Description:
Jimmie Dale Gilmore's third Elektra album comes as a corrective of sorts to fellow ex-Flatlander Joe Ely's ambitious but disappointing Letter to Laredo. While Braver Newer World doesn't quite cohere like Gilmore's brilliant 1991 disc After Awhile, its risks generally pay off. Produced by T-Bone Burnett, the disc initially seems to indicate a full-scale embrace of hippie-ism that's perfectly in tune with Gilmore's Zen-country leanings. Sitars twang, French horns evoke sticky pop psychedelia, and the artist revives as best he can a painfully earnest folksong "Sally," by Texas pal A.B. Strehli. Gilmore's Buddhism reaches
Jimmie Dale Gilmore's third Elektra album comes as a corrective of sorts to fellow ex-Flatlander Joe Ely's ambitious but disappointing Letter to Laredo. While Braver Newer World doesn't quite cohere like Gilmore's brilliant 1991 disc After Awhile, its risks generally pay off. Produced by T-Bone Burnett, the disc initially seems to indicate a full-scale embrace of hippie-ism that's perfectly in tune with Gilmore's Zen-country leanings. Sitars twang, French horns evoke sticky pop psychedelia, and the artist revives as best he can a painfully earnest folksong "Sally," by Texas pal A.B. Strehli. Gilmore's Buddhism reaches full flower here on the title cut and a Strehli ballad, "Come Fly Away," making interesting implications about his collaboration with Burnett, one of rock's most famous drunken seekers. Burnett's wife Sam Phillips contributes one of the best songs here, "Where Is Love Now," which in turn gets one of World's most adventurous treatments; the Beck-like beatbox and deep-dish Orbisonisms of (presumably) Burnett's guitar are a striking backdrop for a voice and lyric that drip high lonesomeness. Some of Gilmore's fundamental roots are also on display here, on a yowling lo-fi take on the ancient blues number "Long Snake Moan" and a version of Ely's "Because of the Wind" that, somewhat surprisingly, fails to light a real fire under the players. Still, the overall anything-goes approach makes World both a good document of this period in Gilmore's evolution and a fine introduction for those who've missed him in the past. --Rickey Wright
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Manufacturer: Elektra / Wea
Release date: 25 June 1996
Number of discs: 1
EAN: 0075596183628 UPC: 075596183628
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