It’s been almost two years to the
day since I reviewed this next artist.
That’s a lot of space between reviews.
Wide open space, even.
Disc 407 is…Wide Open Spaces
Artist: Dixie Chicks
Year of Release: 1998
What’s up with the Cover? Band shot.
Boring ordinarily, but far more palatable when you have women as
beautiful as these three. Notably,
Natalie is slightly out of step with Emily and Martie, which is one of the
reasons the band works so well.
How I Came To Know It: I saw a video for “I Can Love You Better” on Country Music
Television and I was struck by how much I liked the music. However, I chalked it up to their looks. Then I saw a video for “There’s Your Trouble” and liked them even more. By the time “Wide Open Spaces” was released as a single, I figured, I was three
for three, and bought the album.
How It Stacks Up: I have four Dixie Chicks albums, which is all of the
ones that feature Natalie Maines as lead vocalist. I enjoy all of them, but I’ll say “Wide Open
Spaces” is second best. It is a far cry
from “Home” (reviewed back at Disc 140), but still good enough to hold off
“Fly” for second best.
Rating: 3 stars.
As I noted in the “How I Came to
Know It” section above, I warmed to this album slowly. I am distrustful of anything I associate with
the new country sound coming out of Nashville for most of the last twenty-five
years, and with good reason.
The fact that the Dixie Chicks are
so easy on the eyes was great for the videos, but not for my trust of their
music – Nashville is often about style over substance. Not so, the Chicks, who are every bit as
talented as they are attractive. It was
the talent that ultimately got me past their image (hideous as it was) to the
point that I’d buy this album, their first commercial success. I’ve been buying their records ever since.
“Wide Open Spaces” is still the
record that got it started, and introduced a wider audience to the Dixie
Chicks. The album is a mix of
traditional music structures that hearken back to Hank Williams Sr., bluegrass
harmonies, and the modern pop sensibilities and production values of new
country. Ordinarily, the inclusion of
that last element would have been enough to turn me off, but the Dixie Chicks’
talent shines through, and successfully pulls off the marriage of the various
styles.
Emily plays banjo, guitar and
dobro and Martie plays fiddle and mandolin, and both are superb musicians. Knowing what they can accomplish on later
albums like “Home” I was a bit disappointed they don’t have more opportunity to
shine. They mostly play little hooks
that supplement the big brash voice that comes out of tiny Natalie Maines.
Say what you will about the
awkward change the two sisters made at lead singer after they were signed to
record “Wide Open Spaces” but it was the right decision. Natalie can belt it out with the best of
them, and her rock edge is what is needed to keep the schmaltz of new country
from creeping too far into the record’s sound.
Instead, she rides up on top of
two great players (and many more studio musicians besides) with a star quality
that is every bit as equal to her formidable presence on stage. The sisters fill in beautiful harmonies
behind her voice, and support her perfectly.
The album is a bit of a tale of
two sides, with the first five songs being the best five songs, culminating
with “You Were Mine”, written by
Emily and Martie, and a serviceable broken-heart song that shows the promise
they’ll fully develop on later albums when the soulless record execs let them
put more of their own stuff on the albums.
Three of the other four opening
tracks (“I Can Love You Better”, “Wide Open Spaces” and “There’s Your Trouble” were all hits, and
the fourth (“Loving Arms”) should
have been. “I Can Love You Better” and “There’s
Your Trouble” show the Chicks’ playful quality, despite both covering the
decidedly non-playful topic of unrequited love and jealousy.
The title track “Wide Open Spaces” is a bit more
grounded. It is a song about striking
out on your own, and taking a risk to pursue your dreams. I like the double meaning of the opening
lines:
“Who doesn’t know what I’m talking about?
Who’s never left home, who’s never struck out?”
I like the implication of ‘struck
out’ because, hey, it doesn’t always work out, but you’ll never know if you
don’t give it a shot. That said the
lyrics are not as consistent on the album as the musicianship. The same song later features strained lines
like “If these are life’s lessons/she’ll
take this test.”
Even the songs I like have fairly
sub-par lyrics, but it works for three reasons.
First, Natalie sings her pants off.
Second, the production might be new country, but it is superbly well
done new country (go ahead and smirk, soulless, record exec.). Third, and most importantly, Martie and Emily
are selfless musicians, and have a great feel for when to push forward in the
mix, and when to settle back for the sake of the song’s arrangement. When given the chance, they also show a lot
of range, playing pop hooks, fifties guitar hooks and old time bluegrass with
equal relish.
The second half of the album is
weaker than the first. It still benefits
from strong melodies, but the lyrics are even noticeably bland, and the album
loses a little bit of its playfulness, without sufficiently replacing it with
gravitas. In the process it reminds me
that you can have all the elements to succeed (and the Dixie Chicks do) but
still make a merely good album. For a
great one, I recommend you start with “Home,” which (not so coincidentally) is
the one they made after they got out from under the thumb of the record
companies.
That’s right, soulless record exec
– wipe that smirk off your face.
Best tracks: I Can Love You
Better, Wide Open Spaces, Loving Arms, There’s Your Trouble, You Were Mine.
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