Track Listing

1. Lonely Girls
2. Steal Your Love
3. I Envy The Wind
4. Blue
5. Out Of Touch
6. Are You Down
7. Essence
8. Reason To Cry
9. Get Right With God
10. Bus To Baton Rouge
11. Broken Butterflies

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #32009 in Music
• Released on: 2003-05-01
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .18 pounds
• Running time: 51 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Few artists in recent memory have been able to wring more from less than Lucinda Williams. The hauntingly beautiful, wistful and often breathtaking Essence is another case in point of how far raw emotion and honesty can carry an artist. Williams's singing is at its paralyzing best throughout 11 bare originals, an incredibly affecting vocal performance by a woman who was not blessed with exceptional tone, range or pitch. Throughout, her voice is incredibly naked, vulnerable and wrought with feeling. "Blue" and "Broken Butterflies" are gorgeous anti-lullabies whose simple melodies belie their poignant ruminations. The title track is a sultry and susceptible sex-as-drug come-on while "Reason to Cry" has all the hallmarks of a classic country lament. The only departure from the subdued mood is "Get Right With God", a rousing gospel tune that practically begs for salvation through punishment and is the rare acknowledgement of a world beyond Williams's own fears and desires. More meditative than the personal narratives found on Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, Essence is ultimately more powerful. Williams wallows in sorrow and weakness, and the result is moving and disarming. --Marc Greilsamer

CD Description
Sixth album from Louisiana country-blues singer-songwriter.Darker and more personal than 1998's Grammy award-winning 'Car Wheels On A Gravel Road', it has been compared to Bob Dylan and Roy Orbison. Bass player Tony Garnier appeared on two Dylan albums.

Customer Reviews

A proven creative genius
When I first heard this album, it didn't have an instantaneous effect on me, as did 'Car Wheels', but like a fine wine, it's been maturing on the rack, and it's taste now is better than I ever thought possible. It's probably more of a winter album, whereas 'Car Wheels' is probably more of a summer album. This is maybe because it's more melancholy than it's predecessor. But it doesn't sound any the worse for that.

The opening track 'Lonely Girls' is a good lesson in musical minimalism; the odd guitar chord, some rasping vocals - a pedestrian pace yes, but the overall effect is a delightful melancholy, which at the same time manages to sound uplifting. 'Steal Your Love' is similar in style. 'I Envy the Wind' and 'Blue' sound sad, but like a lot of sad things, they achieve a beauty all of their own, and the latter track is my favourite on the album. The rockier tracks 'Out of Touch', 'Essence' and 'Get Right With God' are equally pleasing.

'Go find a jukebox and see what a quarter will do' is the opening line of 'Blue', my favourite track on the album and is a lyric I could not have come up with in several lifetimes. This may have something to do with the fact I'm not from the deep south USA, but this woman is quite simply a genius. If you haven't discovered Lucinda Williams yet, discover her now and buy this album.

Magical - like snow on Christmas Day
How do you follow a Grammy winning album of mostly upbeat, country tunes played by a full sounding, hard-playing band? The easy answer would have been to dish up more of the same, not to waver from the successful formula established on 'Car Wheels On A Gravel Road'. Not so, if you're Lucinda Williams.

Essence strips down the arrangements and slows the pace of the songs to a melancholic crawl, and while the band arrangements remain, songs here are driven by softly played acoustic guitar. And it is every bit as magical as the much-loved 'Car Wheels', but Williams has added a new dimension of intimacy. On tracks such as Blue, where her voice is so prominent in the mix, you can feel and hear the emotion and raw beauty of the simple tune. Listen to this through headphones and it sounds phenomenal, as if she were in the room with you.

Standout track is the title track, a grinding, slow-burning ode to sexual desire and lust which features the most astonishing backing vocal performance from Gary Louris (Jayhawks). Having said that, there aren't any tunes here that don't stand out after repeated listens.

Lucinda Williams has always put raw emotion into her music, but it has never sounded as affecting or genuine as it does here. Curl up on your sofa with a bottle of wine and this album, and watch the winter evenings go by.

Excellent reflective subtle and enchanting
This is another excellent album from Lucinda Williams but very different from "Car Wheels" - don't come expecting more of the same. For a start it's not as instantly accessible as "CarWheels". The whole feel of the album is (mostly) more low key, more down beat, more reflective. Some of this is down to the production on this album by Bo Ramsey and on "Car Wheels" by the TwangTrust - so you've got a whole different feel straight away. But underneath that you have incredibly strong, incredibly subtle songs. Lucinda Williams always seems drawn to ambiguous uncertain emotional areas. This is the seam she has worked for a long time and that's still where she is here. In general, this album seems darker than much of her previous work. There's always a dark side there but here it seems more to the fore. If you want happy, shiny songs then this ain't the album for you. But if you want to listen to one of the best songwriters around today attempting to portray the complexities of a deep emotional life then here it is. It's an album I've found growing on me more and more - don't take first listen as all there is. Much as I think this is an excellent album, if you're not familiar with Lucinda Williams I wouldn't start here. Get "Car Wheels" or "Lucinda Williams" then come back here later. But do come back - it's worth it.