West | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Studio album by | ||||
Released | February 13, 2007 | |||
Recorded | The Village | |||
Genre | Americana, folk rock | |||
Length | 68:40 | |||
Label | Lost Highway | |||
Producer | Hal Willner, Lucinda Williams | |||
Lucinda Williams chronology | ||||
|
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. [1] According to Nielsen SoundScan , the album had sold 250,000 copies in the United States by October 2008. [2]
The track "Are You Alright?" was featured during the closing scenes of an episode of House ("Fetal Position"), which first aired April 3, 2007. [3] It also appeared in the fourth episode of the HBO series True Detective , which first aired February 9, 2014. [4] The track "Rescue" was featured on a season one episode of Brothers and Sisters (episode 18, first aired April 8, 2007).
The track "Come On" earned Williams two Grammy Award nominations in 2008: Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance and Best Rock Song. [5] Both awards went to Bruce Springsteen for "Radio Nowhere". [6]
The track "Unsuffer Me" was featured during the closing credits of All the Beauty and the Bloodshed that was released in 2022. [7]
Aggregate scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
Metacritic | 69/100 [8] |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [9] |
Being There Magazine | [10] |
Music Box | [11] |
Okayplayer | [12] |
Pitchfork | 3.5/10 [13] |
Q | [14] |
Robert Christgau | A [15] |
Rolling Stone | [16] |
Twisted Ear | [17] |
West was met with critical acclaim. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 69, based on 28 reviews. [8] AllMusic remarked "Williams is nothing if not a purely confessional songwriter. She continually walks in the shadowlands to bring out what is both most personal yet universal in her work, to communicate to listeners directly and without compromise", and concluded that the album "will no doubt attract more than a few new fans, and will give old ones, if they are open enough, a recording to relish". [9]
The Village Voice critic Robert Christgau said Williams "affects authenticity as shamelessly as her role model, Bob Dylan, but with respect to all the other noble old pros deploying blues and country readymades, the craftiness of Williams' vocals, meaning their unnaturalness, secures their vitality. She doesn't fake spontaneity--she honors it as one of the constellation of life virtues she hopes her songs evoke and subsume." [15] Rolling Stone ranked the album at No. 18 on their list of the Top 50 Albums of 2007, [18] while the track "Are You Alright?" was ranked at No. 34 on their list of the 100 Best Songs of 2007. [19]
Year | Nominated work | Category | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
2008 | "Come On" | Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance | Nominated | [5] |
Best Rock Song | Nominated |
All songs written by Lucinda Williams. [20]
Bonus tracks
Chart (2007) | Peak position |
---|---|
Australian Albums (ARIA) [21] [22] | 53 |
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) [23] | 60 |
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) [24] | 29 |
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [25] | 95 |
Irish Albums (IRMA) [26] | 60 |
Italian Albums (FIMI) [27] | 52 |
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ) [28] | 33 |
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan) [29] | 16 |
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan) [30] | 10 |
UK Albums (OCC) [31] | 30 |
US Billboard 200 [32] | 14 |
US Rock Albums ( Billboard ) [33] | 5 |
Atlantic Crossing is the sixth studio album by English singer-songwriter Rod Stewart, released on 15 August 1975. It peaked at number one in the UK, and number nine on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart.
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".
Tea for the Tillerman is the fourth studio album by singer-songwriter Cat Stevens, released in November 1970.
Wildflowers is the second solo studio album by American musician Tom Petty, released on November 1, 1994. The album was the first released by Petty after signing a contract with Warner Bros. Records and the first of three albums produced by Rick Rubin. The album was certified 3× platinum in the United States by the Recording Industry Association of America.
Blow Up Your Video is the eleventh studio album by Australian hard rock band AC/DC. The album was re-released in 2003 as part of the AC/DC Remasters series.
Affirmation is the second and final studio album by Australian pop duo Savage Garden. The album was released on 9 November 1999 by Columbia Records. It won the 2000 ARIA Music Award for Highest Selling Album. Alongside this it was nominated for Best Group and Best Pop Release but lost.
Essence is the sixth studio album by American singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams, released on June 5, 2001, by Lost Highway Records. The album debuted on the Billboard 200 at No. 28, selling approximately 44,500 copies in its first week. By 2008, it had sold 336,000 copies in the U.S.
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.
Live at the Fillmore is a live album by American singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams, her eighth album overall, released on May 10, 2005, by Lost Highway Records.
Lucinda Williams is the third studio album by American singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams, released in 1988, by Rough Trade Records.
Scarecrow is the eighth studio album by John Mellencamp. Released on July 31, 1985, it peaked at number two on the US chart. The album contained three top-ten hits: "R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A.", which peaked at number two in the US; "Lonely Ol' Night", which peaked at number six; and "Small Town", which also peaked at number six. "Lonely Ol' Night" also peaked at number one on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, his second chart-topping single on this chart.
Behind the Sun is the ninth solo studio album by Eric Clapton, released on 11 March 1985 by Duck Records / Warner Bros. Records. It is Clapton's first collaborative project with Phil Collins who co-produced the album and played on some of the tracks. While recording the album Clapton temporarily split with his wife.
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.
Guilty is the twenty-second studio album by American singer Barbra Streisand released on September 23, 1980, by Columbia Records. It was produced by Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees and his group's regular production team of Albhy Galuten and Karl Richardson.
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.
Blessed is the 10th studio album by American singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams, released on March 1, 2011, by Lost Highway Records. The album debuted at No. 15 on the Billboard 200.
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.
To Pimp a Butterfly is the third studio album by American rapper Kendrick Lamar. It was released on March 15, 2015, by Top Dawg Entertainment, Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records. The album was recorded in studios throughout the United States, with production from Sounwave, Terrace Martin, Taz "Tisa" Arnold, Thundercat, Rahki, LoveDragon, Flying Lotus, Pharrell Williams, Boi-1da, Knxwledge, and several other high-profile hip hop producers, as well as executive production from Dr. Dre and Anthony "Top Dawg" Tiffith. Guest appearances include Thundercat, George Clinton, Bilal, Anna Wise, Snoop Dogg, James Fauntleroy, Ronald Isley, and Rapsody.
The Ghosts of Highway 20 is the 12th studio album by American singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams. The double album was released on February 5, 2016, by Highway 20 Records. It was nominated for the Americana Music Award for Album of the Year.
"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).