Disc of the day
Heaven 17 - Penthouse And Pavement
From Sheffield, synth pop and funk to stick it to Thatcher. Currently being played live!
Features Disc of the day
Loretta Lynn
Van Lear Rose
(Interscope, 2004)
Jack White escorts country’s Grande Dame to Grammy haul…
Loretta Lynn was already a mother of four by the time she recorded her legendary debut single, I’m A Honky Tonk Girl, in 1960 at the age of 26. Since then, she has enjoyed four decades of hits, but while her sister Crystal Gayle always sugared the pill, Lynn’s career has been defined by her no-nonsense approach to matters of the heart. This set, her first since 2000’s Still Country, was no exception, and the result remains an enthralling, personal album.
The title track whisks us back to her childhood (“Sittin’ on my daddy’s knee/Listening to the stories that he told”) and relates the tale of her parents’ courtship. Story Of My Life ends the cycle, retelling her own story in a manner which is as self-deprecating as it is warm. In between, Little Red Shoes is a spoken word piece that revisits childhood memories, augmented by ghostly musical backing. Rawer is the lament of Miss Being Mrs. “I lie here alone/In my bed of memories” sings Lynn, drawing on her own solitude since the death of husband Oliver ‘Doo’ Lynn in 1996. In truth, the pair’s relationship was tumultuous, and such is Lynn’s honesty that, despite her loss, she doesn’t flinch from telling it like it was. “We have nothing left in common/Your thoughts are not like mine,” she sings on Trouble On The Line, a track that chronicles the relationship in the frankest fashion and on which the late Doo receives a co-writing credit.
Musically, Jack White’s production is sympathetic and warm, his Blanche/Raconteurs pals relishing their task as Lynn’s backing band and helping her enjoy a Johnny Cash-like commercial resurrection when the album delivered her highest US pop chart placing to date. White and Lynn’s empathy is evident on their duet on Portland Oregon, a track that won them a Grammy for Best Country Collaboration With Vocals in 2005. Van Lear Rose itself is such a creative triumph that Lynn scooped a second Grammy for Best Country Album. Proof indeed that, even in her seventies, the fire still burns in the coal miner’s daughter.
Phil Alexander
Posted by Danny_Eccleston at 6:00 AM GMT 30/10/2008
Further Listening
Patsy Cline – Showcase (Decca, 1961)
Loretta Lynn – Don’t Come Home A Drinkin’ With Lovin’ On Your Mind (Decca, 1967)
Loretta Lynn – Coal Miner’s Daughter (Decca, 1971)
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