ARTiST: Butch Walker & The Black Widows
ALBUM: I Liked It Better When You Had No Heart
BiTRATE: 188kbps avg
QUALiTY: EAC Secure Mode / LAME 3.97 Final / -V2 --vbr-new / 44.100Khz
LABEL: One Haven Music
GENRE: Rock
SiZE: 56.39 megs
PLAYTiME: 0h 40min 03sec total
RiP DATE: 2010-06-27
STORE DATE: 2010-02-23
Track List:
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01. Trash Day 3:06
02. Pretty Melody 4:21
03. Don't You Think Somebody Should 4:37
Take You Home
04. Stripped Down Version 3:31
05. Canadian Ten 4:27
06. Temporary Title 3:12
07. She Likes Hair Bands 2:57
08. House Of Cards 2:29
09. They Don't Know What We Know 3:44
10. Days / Months / Years 3:33
11. Be Good Until Then 4:06
Release Notes:
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LetÆs face it: most musicians would have a hard time making an easy transition
from hair metal to country, but, then again, most musicians arenÆt Butch Walker.
If you were to listen to the song ôTainted Angelö by his first bandùthe
short-lived hair-metal outfit SouthGang (and yes, thatÆs him in the dark
hair)ùgreatness was not immediately apparent. Yet following a few solid albums
as part of his upbeat alt-rock trio the Marvelous 3, you could see Walker start
to come to terms with his way for crafting brilliant pop hooks (and around this
time, he also began manning the producerÆs chair all by himself). His 2002 solo
album Left of Self-Centered was a slice of snarky, immaculately-produced fun,
and even when the album sold poorly, key figures in the music industry managed
to hear it, and it wasnÆt long before Butch Walker became an in-demand producer,
initially working with rock artists like Sevendust and SR-71 (whose ôRight Nowö
had WalkerÆs fingerprints all over it), before moving on to tackle more
mainstream affairs like Avril Lavigne, P!nk, and Katy Perry.
All of this notoriety soon allowed Walker to become one of the rarest kinds of
people working in the industry: a powerful producer and songwriter who also was
able to release his own albums to an ever-increasing fanbase without having to
compromise a thing. As such, by having no commercial expectations to meet,
Walker has been able to follow his muse wherever it leads, meaning that no two
Butch Walker solo albums sound even remotely the same. His 2004 offering
Letters took on a bit of an emo-rock vibe, while his 2006 disc Butch Walker &
the LetÆs-Go-Out-Tonites (his best) showed Walker crafting a glam-rock album at
a time when no one was even touching the genre, his remarkably focused
songwriting elevating it above a simple genre exercise.
Yet things took a turn for the worse in late 2007 when a wildfire destroyed his
home and every single master recording he owned, completely devastating him, and
causing Walker to look at life anew, resulting in 2008Æs Sycamore Meadows,
whichùeven with some Tom Petty homages and P!nk cameosùwas as stripped-down and
personal a record as he had ever made, with most of the songs featuring nothing
more than WalkerÆs guitar and voice, giving it a folksy, backwoods vibe that
Walker had only hinted at before.
So although I Liked It Better When You Had No Heart is still WalkerÆs ôcountryö
album, itÆs not going to find shared shelf space with the likes of Alan Jackson
or Toby Keith. Although its sound is very indebted to the sound of
late-70s/early-80s country pop (meaning certain David Allen Coe comparisons are
welcome, but saying ôMel McDanielö is starting to push it), the attitude is
still all Walker. Certain tropes from previous albums make reappearances here,
like using song descriptions as metaphors for describing girls (ôStripped Down
Versionö, ôPretty Melodyö, ôTemporary Titleö), utilizing that reverb-heavy
ôclassicö drum sound to make the album sound about two decades older than it
actually is (used to great effect on ... And the LetÆs-Go-Out-Tonites), andùof
courseùopening the album with his out-and-out catchiest tune (one of his finest
traditions).
ôTrash Dayö kicks things off with a Petty-ish kind of vibe that proves just as
welcome here as it did on Sycamore Meadows, as Walker uses trash pickup days
from around the country as a way to do sprawling character portraits, whichùas
evidenced by his undisputed fan favorite track ôSuburbiaöùis what he does best:
ôTrash day in Nashville, Tennessee
No one can smell this religion but me
I see it in the hair styles of young Christian men
Who drink, smoke, and fuck like the worldÆs gonna end
Then Sunday will come and theyÆll all just pretend
That it never ever happened that wayö
Conversely, Walker isnÆt afraid to get autobiographical on the brilliant
wah-guitar pop workout ôShe Likes Hair Bandsö, noting that ôShe likes hair bands
/ On Satellite Radio / But I was in one / So itÆs a little too close to homeö.
Later, Walker cracks jokes about his intimacy with said lady by noting ôSheÆs
got a birthmark / On the inside of her thigh / Ask me how I know / About the
inside of her thighö, the whole thing then launching into a big group singalong
with choo-choo sounds and one of the chewiest choruses Walker has penned in some
time. Moments like these retain the goofy-fun charms of his earlier work, but
never once do these one-liners come off as sophomoric or pandering: Walker has a
way of selling each line like itÆs something pulled directly from his life.
Speaking of ôchoo-choo soundsö and the like, it should be noted that Walker
really began experimenting with group vocal harmonies to great effect on ... And
the LetÆs-Go-Out-Tonites, and now that heÆs aided by a sturdy backing band in
the form of the Black Widows, heÆs able to pull out even more tricks, like how
the layered ôoohö sounds in the chorus of ôStripped Down Versionö elevate what
couldÆve been a by-the-numbers mid-tempo number into something much more soulful
without having to add a single word. Faint echo choirs give some backbone to
the glorious string-heavy Phil Spector pop experiment ôPretty Melodyö, some very
ELO-styled voices make ôHouse of Cardsö stand out, andùjust to prove that heÆs
not all bells and whistlesùthe beautiful, remarkably sweet ôDonÆt You Think
Someone Should Take You Homeö features some of the most restrained vocal
performances heÆs ever laid to tape.
Yet even with all the high praise heÆs accustomed to, Walker still isnÆt immune
to the occasional lyrical misstep. Throughout Had No Heart, some odd lines mar
what is otherwise some really fantastic songs, like Walker says of the girl at
the center of ôDonÆt You Think ...ö that ôHer smile looks like a jack-o-lantern
/ Trying not to cryö (yikes). Although tracks like the otherwise-pleasant
ôHouse of Cardsö run on clichΘd sentiments (the protagonistÆs house of cards is
falling down, you see), no misstep is greater than WalkerÆs closing ballad, ôBe
Good Until Thenö, which is not as much filled with a lifetimeÆs worth of advice
as it is a laundry list Hallmark card platitudes, some of them saccharine to the
point of overkill (Worst offender: ôAlways wash your hands when you wanna eat /
But always keep them dirty enough to see where you came fromö, although ôNever
judge a color of a skin / Never judge a person by their kinö comes in a close
second). WalkerÆs moodier side was on full display on Sycamore Meadows, and
after losing all his material possessions, there was something of a point to his
introversion; on this album, it simply comes off as preachy, despite his good
intentions.
When all is said and done, itÆs doubtful that I Liked You Better When You Had No
Heart will go down as WalkerÆs definitive statement as an artist, nor will it
significantly expand his loyal following. What it will do, however, is simply
reaffirm to everyone that Butch Walker is still one of the most creative,
consistent, and flat-out exciting artists working in the industry today,
commercial prospects be damned. Even with a couple of missteps, thereÆs a very
strong chance that many of Had No Heartæs songs may outlast some of the very
tunes that Walker actually pens for those major-label chart-topping pop starlets
that employ him. Now how many other super-producers can you say that about?