'Good Souls Better Angels' Review: Lucinda Williams drops a fiery mix of socio-politically-charged Southern rock
The popular Southern rock & country singer Lucinda Williams has a new target in her sights - the villainous dark forces that threaten her beloved land of the free & home of the brave. April 24 marks the release date of the raspy-voiced singer-songwriter's 15th studio album, 'Good Souls Better Angels'. And right out of the gates, it's a passionate, explosive banger, a wild stallion with flared nostrils racing towards the open country plains.
While most artistes are thinking about holding back their album release dates in view of the coronavirus lockdown, Williams declared that this was probably the perfect time for her new record to come out. "Besides the pandemic, we're dealing with the worst president we've ever had in the history of the United States. So the songs are very relevant to what's happening right now. What I was thinking about when I was writing the songs was either what's going on now - the state of the government and the way things are - or five years ago. I've always wanted to write more topical songs," she revealed in a recent interview.
The 67-year-old singer is already well known for her highly personal brand of songs and storytelling craft, but on this new album, she really lets loose on some highly-relevant human, social and political injustices. She is ably supported by her longtime backing band, featuring drummer Butch Norton, guitarist Stuart Mathis, and bassist David Sutton. This is also the first time that Williams has credited her husband and manager, Tom Overby, as a co-writer on many of the new songs.
Overby also helped Williams co-produce this new record, assisted by Ray Kennedy, who last collaborated with Lucinda Williams on her Grammy award-winning album 'Car Wheels On A Gravel Road' back in 1998.
The raw power of the spunky album opener, 'You Can't Rule Me' is a defiant, blues-rock number, full of attitude, swing, and fighting spirit. She then targets the constant barrage of bad news that tends to rule supreme in the media lately on 'Bad News Blues'.
"Bad news all around / No matter where I go, I can't get away from it / Don't you know I'm knee-deep in it," she laments in her gravelly voice over some foot-stomping blues guitar.
Elsewhere, Williams levels her unflinching gaze on the dangerously quick-to-judge, cancel culture of social media on the country-tinged 'Shadows & Doubts' ("These are the dark new days / So many ways to crush you") while providing some refreshingly candid social commentary on domestic abuse in the nightmarish and ominous 'Wakin' Up'.
She also reserves special scorn for Donald Trump on the apoplectic 'Man Without A Soul', which is a scathing take on the President's character and motivations. It comes at a time when the nation needs a moral guiding force who serves the needs of the people, instead of his own selfish, narcissistic agenda. Lucinda has publicly stated that he helped encourage “all the racism and the intolerance and the bigotry” that has plagued America ever since he first came to power. In a way, Trump gave his supporters with radical views “permission, in a subliminal way, to come on out of the closet,” she admitted, adding that Trump's rise to power practically condoned their ill-founded notions of reality - “‘You can hate, you can get your guns and your anger.’”
'Down Past The Bottom' is a bluesy consolidation of one's woes when you've sunk past rock bottom, while 'Pray The Devil Back To Hell' is a powerful exorcism of the forces of evil, fuelled by a sweeping violin, bluesy wah-pedal guitar, and the luscious vibrato of Lucinda Willaims's trademark deep, booming voice. 'Bone Of Contention' is a rumbling, venomous finger-pointing exercise against an archetypical nemesis - "You're a bone of contention / You're a thorn in my side / You're the salt in my wound / You're the splinter in my finger / You're the knife in my back."
'Big Rotator' sees Williams taking stock of the world's current bleak situation while paying homage to a time-honored gospel blues song. "God is a big rotator, spinning the world like a top / John is the revelator, way up on mountain top / Justice is a motivator, bringing the world to a stop / Evil is the instigator, bleeding the world drop by drop."
Lucinda's sonorous vocals also intimately address the pall of depression on the lush and gorgeous 'Big Black Train' and tenderly delivers a wondrous song of hope with the optimistic 'When The Way Gets Dark' - "Don't give up, you have a reason to carry on / Take my hand, you're never alone." She finally encourages us to keep persisting and pushing ever forward on the soulful and sparkling country album closer 'Good Souls'. "Keep me with the good souls / With the better angels / All of those who help me find strength / When I'm feeling weak" is where the album derives its title from.
Viewed as a collective whole, this fantastic album could not have come at a better time for a nation that is currently engulfed in chaos and disillusionment, and Lucinda Williams takes no prisoners in this furious, glorious, tender masterpiece.