Sweet Old World
| Sweet Old World | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by Lucinda Williams | ||||
| Released | August 25, 1992 | |||
| Genre | Roots rock | |||
| Length | 45:27 | |||
| Label | Chameleon | |||
| Producer | Gurf Morlix, Dusty Wakeman, Lucinda Williams | |||
| Lucinda Williams chronology | ||||
| ||||
Sweet Old World is the fourth studio album by American singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams. It was released on August 25, 1992.[1]
Critical reception
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [1] |
| Christgau's Consumer Guide | A[2] |
| Entertainment Weekly | B+[3] |
| Q |  [4] |
| Rolling Stone | [5] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [6] |
| Spin Alternative Record Guide | 8/10[7] |
Sweet Old World was voted the 11th best album of 1992 in The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop, an annual poll of prominent music critics.[8] Robert Christgau, the poll's creator, ranked it 6th on his own year-end list,[9] later writing that the album was "gorgeous, flawless, brilliant [with] short-story details ('chess pieces,' 'dresses that zip up the side') packing a textural thrill akin to local color".[10] In a contemporary review, Audio magazine said Sweet Old World proves Williams is "a riveting writer and performer whose apparent simplicity is merely the entranceway to a rewarding artist of depth",[11] while Stereo Review wrote "She delivers her searing lines without artificial sentiment or extraneous embellishment, just a wrenching directness that nourishes the spirit and knows no detour to the heart."[12]
In a retrospective review for The Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004), Dave Marsh later wrote Williams was a "damned determined artist" on Sweet Old World, in which the perspectives of her previous work--"adult, Southern, female, sensual but neurotic"--were stronger and more focused.[6] AllMusic's Steve Huey said it was just as good as her 1988 self-titled album, calling it "a gorgeous, elegiac record that not only consolidates but expands Williams' ample talents."[1] Like her self-titled album, Bill Friskics-Warren wrote in The Washington Post, Sweet Old World showcased Williams' "sharply drawn odes to desire and loss", sung with a "grainy drawl" and backed against a "lean, bluesy roots-rock" sound.[13]
Track listing
All songs written by Lucinda Williams except where noted.
- "Six Blocks Away"
- "Something About What Happens When We Talk"
- "He Never Got Enough Love" (Williams, Betty Elders)
- "Sweet Old World"
- "Little Angel, Little Brother"
- "Pineola"
- "Lines Around Your Eyes"
- "Prove My Love"
- "Sidewalks of the City"
- "Memphis Pearl" (Williams, Lorne Rall)
- "Hot Blood"
- "Which Will" (Nick Drake)
Personnel
- Lucinda Williams – lead vocals, acoustic guitar
- Gurf Morlix – electric and acoustic guitar, pedal steel, dobro, mandolin, lap steel, beer bottle and background vocals
- Duane Jarvis – electric guitar
- Dr. John Ciambotti – electric and upright bass
- Donald Lindley – drums and percussion
- Doug Atwell – fiddle
- Byron Berline – fiddle & mandolin
- Skip Edwards – Hammond B-3 organ
- Benmont Tench – Hammond B-3 organ
- William "Smitty" Smith – Hammond B-3 organ
- Gia Ciambotti, Jim Lauderdale, Dusty Wakeman – background vocals
Charts
Billboard Music Charts (North America) – Sweet Old World
References
- 1 2 3 Huey, Steve. Sweet Old World at AllMusic. Retrieved 10 August 2005.
- ↑ Christgau, Robert (2000). "Lucinda Williams". Christgau's Consumer Guide: Albums of the '90s. Macmillan. p. 335. ISBN 0312245602. Retrieved August 3, 2015.
- ↑ Altman, Billy (October 9, 1992). "Sweet Old World Lucinda Williams > Music Review". Entertainment Weekly (139). p. 60. Retrieved 12 May 2011.
- ↑ Q. London (December): 141. 1992.
- ↑ Jurek, Thom (September 3, 1992). "Recordings: Sweet Old World Lucinda Williams". Rolling Stone (638). p. 68. Archived from the original on 2 October 2007. Retrieved 20 July 2007. Posted January 29, 1997.
- 1 2 Marsh, Dave (2004). "Lucinda Williams". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian. The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. London: Fireside. pp. 875–876. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
- ↑ Weisbard, Eric; Marks, Craig, eds. (1995). "Lucinda Williams". Spin Alternative Record Guide. New York: Vintage Books. ISBN 0-679-75574-8.
- ↑ "The 1992 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll". The Village Voice. New York. March 2, 1993. Retrieved August 3, 2015.
- ↑ Christgau, Robert (March 2, 1993). "Pazz & Jop 1992: Dean's List". The Village Voice. New York. Retrieved August 3, 2015.
- ↑ Christgau, Robert (2001). "Encore From a Utopia". The Village Voice (June 12). New York. Retrieved August 3, 2015.
- ↑ Audio (December): 154. 1992.
- ↑ Stereo Review (December): 94. 1992.
- ↑ Friskics-Warren, Bill (1998). "Southern to the Roots". The Washington Post (June 24). Retrieved August 3, 2015.
- ↑ Sweet Old World - Lucinda Williams - Awards
External links
- Sweet Old World at Discogs (list of releases)