Lambchop - Damaged (2006) [FLAC]
Category Rock/Pop, Rock
Label Merge
Orig Year 2006
All Time Sales Rank 33610
Discs 1
Release Date Aug 22, 2006
Studio/Live Studio
Mono/Stereo Stereo
Engineer James Burdine; Mark Nevers
Personnel Roy Agee - trombone
Tony Crow - piano
Alex McManus
Scott Martin - drums, electronics
Ames Asbell - viola
Sam Baker - drums
Kurt "Hanck" Wagner
Deanna "Henrietta" Varagona
Jonathan "Henery" Marx - electronics
Paul "Hank" Niehaous
Lambchop's Kurt Wagner professes to having a love-hate relationship with country music, and the Nashville band's sprawling music certainly takes in far more influences than one will find on Music Row. The gorgeous arrangements on DAMAGED feature a 15-member band, including a full-time chamber-music ensemble and two members who provide the subtle electronic soundscapes that link these 10 lengthy tunes. However, at the root of Lambchop's music is Wagner's pure country voice, which has the gravitas of Porter Wagoner and Lefty Frizzell. And like those artists, Wagner has a similarly conversational tone to his singing, delivering each song on DAMAGED in a hushed near-whisper that sounds cozily intimate over the grand, stately arrangements of songs like "Paperback Bible" and "The Decline of Country and Western Civilization."
Audio Mixer: Mark Nevers.
Recording information: Rhonda Court, Austin, TX.
Lambchop: Alex McManus, William Tyler (guitars); Matt Swanson (electric bass); Deanna Varagona, Kurt Wagner, Paul Niehaus, Sam Baker, Tony Crow.
Personnel: Kurt Wagner (vocals, guitar); Alex McManus, William Tyler (guitar); Paul Niehaus (electric guitar, steel guitar); Bruce Colson (violin); Ames Asbell (viola); Ben Westney, Gary Tussing (cello); Deanna Varagona (baritone saxophone); Roy Agee (trombone); Tony Crow (piano); Ryan Norris (keyboards, electronics); Scott Martin (drums, electronics); Sam Baker (drums); Marc William Trovillion, Jonathan Marx (electronics).
Spin (p.106) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "[Wagner's] lyrics feel positively intoxicating when woven through these swaying, melancholy tunes."
Q (p.109) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[A]dding ever greater layers of haunting melancholy and soaring grace to lyrics about the most intimate places in Wagner's recent life."
Q (p.120) - Ranked #43 in Q Magazine's "100 Greatest Albums of 2006" -- "[T]he haunting lyrics and sublime set of 10 songs perfectly captured the mood of our confused times."
Uncut (p.76) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[T]he pleasures of DAMAGED live mainly in the textures of guitars played by Wagner and William Tyler."
Magnet (p.98) - "Lambchop's finest instrument is Kurt Wagner's smoke-ruined croak....He's a surprisingly expressive vocalist, capable of summoning regret and longing and resignation in a single half-spoken syllable."
Track listing
Regular Edition
"Paperback Bible" Ð 7:48
"Prepared [2]" Ð 6:03
"The Rise and Fall of the Letter P" Ð 3:36
"A Day Without Glasses" Ð 4:11
"Beers Before the Barbican" Ð 4:51
"I Would Have Waited Here All Day" Ð 4:02
"Crackers" Ð 4:11
"Fear" Ð 5:00
"Short" Ð 3:48
"The Decline of Country and Western Civilization" Ð 4:36
