Are ya tired of these yet? FM mention/Dixie Chicks

Livia · #1 05-24-2006, 10:34 AM

I'm starting to think the record label issued instructions w/ the promo copies to the press: "Whether you like the album or not, just make sure to mention Fleetwood Mac."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...052302026.html

Dixie Chicks Leave Their Old Country

By J. Freedom du Lac
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 24, 2006; C01

Having decided, over the past three years, that they couldn't possibly go home again, the Dixie Chicks have opted to give themselves an extreme makeover.

Out, for all intents and purposes: Country music.

In: The catchy, breezy stylings of the Southern California soft-rock scene, circa 1975-1977.

Thus, despite its abundance of fiddle parts and the occasional weeping pedal-steel sound, the new Dixie Chicks album, "Taking the Long Way," has much more in common with Fleetwood Mac than Reba McEntire. In fact, the lush, jangly opener, "The Long Way Around," is a dead ringer for "Rumours"-era Fleetwood; elsewhere, the Chicks expertly channel the Eagles, as on the celebrity culture manifesto "Everybody Knows."

This is not a bad thing: "Taking the Long Way" is a tuneful tour de force, overflowing with rich melodies, soaring harmonies and otherwise sharp pop songcraft.

Still, many country music fans will likely disapprove of the group's new direction. But, then, what else is new?

The Dixie Chicks, of course, were all but excommunicated from the church of country music in 2003, when the best-selling Texas trio had the temerity to pop off about President Bush and the war in Iraq. "Just so you know, we're ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas," lead singer Natalie Maines said onstage in London that year. The remarks riled up the Chicks' red-state base, leading to a bitter backlash that included radio boycotts of the Chicks' 2002 album, "Home," plus all manner of insults, denouncements and even death threats. ("Home" sold 6 million copies -- half the total of the group's 1998 album, "Wide Open Spaces.")

The trio is still smarting from that boot-stomping, and if you've come to "Taking the Long Way" expecting contrition and conciliation, well, you're in the wrong place.

Especially if you're listening to the album's centerpiece single, "Not Ready to Make Nice." The song opens as something of a dirge, with Maines quietly cooing: "Forget? Sounds good/Forgive? I'm not sure I could." It unfolds slowly, almost politely, but there's no mistaking the group's mood once the defiant chorus kicks in: "I'm not ready to make nice, I'm not ready to back down/I'm still mad as hell . . . can't bring myself to do what it is that you think I should."

Take that , Toby Keith!

But wait, there's more on what's likely to stand as one of the best songs of 2006.

In an inspired bit of arranging, the second verse is cut short so that Maines can unload in a swelling, lengthy pre-chorus, on which she seethes: "It's a sad, sad story when a mother will teach/Her daughter that she oughta hate a perfect stranger/And how in the world can the words that I said/Send somebody so over the edge/That they'd write me a letter saying that I'd better shut up and sing or my life will be over?"

To be sure, "Taking the Long Way" isn't all about lashing out. The album includes songs about Alzheimer's ("Silent House"), exes ("Favorite Year"), children ("Lullaby") and infertility ("So Hard"). But make no mistake: The Dixie Chicks are hardly biting their tongues here.

"Easy Silence," for instance, is an elegiac love song, but there's a political undercurrent in the lyrics, as Maines sings of being paralyzed by "accusations, messages and misperceptions" and of living in a world in which "anger plays on every station."

And on the chugging, twangy rocker, "Lubbock or Leave It," she takes a swipe at the small-town mentality of the folks back home. Noting that there's a painting of Buddy Holly in the airport in Lubbock, Maines sings, derisively: "I hear they hate me now, just like they hated you/Maybe when I'm dead and gone, I'm gonna get a statue, too." The song is punctuated by the furious Hammond B-3 vamping of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers keyboardist Benmont Tench, who was part of an ad hoc band assembled by producer Rick Rubin. Rubin also convened Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell and Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith for "Taking the Long Way," which was very much a collaborative effort: Maines, Emily Robison and the fiddle whiz Martie Maguire collaborated on the album's 14 songs with more than a half-dozen writers, including Sheryl Crow, Neil Finn, alt-country godhead Gary Louris and Dan Wilson of Semisonic and Trip Shakespeare.

Despite the excess fingerprints, the album holds together exceptionally well -- save for the inclusion of "Bitter End," an ill-fitting Celtic waltz with a chorus ("Farewell to old friends/Let's raise a glass to the bitter end") that seems to have been designed specifically for future pub singalongs. Either that, or a kiss-off party for the Chicks' former fans.

The Dixie Chicks are scheduled to perform at Verizon Center Aug. 4.

desertangel · #2 05-24-2006, 06:01 PM

hmm... wonder if they be tryin to bait as many fiercly loyal Mac/Nicks fans as they can. Cuz I'm wonderin if the Chick-fan ranks shrunk after the Dubya bash.

Jyqm · #3 05-24-2006, 06:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by desertangel

hmm... wonder if they be tryin to bait as many fiercly loyal Mac/Nicks fans as they can. Cuz I'm wonderin if the Chick-fan ranks shrunk after the Dubya bash.

Why would a bunch of independent music critics be trying to convince Fleetwood Mac fans to buy the Dixie Chicks' album?

Apparently this album simply has a number of songs that sound similar to Fleetwood Mac and the Eagles.

chiliD · #4 05-24-2006, 06:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by desertangel

Cuz I'm wonderin if the Chick-fan ranks shrunk after the Dubya bash.

Dubya needed and still needs bashing. Get the MF-er (and his legion of doom along with him) out of office NOW!

irishgrl · #5 05-24-2006, 06:12 PM

just taking the article at face value, and without knowing all the sordid details of their trials and tribulations post declaration, I hope this album brings them mega success. Those stupid red-state sheep (and Im only referring to the "hes MY president!" fools) are not dealing with the real world here.

desertangel · #6 05-24-2006, 06:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jyqm

Why would a bunch of independent music critics be trying to convince Fleetwood Mac fans to buy the Dixie Chicks' album?

Apparently this album simply has a number of songs that sound similar to Fleetwood Mac and the Eagles.

First of all, music critics, in general, don't rate very high on my list of respectable people. I've seen far too many of them in recent years give reviews of albums and concerts where it seemed very obvious they weren't listening very well, if at all. I've heard snippets of this new album and I don't know where the Rumours likeness fits in at all. I'm not a fan of country music, yet when I heard the new songs off this album, country is all I heard. In a recent interview, Natalie described the new album as being different from the rest in that it was more mainstream. To me, if a song has a fiddle sound and a twangy lead singer, it's country. The new album doesn't sound much different than the last one. Again, I've only heard enough of them to know what they sound like to my own ear and I'm not a fan of country and western music.

All I was trying to say is I'm wondering if the Chicks' publicist started some kind of thing with the media for them to mention Fleetwood Mac in their reviews... you know, maybe using a little money under the table, to convince them it would be a good thing if they wrote about comparisons of the new album to Fleetwood Mac. Thusly, my comment about trying to lure Fleetwood Mac fans... the management trying to lure, not necessarily the critics themselves. Sigh...

Laura

Keith · #7 05-24-2006, 06:42 PM

it was good to see my hometown paper digging the Chicks.. thanks for sharing, Livia. I love this record..

"..drank with the Irish,
smoked with the Hippies..
moved with the shakers.
wouldn't kiss all the asses that they told me to..
oh I could never follow.." -dc

MiniLindsey · #8 05-24-2006, 10:07 PM

Am I the only one here who despises the Dixie Chicks? One time my friend asked me to accompany her for the talent show, and after I agreed she told me she was doing a Dixie Chicks song. It was too late to back out...

HomerMcvie · #9 05-25-2006, 12:20 AM

I really like them. Their last album, Home, was a really refreshing change. I have their newest one already, although I've only listened to it once, so far, so I don't really have an opinion of it yet.

BTFLCHLD · #10 05-25-2006, 01:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HomerMcvie

I really like them. Their last album, Home, was a really refreshing change. I have their newest one already, although I've only listened to it once, so far, so I don't really have an opinion of it yet.

Would you be interested in seeing the DC & Stevie Landslide performance, or have you already?

estranged4life · #11 05-25-2006, 02:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MiniLindsey

Am I the only one here who despises the Dixie Chicks? One time my friend asked me to accompany her for the talent show, and after I agreed she told me she was doing a Dixie Chicks song. It was too late to back out...

I'm sick of hearing about them from the standpoint of the controversy surrounding the comment about Shrub-nuts...They should stand or fall on the music alone, not some comment. Right or Wrong, as Joe Perry once sang "Let the Music Do the Talking"!!!!

I will give them the benefit and say they are talented for their catergory/type of music...However it doesnt hold my interest for a second, (A few years ago Deb bought me their deluxe version of the "Home" disc because of the bonus DVD w/the video of "Landslide"...Let's say I have played that disc only twice and it did nothing to hold my attention.)