country And Western Civilization, where right at the start he gives his opinion of Nathan B. Forrest, once one of the most celebrated generals of the American Civil War and later the first Grand Wizard, i.e. the first real leader of the Ku Klux Klan, with the words “Well, I hate Nathan Bedford Forrest, he’s the featured artist in the devil’s chorus”! The very next line then serves up a bitter reality that, if it isn’t here yet, is inevitably and (almost) unnoticeably on its way: “They say put an end to all your joking, you lost your friends when you quit smoking”!
Yeah, this is serious stuff, and this is a serious album for serious times!
The album’s title, “Damaged”, is in the past tense: it’s something that’s already been done, so it’s pointless to dwell on yesterday’s regret and today’s (or every day’s) numbness. The past should stay where it belongs, and the only natural thing is to move forward. That doesn’t mean you have to forget the past, though.
The album hides nothing and forces nothing on you, and neither do Lambchop. They simply do their thing, and they do it with freshly rediscovered vitality, confidence and steadiness.
The label accompanied the release with a press note saying this is one of the rare albums born out of a profane search for the soul. With “Damaged”, Lambchop have found that soul, and at the same time created one of the musical highlights of this year!
Lineup
William Tyler – Guitars
Tony Crow – Piano
Sam Baker – Drums (songs 3-10)
Matt Swanson – Bass
Kurt Wagner – Guitar and vocals
Alex McManus – Guitars
Deanna Varagona – Baritone saxophone
Paul Niehaus – Steel guitar, electric guitar (song 6)
Marc Trovillion – Electronics (song 7)
Jonathan Marx – Electronics (songs 1,2,8), sonic intros
Ryan Norris – Keyboards, electronics (songs 1,2,8), sonic intros
Scott Martin – Drums (song 2), electronics (songs 1,2,8), sonic intros
Roy Agee – Trombone
Gary Tussing – Cello (song 1)
G daddy – Acoustic guitar (song 4)
GUEST MUSICIANS:
Peter Stopshinski – String arrangements (songs 2,8,10)
Bruce Colson – Violins
Ames Asbell – Viola
Ben Westney – Cello
Production
Mark Nevers & Garry Moore
Track list
01. Paperback Bible
02. Prepared (2)
03. The Rise And Fall Of The Letter P
04. A Day Without Glasses
05. Beers Before The Barbican
06. I Would Have Waited Here All Day
07. Crackers
08. Fear
09. Short
10. The Decline Of Country And Western Civilization
Running time: 48.10
