love this album. one of lanois' best efforts, i think. obviously he puts his stamp on it, but doesn't overwhelm.
― tylerw, Monday, 26 August 2013 19:13 (ten years ago) link
classic. i think the watery imbalance of lanois' production matches with emmylou's voice perfectly, where i could take or leave his touch on pretty much every other record he's produced
― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Monday, 26 August 2013 19:18 (ten years ago) link
Love it, and yeah, she's essentially been remaking it over and over again for over 15 years now, but I actually like Red Dirt Girl nearly as much. Hell, the album even survives an appearance by Dave Matthews!
― the vineyards where the grapes of corporate rock are stored (cryptosicko), Monday, 26 August 2013 19:19 (ten years ago) link
I mean, jesus christ, the vocals and drums on this alone:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YpE47V1AHE
Lanois sort of discovered Blade - he heard him playing in a church near his studio in New Orleans - and it's been an amazingly fruitful friendship. The duo shows I've seen the two do ...
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 26 August 2013 19:40 (ten years ago) link
I was once on a Country message board and a bunch of people seemed to think that the idea that WB was terrible and the beginning of Harris' "decline" was a universally agreed upon thing. I left that board pretty quickly.
― President Keyes, Monday, 26 August 2013 19:40 (ten years ago) link
"where will i be" straight up makes me cry
― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Monday, 26 August 2013 20:07 (ten years ago) link
One of the great albums of my lifetime.
Or, as I tried to put it earlier in my lifetime: http://www.furia.com/page.cgi?type=twas&id=twas0038#entry1
― glenn mcdonald, Monday, 26 August 2013 20:19 (ten years ago) link
One of my favorite 5-to-10 albums, too.
I saw her perform in Minneapolis right (with the band introduced as Spyboyp) around the time this was released. Electric.
― The Bridges of Witchy Woman (Eazy), Monday, 26 August 2013 20:58 (ten years ago) link
While we are singing the praises, I also want to give a shout to whomever designed the album cover. Looks just like the music.
― that's not my post, Tuesday, 27 August 2013 04:17 (ten years ago) link
An amazing collection of deeply moving songs, nearly ruined by Lanois' compressed digital gauze.
― Shart Week (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Tuesday, 27 August 2013 04:22 (ten years ago) link
Despite the fact that Lanois' sonic thumbprint looms large as per usual, I love that it's still so clearly Emmylou that's being showcased under the glass dome of immaculate song selection and deeply sympathetic playing and arrangements. There is a perfect disparity between the glowing instrumental stew and her controlled crystalline tones. Not only is it one of his finest hours, but it also marked a career resurgence for her and paved the way for a well-deserved second act.
― vmajestic, Tuesday, 27 August 2013 05:36 (ten years ago) link
And to give Lanois a little more due, he wrote one of my favorite songs on it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQtbRyZoyeo
― something of an astrological coup (tipsy mothra), Tuesday, 27 August 2013 06:05 (ten years ago) link
Lanois also wrote "Where Will I Be".
― vmajestic, Tuesday, 27 August 2013 06:13 (ten years ago) link
So I noted upthread.
For the curious:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ssuxdnGAWI
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 27 August 2013 12:03 (ten years ago) link
Also of interest:
http://www.bigozine2.com/archive/ARrarities08/ARehwreckout.html
― vmajestic, Tuesday, 27 August 2013 14:02 (ten years ago) link
If it weren't for Lanois, this would be one of my favorite albums. As it is, I find the production suffocating. A collection of brilliant songs that I never, ever come back to.
― kaleb, Tuesday, 27 August 2013 17:52 (ten years ago) link
I definitely see why people would be put off by the Lanois production on this, but I love it. Loved the selection of songs on this, and thought her performance was amazing throughout. At the very least, it's what got me more interested in Emmylou, to the point where I started trawling he back catalogue and hooked me for the subsequent releases.
― Sean Carruthers, Tuesday, 27 August 2013 22:10 (ten years ago) link
dear thread:
thank you for introducing me to this album, I just listened to Where I Will Be about fifty times in a row. sux that the only vinyl pressing of it ever is waaaaaay out of print but w/e, I'll track one down someday.
signed, James Cobo
― a duiving caTCH, a stuolllen bayeeeess (jamescobo), Wednesday, 28 August 2013 05:50 (ten years ago) link
I never get tired of this album. It's fascinating to hear Emmylou singing with such raw emotion.
― banjoboy, Wednesday, 28 August 2013 07:02 (ten years ago) link
she's essentially been remaking it over and over again for over 15 years now
That was true for "Red Dirt Girl" (which is a good album though not as otherworldly as "Wrecking Ball"). But is it really true for anything after RDG? I didn't really pay much attention after that, what's worth checking out?
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Wednesday, 28 August 2013 14:20 (ten years ago) link
Being that Lanois is primarily responsible for that otherworldly quality which arguably makes this record so unique and special, I find it interesting that some people are bristling against his involvement, despite loving it otherwise?
― vmajestic, Wednesday, 28 August 2013 16:51 (ten years ago) link
Also ironic that Lanois's tools of the trade are generally more organic, more analog, than many other sonic gloop masters. He's the king of the right players in the right room with the right mics and amps, bar the odd delay effect or two. Like Neil Young, he's really into overdriving the amps to get cool effects.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 28 August 2013 18:00 (ten years ago) link
But is it really true for anything after RDG? I didn't really pay much attention after that, what's worth checking out?
The one I like a lot is All The Roadrunning, the duet album with Mark Knopfler. The rest, not so much.
― The Bridges of Witchy Woman (Eazy), Wednesday, 28 August 2013 18:55 (ten years ago) link
Also, Willie Nelson's Teatro feels like Wrecking Ball II, with Lanois producing and Emmylou featured.
― The Bridges of Witchy Woman (Eazy), Wednesday, 28 August 2013 18:57 (ten years ago) link
i should listen to Teatro again -- i thought it was all wrong for Willie when it came out, but maybe I'd dig it more now...
― tylerw, Wednesday, 28 August 2013 19:05 (ten years ago) link
I dig "I Never Cared For You" and "Darkness On The Face Of The Earth" a lot, but haven't returned to the rest of the album since I first heard it.
― kaleb, Wednesday, 28 August 2013 19:48 (ten years ago) link
I didn't like "Teatro." It felt waaaaaay too much like Willie going for the same thing, but WIllie is so much his own thing he doesn't need that. I didn't see him play Farm Aid with Lanois and two Cuban drummers, though.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 28 August 2013 19:55 (ten years ago) link
that Farm Aid set was dope
was a weird day, with Mellencamp & the rapper during Jack and Diane, and Phish and Neil Young, and Woody Harrelson in a suit made out of weed, and Brian Wilson
― Euler, Wednesday, 28 August 2013 21:50 (ten years ago) link
lol that all sounds pretty magical
― tylerw, Wednesday, 28 August 2013 22:11 (ten years ago) link
it was great! plus Hootie.
― Euler, Wednesday, 28 August 2013 22:18 (ten years ago) link
when will lanois produce a hootie album... achtung hootie.
― tylerw, Wednesday, 28 August 2013 22:21 (ten years ago) link
I forgot all about Hootie! I remember thinking, hey, I'm going to keep an open mind, but Hootie was soooooo boring.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 28 August 2013 22:52 (ten years ago) link
is there any licensing fuckery that would prevent Wrecking Ball from getting reissued? every copy listed on popsike has gone for over $150, usually WAY over.
― a duiving caTCH, a stuolllen bayeeeess (jamescobo), Thursday, 29 August 2013 00:33 (ten years ago) link
I don't understand, you can get it used for a penny on Amazon.
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Thursday, 29 August 2013 01:59 (ten years ago) link
Vinyl.
― Badmotorfinger Debate Club (MFB), Thursday, 29 August 2013 02:12 (ten years ago) link
gonna assume that not many copies of this were printed on vinyl -- 1995 was probably a low point in major labels even putting albums out at all on vinyl.
― tylerw, Thursday, 29 August 2013 15:05 (ten years ago) link
Getting back to Teatro for a sec, I could never get into it despite how badly I wanted to. Was actually hoping for Wrecking Ball II, but what I found was big on atmosphere and low on actual songs. The song selection on Wrecking Ball, on the other hand, is flawless.
― vmajestic, Friday, 13 September 2013 21:00 (ten years ago) link
OTM.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 13 September 2013 21:50 (ten years ago) link
I honestly don't really remember Teatro, I set it aside before anything sank in and never went back to it. But yeah, the songs on Wrecking Ball would have made for a great Emmylou album no matter how she recorded it. The production made it into something else again, but the foundation is solid to start with.
― something of an astrological coup (tipsy mothra), Friday, 13 September 2013 23:15 (ten years ago) link
Getting back to /Teatro/ for a sec, I could never get into it despite how badly I wanted to. Was actually hoping for /Wrecking Ball II/, but what I found was big on atmosphere and low on actual songs. The song selection on /Wrecking Ball/, on the other hand, is flawless.
― Naive Teen Idol, Sunday, 15 September 2013 05:46 (ten years ago) link
I picked up the Modern Classics reissue of Teatro today and it is quite beautiful; I've had it on tape since around the time this thread introduced me to Wrecking Ball but it's never sounded this rich before.
― grinding like a jolly elf (jamescobo), Sunday, 19 April 2015 00:03 (nine years ago) link
jesus goddamn christ
― grinding like a jolly elf (jamescobo), Sunday, 19 April 2015 00:52 (nine years ago) link
Discogs stats for the Grapevine vinyl:
Have: 38 Want: 263 Avg Rating: 4.8 / 5 Ratings: 10 Last Sold: 30 Dec 14 Lowest: $92.82 Median: $167.49 Highest: $216.10
Have: 38 Want: 263 Avg Rating: 4.8 / 5 Ratings: 10
Last Sold: 30 Dec 14 Lowest: $92.82 Median: $167.49 Highest: $216.10
― Johnny Fever, Sunday, 19 April 2015 01:00 (nine years ago) link
that's absurd. surely this has been reissued?
― akm, Monday, 20 April 2015 14:51 (nine years ago) link
I think that original UK vinyl release is the only time this album's ever been on vinyl, so it's understandably rare. Still, those prices are bonkers.
― Johnny Fever, Monday, 20 April 2015 15:02 (nine years ago) link
She played "Pilgrim" on Colbert and it reminded me how classic she is
― Week of Wonders (Ross), Monday, 24 July 2017 07:32 (six years ago) link
Hearing the demos for this for the first time ever - even though its one of my all-time favorite albums, and am astonished. As good as the finished album, if not better.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4shDJvXWXd4
― ... (Eazy), Friday, 17 November 2017 20:33 (six years ago) link
nice. this whole album has climbed up into my top 50 all time ranks pretty rapidly
― Spottie, Saturday, 18 November 2017 01:25 (six years ago) link
That's from the expanded reissue, right? The bonus disc material is great, indeed, and quite revealing.
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Saturday, 18 November 2017 03:02 (six years ago) link
Finally picked up the reissue on vinyl - can’t think what took me so long to buy it for $60 when I’d have snapped up the no doubt inferior sounding original for twice that if I ever spotted it in the wild - & immersed myself in it last night. Christ, i’d forgotten how fucking deep this record is. Wept like a baby through half of it: how that steel guitar sings like a church organ while EH is transformed by the magic of folk music: “and if you were Willie Moore and I was Barbara Allen - or Fair Ellender, all sad at the cabin door, weepin’ and a-pinin’ for love” - “Sweet Old World” - “Blackhawk” - & that numinous take on “Every Grain of Sand”, where she turns Dylan’s bitterness into something humble and human - honestly one of the best records ever made, I think. The only tune that left me cold at all - strangely, because I recall it fondly - was “Orphan Girl”, which came across as kind of rote or predetermined or something - never transcended its setting, & I don’t feel like Emmylou brought as much emotion to her reading of it as Gillian Welch later did to hers. A super-important track though, historically, because Welch/Rawlings probably wouldn’t have had anything like the career they did if that song hadn’t been on this record.
I like the first two sides of outtakes too, mostly - the unproduced take of “Where Will I Be” is a highlight, and it was great to hear her do “Still Water”, though I don’t think she quite caught the magic that Lanois’ own version did. “Stranger Song” was good. The Richard Thompson number was pretty unremarkable.
Now I have to track down a copy of that documentary - you mean I’m gonna have to buy this album AGAIN? - it was released with the CD version of the rerelease.
― bumbling my way toward the light or wahtever (hardcore dilettante), Sunday, 31 December 2017 06:18 (six years ago) link