Songs For The New Depression
Loudon Wainwright III
Open iTunes to preview, buy, and download music.
| Name | Artist | Time | Price | ||
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Times Is Hard | Loudon Wainwright III | 2:55 | $0.99 | View In iTunes |
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House | Loudon Wainwright III | 4:19 | $0.99 | View In iTunes |
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On To Victory, Mr. Roosevelt | Loudon Wainwright III | 2:35 | $0.99 | View In iTunes |
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Fear Itself | Loudon Wainwright III | 2:34 | $0.99 | View In iTunes |
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The Panic Is On | Loudon Wainwright III | 2:56 | $0.99 | View In iTunes |
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The Krugman Blues | Loudon Wainwright III | 3:11 | $0.99 | View In iTunes |
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Halloween 2009 | Loudon Wainwright III | 2:40 | $0.99 | View In iTunes |
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8 |
Middle Of The Night | Loudon Wainwright III | 3:09 | $0.99 | View In iTunes |
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Cash For Clunkers | Loudon Wainwright III | 3:02 | $0.99 | View In iTunes |
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Got A Ukelele | Loudon Wainwright III | 2:39 | $0.99 | View In iTunes |
| Total: 10 Songs |
iTunes Review
Loudon Wainwright III has spent most of his career chronicling his own imperfections to subtle and overt comic effect. Over the years, however, he’s also been known to dip into topical song, performing songs of immediate commentary for NPR. Much like his album Social Studies, Wainwright turns the observations onto the world around him for 2010’s Songs for the New Depression. Names such as Alan Greenspan and New York Times economist Paul Krugman (and the economic mess the country is in) work their way into the songs by lyric and by arrangement. Wainwright strips things down to his own guitar or ukulele and the album clocks in at an economical thirty minutes. “Fear Itself” explains much of how Americans have been living for decades with a nod to John Maynard Keynes. “Halloween 2009” adds low-budget “effects” and a little reverb to its social commentary. As a topical songwriter, Wainwright can’t be beat; he adds a sense of humanity to the crazy political and economic scene. He sings, “It’s not the end of the world/ it’s just the middle of the night,” like a reassuring father who has a way with a tune.
Customer Reviews
If you like vintage Loudon, buy this album!
This is classic Loudon Wainwright III, using acerbic humor to address hard times, sadness, along his favorite subjects, death and decay. The production fits the theme: stripped down to voice and guitar, recalling the starkness of Depression era recordings. For Wainwright fans, this should have significant appeal. Wainwright doesn't tour with a band, he accompanies himself in concert, and the sound of his voice and guitar serve his songs so well that many fans find the arrangements on studio albums intrusive to the songs. In this respect, this is the album fans have wished for for some time. And the songs are witty, insightful, and energetic.
Wainwright at his best walks a tightrope between pathos and humor, making us laugh in one moment and find a tear on a cheek in the next. He successfully walks that tightrope here with great confidence. The couple in "House" can't stand each other, want to divorce, but can't afford to because of their house - and yet in Wainwright's hands they find another dimension as well; a commitment to their family and to each other that is so utterly human and beautiful that it transcends the topic and makes the song universal. The sheer joy and energy of Wainwright's performance on the opening track, "Times is Hard," embraces hopelessness with a reckless joy that few songwriters can muster, but Wainwright does so with ease.
Many of the songs such as, "The Krugman Blues", "Cash for Clunkers" evoke his topical songs for NPR, and he handles the subjects well. Sometimes his topical songs sound a bit strained, but perhaps using the framework of a Depression, evoking a historical period, helped create some distance that lends these songs an unforced quality. Wainwright even finds hope in songs like "Middle of the Night", a beautiful ballad.
This is Wainwright at his best, and his strongest studio album of original material since "Last Man on Earth". You can spend some time listening to the excerpts before purchasing to see if you agree with this assessment, but it's an unnecessary step that will only cost you time.
Man with Guitar Takes on Economy
Loudnfan's review is right on, IMHO. I got a live preview of many of the songs at the Loud & Rich (Loudon Wainwright and Richard Thompson) show and picked up the album there. These songs are beautifully crafted ("Middle of the Night" is a fine example), Loudon's voice (and wit) have never been better, and it is indeed refreshing that the entire set is just him and the dreadnought.
Biography
Born: September 5, 1946 in Chapel Hill, NC
Genre: Singer/Songwriter
Years Active: '70s, '80s, '90s, '00s, '10s
Top Albums and Songs By Loudon Wainwright III
| Name | Album | Time | Price | ||
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1 |
Daughter | Daughter - Single | 3:33 | $0.99 | View In iTunes |
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2 |
Grey In L.A. | Strange Weirdos - Music from and Inspired By the Film "Knocked Up" | 3:14 | $0.99 | View In iTunes |
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3 |
Dead Skunk | Album III | 3:05 | $0.99 | View In iTunes |
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4 |
The Swimming Song | Attempted Mustache | 2:27 | $1.29 | View In iTunes |
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5 |
All Around the Kitchen | Family Dance | 2:49 | $0.99 | View In iTunes |
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6 |
You Can't Fail Me Now | Strange Weirdos - Music from and Inspired By the Film "Knocked Up" | 3:45 | $0.99 | View In iTunes |
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7 |
Daughter | Strange Weirdos - Music from and Inspired By the Film "Knocked Up" | 3:32 | $0.99 | View In iTunes |
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8 |
Daughter | Golden Slumbers - A Father's Love | 3:30 | $0.99 | View In iTunes |
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9 |
White Winos | Last Man On Earth | 2:59 | $0.99 | View In iTunes |
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10 |
Drinking Song | Album III | 2:54 | $1.29 | View In iTunes |
