Review: Loudon Wainwright III

Subject: RE: Review: Loudon Wainwright III
From: PHJim
Date: 21 May 11 - 08:51 PM

Honest as it is, I can't seem to enjoy April Fool's Day Morn. I hope he's merely playing a part and not singing an autobiographical song about trying to force a woman to have sex on the bathroom floor, and then kicking her out, calling her Bitch and Whore.
I'll confess to having sung Banks Of The Ohio and Little Sadie, but in this case I'm singing in character and playing a part.

Subject: RE: Review: Loudon Wainwright III
From: Brakn
Date: 20 May 11 - 02:36 AM

Just about what akenaton said.

Subject: RE: Review: Loudon Wainwright III
From: akenaton
Date: 19 May 11 - 03:48 AM

Who says Loudon's songs are not as "substancial" as Dylans?

I suppose its all down to the perception of the listener, most of Dylans songs are simply word pictures.....interior decor for the brain, beloved of adolescents and dreamers. Loudon tends to stick his hand down your throat and pull out your intestines.....stylistically.

For a folkie there is really no contest.

Except for the percious little lambs who are "offended" by honesty.
Loudon Wainwright is what folk music should be all about!

Subject: RE: Review: Loudon Wainwright III
From: open mike
Date: 19 May 11 - 03:01 AM

one of his latest recordings was a project "High , Wide and Handsome" featuring the music of Charlie Poole. http://www.thecharliepooleproject.com/home.html
http://www.lw3.com/home.php
He also has a retrospecive collection containing highlights from his last 40 years of music...

Subject: RE: Review: Loudon Wainwright III
From: JJ
Date: 18 May 11 - 08:51 AM

Is this concert the "official" reason why Loudon III did not appear at the tribute concert to his late wife at Town Hall in New York on 14 May?

I use the quotes because it might be that his presence was not requested.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/16/arts/music/a-celebration-of-kate-mcgarrigle-at-town-hall-review.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=wainwright&

Subject: RE: Review: Loudon Wainwright III
From: PHJim
Date: 18 May 11 - 01:58 AM

I find that I either love or hate Loudon's songs. Some of his songs about his relationships with women offend me, but he has enough really great songs that I buy the records and skip over the songs that I don't like. One very classy thing that he did was to thank Kate for teaching him clawhammer banjo in his Grammy acceptance speech.

Subject: RE: Review: Loudon Wainwright III
From: Will Fly
Date: 17 May 11 - 12:09 PM

Ah - commiserations. I used to be a Trotters (Bolton Wanderers) supporter, but gave it up when Nat Lofthouse retired!

Subject: RE: Review: Loudon Wainwright III
From: Colin Randall
Date: 17 May 11 - 10:56 AM

Poor old Sunderland, serial underachievers (some might say overachievers). Six top-flight league title but mostly in the 1890s!

Subject: RE: Review: Loudon Wainwright III
From: Will Fly
Date: 17 May 11 - 10:30 AM

a site devoted to a football club that gives us more grief than pleasure

No secrets on Mudcat - tell all! :-)

Subject: RE: Review: Loudon Wainwright III
From: GUEST,Jim Knowledge
Date: 17 May 11 - 09:26 AM

I `ad one of our super musicians who blesses our Folk Clubs in my cab the other day but `e shall remain nameless for fear of Super Injunctions.
I said, "Didn`t I see you on that "Later With Jools Holland" t.v. programme some time back with Loudon Wainright the Third?".
`e said, "Nah, you saw me on with Lowder-n-Lowder!!".

Whaddam I Like??

Subject: RE: Review: Loudon Wainwright III
From: Colin Randall
Date: 16 May 11 - 03:13 PM

That was indeed Pete, and great to see your warm welcome to him.

I make him sound like a young lad. But he's a grand fellow, with fabulously broad cultural interests and general knowledge, and far too self-effacing. Should really have been a writer, not a teacher. That said, he does both rather well (I rely on others regarding his teaching ability but his writing, essentially for free at a site devoted to a football club that gives us more grief than pleasure, reaches standards not so far short of those set by Harry Pearson and Nick Hornby. Reviewing music is relatively new to him but I love the enthusiasm and - that word, Will - honesty be brings to it. And the snappy headline, which perhaps trivialised his thoughts, was all my fault.

Subject: RE: Review: Loudon Wainwright III
From: Ron Cheevers
Date: 16 May 11 - 02:02 PM

Well said Will, and hello Pete.

Subject: RE: Review: Loudon Wainwright III
From: Will Fly
Date: 16 May 11 - 01:57 PM

Hi BS73 - if you're Pete, then "Hi"! Pleased to meet you.

We all have our enthusiasms - no shame in that. To be honest, I've never followed LWIII and had no idea that he'd been touted as the new Dylan. Such touting is also pointless - and obviously irritates fans of the person being compared!

Anyway, it's good to have enthusiasms - where would be if we were lukewarm about everything? :-)

Subject: RE: Review: Loudon Wainwright III
From: BS73
Date: 16 May 11 - 12:23 PM

I made the comparison because Loudon was once touted as the new Bob Dylan. Maybe I stretched it a bit far. I admire Dylan immensely and his songs have much more substance than LW so I guess I am attempting to look at two very different performeres from the same generation and the same genre. Don't think I did it very well.

Subject: RE: Review: Loudon Wainwright III
From: Will Fly
Date: 16 May 11 - 11:40 AM

No worries, Colin - all tastes are personal and, as you say, Pete obviously was moved by the comparison! :-)

Subject: RE: Review: Loudon Wainwright III
From: Colin Randall
Date: 16 May 11 - 11:33 AM

Apologies, inadvertently logged out. That was from me.

Subject: RE: Review: Loudon Wainwright III
From: GUEST
Date: 16 May 11 - 11:31 AM

...   I can easily see why Pete Sixsmith made the references, since the warmth of the LWIII concert caused him to reflect on a markedly different atmosphere he'd encountered just across the river, one that had clearly stuck in his mind.

You make a good point all the same. On reflection, it is not a contrast I would have made, irrespective of the artists. But for the simple reason that he is expressing a sincere view, I still believe he is fully justified in choosing to draw the comparison.

Subject: RE: Review: Loudon Wainwright III
From: Will Fly
Date: 16 May 11 - 11:15 AM

it is a perfectly respectable view that takes issue with Dylan's incommunicative stage presence.

Of course it's possible to base a review on such a premise, but what comes across in the review (to me) is not just a direct comparison with Dylan, but also a sort of opportunity to put Dylan down for not doing the things that Wainright does in his performance. To which the riposte can only be: so what? And to which Ron above has said, "Dylan is Dylan; Wainright is Wainright."

As John Lydgate said in his "Debate between the horse, goose, and sheep" (15th century):

"Odyous of olde been comparisonis, And of comparisonis engendyrd is haterede."

So - you could say a review of one person used as an excuse to put down another...

Subject: RE: Review: Loudon Wainwright III
From: Colin Randall
Date: 16 May 11 - 10:57 AM

Not my review but, fair play, my site so I'll spring to the writer's defence. How , Will, is it necessarily other than an "honest review" to make the distinction he did? I happen to agree with you and Ron that you take 'em or leave em as you find them, but it is a perfectly respectable view that takes issue with Dylan's incommunicative stage presence.

Subject: RE: Review: Loudon Wainwright III
From: Ron Cheevers
Date: 16 May 11 - 10:29 AM

Dylan is Dylan; Wainright is Wainright. Nuff said?

Subject: RE: Review: Loudon Wainwright III
From: Will Fly
Date: 16 May 11 - 10:05 AM

Interesting - but why keep harping on about the "contrasts" between Wainright and Dylan? I can't imagine either of them care twopence about such comparisons - which neither of them have probably ever made.

If you enjoy LWIII over BD, that's your business and lucky you, but an honest review of a performer eschews such constant comparison with another performer.

Just my ten-pennorth... :-)

Subject: Review: Loudon Wainwright III
From: Colin Randall
Date: 16 May 11 - 09:59 AM

From his concert at the Sage in Gateshead, by someone who finds Mr Wainwright somewhat more amenable company than Mr Dylan.

As is usually the case with guest reviews at Salut! Live, this is more a fan's appreciation than dispassionate critique, though I suppose it has the advantage of being from a paying customer ...

http://www.salutlive.com/2011/05/loudon-wainwright-iii-beats-dylan-any-time.html