You wake with an initial wince. Your head throbs and your mouth
\nis so dry that you are afraid that a Kleenex swap over your lips
\nwould cut them. You also find out why your stomach is so
\nuneasy:there’s a Hardees bag that is resting on your couch.<\/p>\n
I’ve been there. I was there Tuesday. So I went into damage
\ncontrol mode. First, brew a pot of coffee. Second, take a hot
\nshower. Finally, grab a paper and put in the Cowboy Junkies. Time
\nwill do the rest and pleasing results are usually the outcome.<\/p>\n
The Cowboy Junkies have been around for about 15 years. With
\neach album, they’ve made some slight deviations from their landmark<\/p>\n
The Trinity Sessions<\/i> album. Bands such as U2, R.E.M. and
\nRush have been around longer and have reinvented themselves a
\ncouple of times in the process. But the Junkies seem content with
\ntheir formula.<\/p>\n
And their formula works. The makeup of two brothers and a sister
\nmakes you wonder how they’ve been able to put sibling rivalry
\nbehind and release some of the most consistantly beautiful albums
\ntailor made for the somberist of moods.<\/p>\n
“Q” magazine classified the band’s music as, “new country
\ncombined with elements of blues”.
\nLay It Down<\/i> pretty much confirms the magazine’s statement.
\nThe tempo is a notch up from
\nBlack Eyed Man<\/i> and
\nPale Sun Crecent Moon<\/i>. Still, it’s no surprise that the
\ncover of the album shows each band member wearing black. “The fire
\nthat burnt inside of me\/Has turned to ash the tortured tree\/That
\ngrows behind the anguished sea,” Margo Timmins sings on “Speaking
\nConfidentially”. And that’s one of the more upbeat songs on the
\nalbum.<\/p>\n
Credit the Junkies-at least they finally found a way to write a
\ncatchy pop sound that was theirs. They did that with “A Common
\nDisaster”. Guitarist Michael Timmins goes electric on this song,
\ncreating a groovy riff that’s impossible to shake once you hear
\nit.<\/p>\n
As always, Margo Timmins is the reason to buy the album. She may
\nbe limited in her range but no female singer out there puts such a
\ncomplex face on misery.<\/p>\n
Are the Cowboy Junkies mood music? Yes. You either have to be
\nworking through a depression or be so happy that your psyche can
\nhandle the sadness in their songs.
\nLay It Down<\/i> has just enough variety to make it stand out.
\nCoincidentally, it’s one of their best albums. And unlike
\nSpace Heater<\/i> by The Reverend Horton Heat, it does make a
\ndifference if this album is in your player and not another Junkies
\nalbum.<\/p>\n
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