Tag Archives: Lyle Lovett

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Song of the Day #592: ‘The Road to Ensenada’ – Lyle Lovett

Last September, during a Lyle Lovett theme week, I singled out one song from his album The Road the Ensenada and promised to highlight two other songs — the album’s best — on future dates. I fulfilled half of the promise in November, when I featured ‘Her First Mistake‘ as a Song of the Day. Today I complete the mission.

For my money, the title track of The Road the Ensenada is possibly the finest song Lovett has ever written, and among the finest I’ve ever heard. That’s high praise for a relatively simple song but Lovett is no stranger to high praise, at least from this corner.

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Lyle Lovett – Natural Forces

When I wrapped up my recent Lyle Lovett theme weeks, I held out hope that he would break out of the slump he’d been in for the past dozen years or so. His last album, It’s Not Big It’s Large, was a step in the right direction — a bit slight, but featuring stronger material than he’d released in years. I figured his next turn at bat would be major.

I was wrong.

Natural Forces is another stop-gap Lyle Lovett album, enjoyable enough for what it is but a shadow of the man’s best work. It contains only four original songs and most of those aren’t even as good as the covers that make up the rest of the album. It’s a pleasure, as always, to hear Lovett and his peerless band perform but it’s a fleeting pleasure when what you really want is the next Road to Ensenada or Joshua Judges Ruth.

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Song of the Day #475: ‘Her First Mistake’ – Lyle Lovett

lovettA few weeks back when I featured Lyle Lovett’s music for two weeks, I mentioned in my write-up of The Road to Ensenada that I would feature its two best songs on the blog at a later date. Well, that later date has arrived for one of them.

‘Her First Mistake,’ the epic second song on Lovett’s best album, is the tale of a man who strikes out so winningly in trying to woo a lady that she eventually succumbs to his charms. It’s funny and sweet and it’s got a swinging, almost bossa nova, feel that sets it apart from the rest of Lovett’s work.

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Song of the Day #428: ‘South Texas Girl’ – Lyle Lovett

notbiglargeFour years after his worst album, Lyle Lovett returned to form with a new collection featuring his Large Band and titled It’s Not Big It’s Large. While this album didn’t reach the heights of his early work, it is definitely in the same ballpark and it’s a sign that Lovett may have righted the ship after more than a decade of listing.

My one complaint about It’s Not Big It’s Large is that it’s a deceptively modest affair. It boasts 12 tracks but one is an instrumental, one is a cover and one is a reprise of an earlier song. After so long in the wilderness, I would have preferred Lovett deliver something meatier, but that’s nitpicking.

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Song of the Day #427: ‘San Antonio Girl’ – Lyle Lovett

donttolerateIn 2003, seven years after The Road to Ensenada, Lyle Lovett finally released another album of original material. Unfortunately, that album — My Baby Don’t Tolerate — was a major disappointment.

Granted, there is really no such thing as a “bad Lyle Lovett album” — that’s just not a concept that computes. But if everything can be ranked, and the presence of a best necessitates the presence of a worst… well, allow me to introduce you to Lyle Lovett’s worst album.

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