Good Souls Better Angels | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | April 24, 2020 | |||
Recorded | September–November 2019 [1] | |||
Studio | Room and Board Studio, Nashville, Tennessee | |||
Genre | Americana, Heartland rock | |||
Length | 59:49 | |||
Language | English | |||
Label |
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Producer |
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Lucinda Williams chronology | ||||
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Good Souls Better Angels is the 14th studio album by American singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams, released on April 24, 2020, by Highway 20 Records and Thirty Tigers.
Announced in February 2020, the album was preceded by the track "Man Without a Soul", a critique of Donald Trump, [2] which earned Williams a Grammy Award nomination for Best American Roots Song. [3] The album received widespread critical acclaim, and was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Americana Album. [3]
Aggregate scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AnyDecentMusic? | 8.1⁄10 [4] |
Metacritic | 84⁄100 [5] |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [6] |
American Songwriter | [7] |
Exclaim! | 8⁄10 [8] |
The Irish Times | [9] |
Mojo | [10] |
Pitchfork | 8.0⁄10 [11] |
Q | [12] |
Uncut | [13] |
Rolling Stone | [14] |
Tom Hull | A− [15] |
According to the review aggregator Metacritic , Good Souls Better Angels received "universal acclaim" based on a weighted average score of 84 out of 100 from 17 critic scores. [5] AnyDecentMusic? sums up critical consensus as an 8.1 out of 10, with 19 reviews. [4] Joe Breen of The Irish Times gave the release five out of five stars, writing that it "punch[es] with a dark, almost biblical vengeance but also, importantly, balance vitriol with solace, hellfire with a hand in need" and praising its timely lyrics. [9] In American Songwriter , Hal Horowitz gave the release 4.5 out of five stars, writing that it is arguably her most intense album, ending his review: "By the end of the hour, you'll be wiped out. This is a devastatingly in your face, take no prisoners presentation from Williams and her band that will leave most serious listeners shattered and perhaps shaking. Few albums connect with this much pure emotional fury, let alone those from artists well into their 60s." [7] Dan Nailen of Inlander writes that this album has Williams' most direct lyrics but suffers from several songs having the same tempo. [16]
Publication | Accolade | Rank | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|
Mojo | Top 75 Albums of 2020 | 38 | [17] |
Paste | Paste's 25 Best Albums of 2020 – Mid-Year | 14 | [18] |
Pitchfork | The 35 Best Rock Albums of 2020 | * | [19] |
Rolling Stone | Best Albums of 2020 | 47 | [20] |
Star Tribune | Bream's 10 Best Albums | 7 | [21] |
Year | Award | Nominated work | Category | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2021 | Grammy Awards | Good Souls Better Angels | Best Americana Album | Nominated | [3] |
"Man Without a Soul" | Best American Roots Song | Nominated |
All songs written by Tom Overby and Lucinda Williams, except where noted. [22]
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "You Can't Rule Me" | Memphis Minnie (adaptation from the original composition) | 4:02 |
2. | "Bad News Blues" | 4:37 | |
3. | "Man Without a Soul" | 5:31 | |
4. | "Big Black Train" | 5:28 | |
5. | "Wakin' Up" | Williams | 4:44 |
6. | "Pray the Devil Back to Hell" | 5:38 | |
7. | "Shadows & Doubts" | 6:01 | |
8. | "When the Way Gets Dark" | 3:27 | |
9. | "Bone of Contention" | Williams | 4:05 |
10. | "Down Past the Bottom" | Greg Garing | 3:21 |
11. | "Big Rotator" | 5:20 | |
12. | "Good Souls" | 7:35 | |
Total length: | 59:49 |
Chart (2020) | Peak |
---|---|
Australian Albums (ARIA) [23] | 59 |
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) [24] | 24 |
French Albums (SNEP) [25] | 197 |
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [26] | 33 |
Scottish Albums (OCC) [27] | 3 |
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) [28] | 21 |
UK Albums (OCC) [29] | 30 |
UK Americana Albums (OCC) [30] | 1 |
UK Jazz & Blues Albums (OCC) [31] | 1 |
US Billboard 200 [32] | 144 |
US Folk Albums (Billboard) [33] | 3 |
US Independent Albums (Billboard) [34] | 20 |
US Top Rock Albums (Billboard) [35] | 21 |
Lucinda Gayl Williams is an American singer-songwriter and a solo guitarist. She recorded her first two albums, Ramblin' on My Mind (1979) and Happy Woman Blues (1980), in a traditional country and blues style that received critical praise but little public or radio attention. In 1988, she released her third album, Lucinda Williams, to widespread critical acclaim. Regarded as "an Americana classic", the album also features "Passionate Kisses", a song later recorded by Mary Chapin Carpenter for her 1992 album Come On Come On, which garnered Williams her first Grammy Award for Best Country Song in 1994. Known for working slowly, Williams released her fourth album, Sweet Old World, four years later in 1992. Sweet Old World was met with further critical acclaim and was voted the 11th best album of 1992 in The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop, an annual poll of prominent music critics. Robert Christgau, the poll's creator, ranked it 6th on his own year-end list, later writing that the album as well as Lucinda Williams were "gorgeous, flawless, brilliant".
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World Without Tears is the seventh studio album by American singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams, released on April 8, 2003, by Lost Highway Records. The album debuted at No. 18 on the Billboard 200, selling 54,000 copies in its first week. By 2008, it had sold 415,000 copies in the U.S.
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Wrecking Ball is the eighteenth studio album by American country artist Emmylou Harris, released on September 26, 1995, through Elektra Records. Moving away from her traditional acoustic sound, Harris collaborated with producer Daniel Lanois and engineer Mark Howard. The album has been noted for its atmospheric feel, and featured guest performances by Steve Earle, Larry Mullen Jr., Kate & Anna McGarrigle, Lucinda Williams and Neil Young, who wrote the title song.
West is the eighth studio album by American singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams, released on February 13, 2007, by Lost Highway Records. The album debuted at No. 14 on the Billboard 200, selling about 57,000 copies that week. According to Nielsen SoundScan, the album had sold 250,000 copies in the United States by October 2008.
Little Honey is the ninth studio album by American singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams, released on October 14, 2008, by Lost Highway Records. The album debuted at No. 9 on the Billboard 200, selling 35,000 copies that week, thereby becoming her first Top 10 album.
"Passionate Kisses" is a song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams. It was released in 1989 as the fourth single from her third album, Lucinda Williams (1988).
Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone is the 11th studio album by American singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams. The double album was released on September 30, 2014. It is the first album on Williams' own Highway 20 Records label. The song "Compassion", from which the album title is derived, is based on a poem by her father, Miller Williams.
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The discography of Lucinda Williams, an American singer, songwriter, and musician, consists of 15 studio albums, one live album, two video albums, and 25 singles, on Folkways Records, Smithsonian Folkways, Rough Trade Records, Chameleon, Mercury Records, Lost Highway Records, New West Records, Highway 20 Records, and Thirty Tigers.
"Are You Alright?" is a song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams. It was released in 2007 as the first single from her eighth album, West (2007).
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