Rating:
Genre:
Country
Release Date: 06/26/2007
Translated from Love is
Kelly Willis' seventh album and her first (aside from a
Christmas set in 2006) in five years. It was produced by
Chuck Prophet with a small group of musicians that rotates a bit but is more or less a unit:
Prophet,
Greg Leisz,
Marc Pisapia,
John Ludwick, and
Michael Ramos. Guests include
Willis' husband
Bruce Robison, the
Tosca String Quartet, and
Jules Shear (who wrote or co-wrote a couple of tunes here).
Prophet,
Willis and
Shear take on the lion's share of writing credits here, often in combinations.
Willis is the darling of
alt country fans and
NPR listeners, and each recording has received more platitudes than the one before. It will be interesting to see what they make of
Translated. This is, in many ways, as slick as her
MCA records, though it is punchier, rocks a little harder, and feels like it was geared for more open-minded
country radio stations. The music is full of keyboards featured as prominently as guitars, tight arrangements, clipped harmonies, and bona fide
rock riffs in places; what's more, the tracks accent the jumpier side of
Willis' voice. Think
Carlene Carter's 1980 album
Musical Shapes (produced by
Nick Lowe) (and yeah, it
is a good thing).
Alt country,
Americana or, as some are now calling it, "Ameripolitan" has become a ghetto of generic artists, sounds, and utterly forgettable songs that rely more on lyrical imagery than on their crafted melodies to get them across.
Willis, who has played this game her way since leaving
MCA in the '90s, knows what she's doing.
Prophet's a perfect producer for getting what an artist wants out of a tune.
"Nobody Wants to Go to the Moon Anymore" opens the set with its jaunty, popping 21st century
rockabilly. It's got a shuffling, crisp blend of acoustic and electric guitars, and solid snare pop driving the thing.
"Don't Know Why," with its Wurlitzer and B-3, carries a kind of '80s roots
country feel: it's got a solid, hooky melody in a beautiful mid-tempo
pop-love song written by
Willis,
Prophet and
Shear. If there is any questions about the early
rock & roll influence on this disc, go no further than
"Teddy Boys," with its modified
Chuck Berry lick. It's modified by
Ramos playing a big fat Moog as part of the melody line. There are those young and middle-aged men (many of them critics who are projecting their own fantasies) who will write all these songs off as sell-outs, as "merely" recordings by female artists, unless their titles are drenched in a slavish vulnerability they perceive as "honesty."
Willis offers a twist on these themes in
"Losing You," with its banjo lines featured prominently, the tempo in the middle, and her expressive Virginia drawl drenched in strings and pedal steel.
"Too Much to Lose" puts
Robison's vocals in the mix, and is also laden with strings. It's a slow, simple tune, but
Willis sings with great authority. The longing in her voice and in her lyrics never sacrificess her dignity. The '60s
rock harmonies that introduce
"The More That I'm Around You" are offset by the cheesy synth lines. This is one of
Shear's great
pop songs and
Willis does it justice, as does
Leisz's Rickencbacker 12-string. The great cover of
David Bowie's
"Success" is simply a riot. It's all loose and ranging, driven by
Ramos playing a Vox Continental organ and shouted backing vocals by
the Gourds. There's a stolid
country ballad in
"Stone's Throw Away," a gorgeous song that plays more to
Willis' recognizable past (so it may be big with the males mentioned above). The big fat
rock & roll guitars in
"I Must Be Lucky" accented by dobro and organ, make it one of the best cuts on the set, before the album's taken out by the minimally dressed acoustic title track with the sweet tinges of
Shear's backing vocal and
Ramos' accordion. In all, it's a winner, a solid, consistently crafted "new
country" record that wears
rock & roll proudly on its sleeve. And don't be surprised if the
contemporary country stations or
CMT and
GAC pick up on it.
~Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
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