Most Things Haven't Worked Out

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Most Things Haven't Worked Out
Most Things Haven't Worked Out.jpg
Studio album by
Junior Kimbrough
Released1997
Genre Blues
Label Fat Possum
Producer Bruce Watson, Matthew Johnson
Junior Kimbrough chronology
Do the Rump!
(1997)		Most Things Haven't Worked Out
(1997)		 God Knows I Tried
(1998)

Most Things Haven't Worked Out is an album by the American musician Junior Kimbrough, released in 1997. [1] [2] It was his third album for Fat Possum Records and the last before his 1998 death. [3]

Contents

Production

All of the album's songs were written by Kimbrough, who generally did not cover the material of other musicians. [4] He elected to keep his mistakes and missed notes on the tracks. [5] Three of the tracks were recorded at his Mississippi juke joint. [6] John Hermann helped produce a few of the songs. [7] Kenny Brown served as the second guitarist. [8] The title track is an instrumental. [9]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [6]
Boston Herald Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [10]
Robert Christgau Five Pointed Star Solid.svg [11]
The Commercial Appeal Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [5]
DownBeat Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [12]
MusicHound Blues: The Essential Album Guide Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [13]
The Penguin Guide to Blues Recordings Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [14]
Winnipeg Sun Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [15]

The Village Voice wrote: "Lurking beneath an ostensibly primitive surface are suggestions of jazz-inflected bluesmen like Robert Jr. Lockwood." [16] Guitar Player determined that "there's a deeply hypnotic quality to Junior Kimbrough's old-as-all-of-time slow blues, perfected over a lifetime of playing jukes around Holly Springs, Mississippi." [17] The St. Louis Post-Dispatch said that "Kimbrough plays the blues to mesmerize, with elements that give trance, ambient/techno and dub its entrainment and rock and roll its visceral claw and kick." [18]

The Washington Post noted that "Kimbrough has a soft spot for love songs and slowly grinding dance grooves." [19] The Boston Herald concluded that "what sounds primitive at first gains unexpected power through repetition and deceptively sophisticated shifts of texture, tone and rhythm." [10] Robert Christgau praised "Lonesome Road". [11]

The Penguin Guide to Blues Recordings considered Most Things Haven't Worked Out to be Kimbrough's best album. [14]

Track listing

No.TitleLength
1."Lonesome Road" 
2."I'm in Love" 
3."Everywhere I Go" 
4."Burn in Hell" 
5."Most Things Haven't Worked Out" 
6."Leave Her Alone" 
7."I Love Ya Baby" 
8."I'm Leaving You Baby" 

References

  1. ↑ Morris, Chris (December 7, 1996). "Epitaph to distribute Fat Possum". Billboard. Vol. 108, no. 49.
  2. ↑ Garbarini, Vic (October 1997). "Most Things Haven't Worked Out". Playboy. Vol. 44, no. 10. p. 26.
  3. ↑ Pareles, Jon (January 21, 1998). "David (Junior) Kimbrough, 67, a Blues Musician". The New York Times. p. D24.
  4. ↑ Rubin, Mike (February 3, 1998). "Junior Kimbrough, 1930–1998". The Village Voice. Vol. 43, no. 5. p. 130.
  5. 1 2 Ellis, Bill (May 10, 1997). "Recordings". The Commercial Appeal. p. C3.
  6. 1 2 "Most Things Haven't Worked Out Review by Paul Collins". AllMusic. Retrieved May 28, 2024.
  7. ↑ Ellis, Bill (November 23, 2001). "Captured by that wild hill boogie". The Commercial Appeal. p. G2.
  8. ↑ Timberg, Scott (April 24, 1997). "Real blues". Music. The Day. New London. p. 4.
  9. ↑ "Junior Kimbrough – You Better Run: The Essential Junior Kimbrough". Reviews. No Depression. November 2002.
  10. 1 2 "Discs". Boston Herald. January 30, 1998. p. S28.
  11. 1 2 "Junior Kimbrough". Robert Christgau. Retrieved May 28, 2024.
  12. ↑ Hadley, Frank-John (July 1997). "Most Things Haven't Worked Out". DownBeat. Vol. 64, no. 7. p. 63.
  13. ↑ MusicHound Blues: The Essential Album Guide. Visible Ink Press. 1998. p. 209.
  14. 1 2 The Penguin Guide to Blues Recordings. Penguin Books. 2006. p. 347.
  15. ↑ Sterdan, Darryl (September 26, 1997). "Blues". Winnipeg Sun. p. 38.
  16. ↑ Marlowe, Ann (May 27, 1997). "Playing possum". The Village Voice. Vol. 42, no. 21. p. 70.
  17. ↑ Obrecht, Jas (June 1997). "Lonesome road blues". Guitar Player. Vol. 31, no. 6. p. 113.
  18. ↑ Kuelker, Michael (July 24, 1997). "Most Things Haven't Worked Out Junior Kimbrough". Go. St. Louis Post-Dispatch. p. 8.
  19. ↑ Joyce, Mike (December 31, 1997). "Blues & Roots: The Mississippi Sound". The Washington Post. p. C7.
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