Lucinda Williams West

I made a mistake before listening to West - I recently listened to Williams’ out-of-print self-titled Lucinda Williams. By comparison, West sounds like a tired collection of diary entries that you probably won’t listen to twice.

Of course it’s not fair to compare releases. What if she’s trying to do something different here? But the difference isn't enough. Her songs are still about bad relationships and faded memories. But this time, it’s just not nearly as beautiful, regardless of the song's pace.

As with her previous stuff, this record is about the lyrics, but very little about the music. Too bad, for the most part, the lyrics aren’t that interesting. Take, for instance, Wrapped my Head Around’s INXS-like (gravitate, love your mate) rhyme/talk sequence that really goes nowhere:
I can’t believe I believed you
When I found out where you at
A fallin’ out when you’re too much
Try to wrap my head around that.
All that would probably be OK, but not for over nine minutes.

There are a few good songs worth searching for:
Learning How to Live has a comfortable piano line in place of the normal blues guitar, a good illustration of the differences in this album and Car Wheels.
Lyrically, Unsuffer Me is exactly what you were looking for if you bought this record:
Take away the pain, unbruise my body, wash away my stain, anoint my head with your sweet kiss.
My joy is dead, I long for bliss. I long for knowledge whispered in my ear. Undo my logic, undo my fear, unsuffer me.