West of the West
- 艺人
- Dave Alvin
- 语种
- 英语
- 厂牌
- Yep Roc
- 发行时间
- 2006年05月30日
- 专辑类别
- 录音室专辑
专辑介绍
by Mark Deming
Dave Alvin is a California born-and-bred songwriter who has built a career out of creating tunes which brilliantly reflect the cultural melting pot of his home state as he fuses blues, rockabilly, folk, country, jazz and R&B influences with the passion of an archivist and the fire of a born rock & roller. Alvin is a better songwriter and guitarist than a singer, but he's opted to play the role of interpreter on his 2006 album West of the West, in which he pays homage to a dozen other tunesmiths from the Golden State while tossing in one of his own compositions for good measure. Beyond the fact they're all the same state, one might wonder just what it is that Tom Waits, John Fogerty, and Brian Wilson (among others) are supposed to have in common, though in their own way each writer here offers a thumbnail sketch of one side of California. Merle Haggard's &Kern River& is a compassionate but tough-as-nails memoir of life in the West Coast labor camps, Jackson Browne's &Redneck Friend& is a witty portrait of the decadence and ennui of El Lay in the '70s, Wilson's &Surfer Girl& is a man-child's daydream of the beach as a place where summer vacation never ends and true love is always rewarded, and the contributions from Fogerty, Kate Wolf, and Los Lobos all examine the stakes of life at the bottom of the ladder in a culture built on dreams. Thematically this is heady stuff, but Alvin has the sense not to force the issues too hard and he goes for a tough but easygoing blues groove on most of these 13 cuts, wringing an understated passion out of even the least likely material. While in many respects Alvin is still best described as a songwriter who sings, he knows how to tell a story, and he's picked some great ones for this album. Alvin understands the drama of &Sonora's Death Row& just as well as the yearning of &Surfer Girl,& and his performances are absorbing from front to back. It's hard not to wish Alvin had a whole album of new songs to offer (his &Between the Cracks& stands tall among some very distinguished company here), but West of the West finds him honoring a stellar pantheon of California songwriters while showing that he can stand side by side with them on a good day.
最新简评（共3条）
- @阿Ken(阿Ken)：戴夫·阿尔文（Dave Alvin）是一位出生于加利福尼亚州并在加州长大的词曲作家，他将蓝调、摇滚乐、民间音乐、乡村音乐、爵士乐和R&B音乐的影响与档案工作者的热情和天生摇滚乐的火相融合，建立了自己的职业生涯。阿尔文是一个更好的作曲家和吉他手，而不是一个歌手，但他选择在2006年的专辑《西部的西部》中扮演翻唱的角色，在这张专辑中，他向来自金州的其他十几位调音师致敬，同时还投入了自己的一首作品。 从主题上来说，这是令人兴奋的东西，但阿尔文有一种意识，不要把问题搞得太过火，他在这13个剪辑中的大部分都采用了强硬但随和的蓝调风格，即使是最不可能的素材，他也会流露出一种低调的激情。（摘自专辑简介）
- @阿Ken(阿Ken)：好幸运可以遇到戴夫·阿尔文《西部的西部》这张专辑并能全部欣赏，非常有磁性的嗓音
- @aRey(时光总是不等我们回过神就...)：m