by Dwight Yoakam List Price:$17.00 Our Price:$13.00 Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Product Details
Media: Audio CD
Release Date: Tuesday, June 14, 2005
Label: New West Records
Average Customer Review: 4.5 Based on 20 reviews.
Sales Rank: 63
Tracks
1.
Three Good Reasons
2.
Watch Out
3.
When I First Came Here
4.
The Last Heart In Line
5.
She'll Remember
6.
Lucky That Way
7.
Just Passing Time
8.
Intentional Heartache
9.
I'll Pretend
10.
I Want To Love Again
11.
Does It Show?
12.
Blame The Vain
Editorial Review
Dwight Yoakam occupies a singular position in contemporary country. No artist has better balanced mainstream commercial success with artistic, alt-country credibility, while somehow managing to embody both the music's most traditional and its most progressive impulses. Blame the Vain marks a milestone for Yoakam as his first self-produced effort since splitting with producer/guitarist/bandleader Pete Anderson. While the material seems to document the end of a relationship and the hope for romantic renewal, there's a freewheeling playfulness to the arrangements--the bongo-driven, rock & roll urgency of "International Heartache," the faux British accent and synthesizer intro on "She'll Remember," the shifting time signatures of "Watch Out." The tear-in-your-beer balladry of "Lucky That Way" and "Does It Show" should satisfy those who take their honky-tonk straight, no chaser, while the homage paid to timeless Roy Orbison ("Just Passin' Time"), early Johnny Cash ("I'll Pretend") and later Elvis Presley ("When I First Came Here") attests to the range and richness of Yoakam's artistry. He may no longer have the hits like he once did, but he hasn't lost the vision. --Don McLeese
Top Customer Reviews
Rating:
3 Yoakam slips here
The title track is vintage Dwight Yoakam material: a heartbreak and honky-tonk ballad with a plenty of guitar twang, and a world of hurt in Yoakam's vocals. And there's plenty more of the same on "Blame the Vain." Dwight Yoakam parted with guitarist/producer Pete Anderson, this teim. The album languishes as a result. Keith Gattis steps in on lead guitar, and though he's good, the songs just don't make you want to listen again. Result: Yoakam's first attempt at self-producing is his first certifiable flop.I also question his judgment on some songs. "Intentional Heartache" sounds like a novelty record, with its hyperactive bongos and spoken-word comedy(?). Also, the fake British accent and New Wave synthesizer riffs don't work at all, for the more straight-up honky-tonk of "She'll Remember."Fortunately, most tracks suggest thateven if this album flops, Yoakam can come back ... but probably not without another person acting as his procducer. THe wickedly witty wordplay and raw emotions of great honky-tonk cuts are still there. But the engineering sounds too sterile. Dwight Yoakam probably needs to team up with someone like Jack White, who understands why 'DIgital is Evil' -- look whata it did for Loratta Lynn in 2004. "Lucky That Way" and "Does It Show," almost get it, but neither has that warmth that makes a song a hit, or even a country & western radio staple. A "Suspicious Minds" guitar groove in "When I First Came Here," also offers some hope that Yoakam will collaborate with better people on future projects. Music,like love itself, is not getting any easier as time goes by. Yoakam may need to change direction, but I think he's benefir more from just going back and listeinng to his own earlier work, starting with "Guitars, Cadillacs, etc. etc.".
Rating:
5 I miss Pete too, but this is just as good if you ask me...
I didn't even know Pete left. I was reading the CD notes and was like "where the heck is Pete in all this?". Always thought he wasabsolutely a key part of the whole DY experience - I will never forget when I saw DY at Roseland in NYC about ten years ago. This was right about when "Gone" came out, and the band was as good as the singer : - )Having said all that, the absence of Pete is honestly not a bad thing. (Sorry, Pete, I still love you man!)The new guitar dude sounds great - maybe one small notch below Pete (Pete knew how to play, you have to give the man that much) - but very, very competent indeed.Dwight does sound like he's alive and having fun on this one - noticeably more so than a couple other CD's I have of his. And I've been a loyal fan since Guitars, Cadillacs, mind you. Some of the stuff on this CD is as good as his old, early stuff and that is saying a lot. Buy this one for sure - well worth the money. This is what REALLY good country music sounds like!
Rating:
5 The Best Is Yet To Come
Dwight Yoakam has written and produced his 18th album, and he has given birth to a fabulous CD. "And that's what this is - I'm still me, but maybe it's just more me on this record." said Dwight. The twelve songs that make up "Blame The Vain" may "tell the story of the end of a love affair between a couple," says Yoakum, "but the subtext is about my love for music. I'm really looking forward to playing this stuff on the road!" Dwight Yoakam stated writing his music in 2002 after he came off a long tour. He came upon a group in LA, of the "tough" country music he was used to playing, and he joined in the jams. He found some new musicians, a guitarist, Keith Gattis. Keith's buddies, drummer Mitch Marine and bassist Dave Roe (a 12-year veteran of Johnny Cash's band), joined Yoakam and a band was formed. Dwight began to write and sing melodies. They turned into some of the best music he has played in years. The songs are between rock and country and bluegrass and hillbilly. "Blame The Vain" and "Intentional Heartache" are getting all the airplay, and they have the rockabilly sound associated with Dwight Yoakam. "Just Passing Time" and "I'll Pretend" bring us back to the story of Dwight and a relationship remembered. "I Want To Love Again" has the impassioned sound of a man looking for love and "The Last Heart In Line" brings the story to a conclusion and we all agree. It is tine for Dwight to love again.As Dwight Yoakam explains," I think it's a unique moment for me musically - and hopefully a time for people who have been listening to my music all along to re-experience me with this." This is the best of the best.. Dwight has reached a pinnacle and he has shown us all that he can fly all alone. Highly recommended. prisrob
