Good Souls Better Angels

by Lucinda Williams

Overview

Lucinda Williams is incapable of sounding anything less than 100-percent engaged and sincere. Whatever she has to say, she clearly means it, and that more than anything else is the thread that runs through 2020's Good Souls Better Angels, her fourth album since she launched her own record label and took full control of her process of recording and releasing music. Cut mostly live in the studio with her road band -- Stuart Mathis on guitar, David Sutton on bass, and Butch Norton on drums -- these 12 songs play like a long stream-of consciousness journey, with Williams writing in blues structures that repeat certain lines like a mantra while her band either sneak up on the music like a ghost or howl with elemental, bluesy skronk (the raw, gritty tone of Mathis' guitar matches Williams' vocals for sheer ferocity on numbers like "Down Past the Bottom," "Bone of Contention," and "Wakin' Up" like he's roots rock's answer to Ron Asheton). As a set of performances, Good Souls Better Angels is a remarkable piece of work that proudly and nakedly puts Williams' heart and soul on display, but unusually for her, the songs don't always sound as strong as one would expect. When Williams is singing about the state of the world on tunes like "Bad News Blues," "Big Rotator," and "Man Without a Soul" (the latter clearly addressing Donald Trump), she has focus and speaks her truth with the force of a poet and a true believer. But as empowered as she is on "You Can't Rule Me," it's a message she's delivered more than a few times in the past, and "Big Black Train" and "Pray the Devil" deal in metaphors that were old a century ago, and for all the soul she invests in them, they're just not up to her usual standard of quality. (Keep in mind one has higher expectations from Williams than the vast majority of singer/songwriters currently plying their trade.) And though Williams' greatest gift as a singer was never a matter of the quality of her instrument, at the age of 67, the grain of her voice and the unpredictability of her phrasing are much more of an issue than they once were. Good Souls Better Angels is full of fierce, engrossing music from a great band with a mesmerizing frontwoman, but as fine as that is, it comes from someone who is capable of better work, and though this is still recommended to fans, it's ultimately a good album from someone who has been consistently great in the past. ~ Mark Deming

Product Details

Release Date:	04/24/2020
Label:	Highway 20 Records / Thirty Tigers
UPC:	0644216971190

Tracks

1. You Can't Rule Me
2. Bad News Blues
3. Man Without a Soul
4. Big Black Train
5. Wakin' Up
6. Pray the Devil Back to Hell
7. Shadows & Doubts
8. When the Way Gets Dark
9. Bone of Contention
10. Down Past the Bottom
11. Big Rotator
12. Good Souls

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Lucinda Williams   Primary Artist,Vocals,Guitar (Acoustic),Guitar (Electric)
Mark T. Jordan   Organ
Butch Norton   Drums,Percussion
Davis Sutton   Bass
Stuart Mathis   Guitar,Violin

Technical Credits

Matt Bury   Project Manager
Colin Linden   Engineer
Greg Garing   Composer
Ray Kennedy   Mixing,Producer
Memphis Minnie   Composer
Danny Clinch   Photography
Lucinda Williams   Composer,Producer
Tom Overby   Composer,Producer,Management,Photography
Brian Lucey   Mastering