Track Listing

1. Real Love
2. Circles And X's
3. Tears Of Joy
4. Little Rock Star
5. Honey Bee
6. Well Well Well
7. If Wishes Were Horses
8. Jailhouse Tears
9. Knowing
10. Heaven Blues
11. Rarity
12. Plan To Marry
13. It's A Long Way To The Top

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9607 in Music
• Released on: 2008-10-13
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .22 pounds
• Running time: 69 minutes

CD Description
Released via the influential Lost Highway label, the ninth full length studio recording from US country rock singer Lucinda Williams is entitled 'Little Honey'. It is, broadly, a bracing set of alt-country with notable guest appearances from the likes of Elvis Costello, Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs from The Bangles. It even includes a cover of the AC/DC classic 'It's A Long Way To The Top', albeit in a somewhat sonically different guise than one might expect.

Customer Reviews

A Little Love Goes A Long Long Way
'Little Honey' finds Ms Williams in a upbeat frame of mind.

Word is out that the lady is in love.

There are those who might say ( and perhaps I should count myself among them )
"About Time Too !".

My dear friend Phil The Ferret has long been a fan. His mission to convert me has
until now fallen on deaf ears.

Some singer/songwriters have made a good life out of misery - Mr Cohen,
Ms Harvey and Mr Young to name but an illustrious three - but Ms Williams' muse
has always left me just a bit unconvinced. A little forced; a tad contrived perhaps.
That bourbon and nails voice conveying rather more affectation than affect.

The twelve new recordings in this collection come, therefore, as a very pleasant surprise.

From the grinding opening bars of 'Real Love' to the gritty rock and roll closure
of 'It's A Long Way To The Top' our lady really does seem to be having a good time.

In between, the wholesomely rugged blues of 'Tears Of Joy'; the warmly emotional delivery
of 'If Wishes Were Horses'; the stripped-down economy of 'Heaven Blues' and the sparse
aching beauty of 'Plan To Marry' are all entirely convincing.

The terrific band serves her well. The production is edgy and vivid.
The organ and brass contributions on the album's highpoint 'Knowing' are a particular joy.

I'm pleased to have had the chance to change my mind.

Highly recommended.

Tears of Joy..
'Car wheels on a gravel road' is one of my all time favourite albums that I think is an almost perfect collection of songs. On the first couple of listens I don't think "Little Honey" is quite as good - BUT it's not that far behind and I think it can only grow on you.

Many of the tracks have that same raw, lazy feel as 'Car wheels on a gravel road' but there is much more variety on this record. There are some real Stones-style heavy rockers like "Real Love", "Honey Bee" and even an AC/DC cover - "It's a Long Way to the Top" (backing band Buick 6 are fantastic throughout). Then we have beautiful laid-back ballads like "Knowing" and "If Wishes Were Horses" and also a straight country duet with old mate Elvis Costello on "Jailhouse Tears". Harking back to the start of Lucinda's career there are some nice, updated country blues "Circles and Xs" and "Heaven blues". If I had to pick a favourite I'd go for the slow, electric blues "Tears Of Joy", with Chet Lyster and Doug Pettibone's guitars sounding fantastic.

If you liked 'Car wheels on a gravel road' then I'm sure you'll like 'Little Honey', which has kept the same feel but added a rockier edge. I wouldn't say Lucinda had a great voice but it somehow seems to fit her blues/folk/country songs perfectly in a way that nobody else could match and on this record that distinctive voice is perfectly complemented by some great backing from Buick 6.

(Almost) a return to form
Little Honey is not another Car Wheels on a Gravel Road - in my view the last really good record Lucinda Williams made and, in my view again, a really seriously good collection of alt country rock tracks. But this does have some real high points (unlike the last one, West) as well as some real lows. The high points are probably Honey Bee (a typical piece of Lucinda raunch-rock), If Wishes Were Horses, which gets close to her best work of the past, and the early version of Jailhouse Tears - the one without Elvis Costello. The lows - particularly Little Rock Star and It's A Long Way to The Top - are very low indeed and maybe say a good deal about what I think is wrong with her recent work as a whole. The best of her work is based on imaginative observation and empathy with a whole range of characters - even if they draw on her own experience - while everything since Car Wheels on a Gravel Road has tended to sound to me as if it is drifting into the "poor little rock and roll star me" school of song-writing. It's A Long Way to The Top is a perfect example of that tedious and tired genre. This is not a bad record, but by the standard of her best work, neither is it really a very good one.