Wednesday, June 13, 2012

CD Odyssey Disc 407: Dixie Chicks


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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