Lucinda Williams, West

It's new music Tuesday, as they say, and I have already listened to most of the new Lucinda Williams album West. (Click title to buy from amazon).

Sparing you any lengthy review, let me just say that this is a very good album. I can already tell, much better than World Without Tears, not as great (if that were even possible) as Car Wheels on a Gravel Road.

Blender gives the record three stars, Rolling Stone gives is four, calling the album opener "one of her greatest songs ever". That's high praise, indeed. There are some low points on the record, but I have yet to identify them on my own.

The Blender review here.

The Rolling Stone review here.

A glowing review on Allmusic.com here.

Aquarium Drunkard blogged about West yesterday and posted what is probably my favorite song on the album, "Unsuffer Me" (mp3).

Another track, "Words" (mp3) appeared last month on Who Killed the Mixtape?

BillyBlog strongly recommends.

Following Up on Lucinda

Last week I posted about one of my favorite albums, Lucinda Williams' Car Weeels on a Gravel Road.

I recently stumbled across a French blog that has a couple of the songs from her new album West performed live in Europe.

The CD is due out on February 13, but you can get a sneak peak by going over to There's Always Someone Cooler Than You and checking out the tracks. They're a little muffled, but they are live performances from Amsterdam this past November. Check, in particular, "Unsuffer Me," which just sounds like it will be incredible on disc. She introduces it as being "inspired by God and Jim Morrison." Please check it out. Not to mention the blog has a pretty cool name.

Expect me to obsess a little more on the new Lucinda Williams record in the immediate future. You can also listen to an entire concert from '05, which includes "Unsuffer Me" in the encore, here on NPR.