The Day After Everything Changed

( 2 )

Editorial Reviews

All Music Guide - William Ruhlmann
The theme of Ellis Paul's album The Day After Everything Changed is contained in its title. In song after song, and from one song to another, his concern is about drastic changes that have taken place in the lives of his first-person characters, and those changes are always bad. The circumstances, and even the centuries, may vary: "Hurricane Angel" is about a victim of Hurricane Katrina, while "The Cotton's Burning" is sung by a Confederate officer at the close of the Civil War. But things always take a major turn for the worse. Sometimes that turn occurs during the silence between songs. The infatuated narrator of the lead-off track, "Annalee," experiencing young ...
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Editorial Reviews

All Music Guide - William Ruhlmann
The theme of Ellis Paul's album The Day After Everything Changed is contained in its title. In song after song, and from one song to another, his concern is about drastic changes that have taken place in the lives of his first-person characters, and those changes are always bad. The circumstances, and even the centuries, may vary: "Hurricane Angel" is about a victim of Hurricane Katrina, while "The Cotton's Burning" is sung by a Confederate officer at the close of the Civil War. But things always take a major turn for the worse. Sometimes that turn occurs during the silence between songs. The infatuated narrator of the lead-off track, "Annalee," experiencing young love, seems to give way to the laid-off married man with babies to feed in the next song, "Rose Tattoo," as if to say, these can be the consequences of desire. But if Paul has a big point to make, he isn't particularly original about the way he does so. In "Rose Tattoo," he name-checks Van Morrison, and in "River Road" (one of five songs co-written with Sugarland's Kristian Bush), he paraphrases Bruce Springsteen's "Thunder Road": "Would you like to know how it feels?/To trade your wings in on some wheels." It's no crime to borrow from your influences; Springsteen himself does it occasionally. But if you do, it's probably not a good idea to put the purloined words in the chorus and repeat them, as Paul does. And although he doesn't otherwise steal chunks of material, his imagery (when it's not confined to the sun, the moon, angels, and heaven) suggests that he spends a lot of time listening to classic rock, as familiar terms like "buckets of rain" (Bob Dylan), "flatbed Ford" (Eagles), and "long winding road" (the Beatles) litter his lyrics. All this radio listening may take place in the car: ten of the album's 15 songs contain references to driving, highways, etc. The only specifically autobiographical tune may be "Sometime, Someplace," with its barroom setting in which the narrator is addressed as "Mr. Paul," but the singer/songwriter's peripatetic lifestyle seems to come out in all those mentions of the road. One, however, cannot be blamed on him as a songwriter. There is a medley of the old Patsy Cline hit "Walking After Midnight" ("I walk for miles out on the highway") with Sam Baker's "Change," the latter another statement about newly reduced circumstances. Unlike Paul, Baker is specific, his lines filled with original imagery and specific detail before the story concludes with a cutting irony. It's not a good sign when the best song on a singer/songwriter's album is one he didn't write himself, but "Change" gives Paul another articulation of the world view he espouses throughout this collection, that things are getting worse, much worse, and fast.
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Product Details

  • Release Date: 1/12/2010
  • Label: Black Wolf Records
  • UPC: 884501183499
  • Catalog Number: 10
  • Sales rank: 147,808

Album Credits

Performance Credits
Ellis Paul Primary Artist
Technical Credits
Ellis Paul Composer
Noah Levy Executive Producer
Alan Block Composer
Kristian Bush Composer
Ralph Jaccodine Management
Jason Collum Producer
Jason Fry Executive Producer
Sam Baker Composer
Thad Beaty Producer
Rae Bobb Executive Producer
Tremaine Atkinson Executive Producer
Christine Renz Executive Producer
Tom "T.L." Lawrence Executive Producer
Ron Lawner Executive Producer
Jocelyn Alexander Executive Producer
Deb Szecsei Executive Producer
Rob Klieger Executive Producer
Steven Gaffney Executive Producer
Aiden Robertson Executive Producer
Donald Hecht Composer
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Customer Reviews

Average Rating 5
( 2 )
Rating Distribution

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Sort by: Showing all of 2 Customer Reviews

  • Anonymous

    Posted October 1, 2010

    I Also Recommend:

    The Near Demise of the High Wire Dancer

    Absolutely wonderful album!

    I can not stop listening to this CD! Its been in my car for a week playing non-stop. Definitely his best work to date, and thats quite an accomplishment! It is a very well produced album. In each and every song his beautiful voice tells a beautiful story. Highly recommended!!

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Posted October 1, 2010

    more from this reviewer

    Love This CD

    Ellis Paul is one of the best songwriters I have had the privilege of listening to. The songs on the album strike many different tones, telling stories of the human spirit, in love, in loss, in desperate times, and in history. The production on the album is stunning. His clear, strong voice beautifully tells each story, and I can hear that he genuinely has spent time with these people listened to their stories, or has lived it himself. The songs on the album are thoughtful and thought provoking, each one a little short story or movie put to melody.

    Rose Tattoo is a beautiful ballad about a couple going through hard times and they know they'll get through as long as they stick together. The production of this is so perfect.

    Hurricane Angel is hands down a little masterpiece of a song. No better song has been written about Katrina and the strife of the people that were left to fend for themselves.

    I love hearing Ellis Rock out in The LIghts of Vegas, so powerful!
    This whole album has been in my cd player for weeks... can't stop listening.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.
Sort by: Showing all of 2 Customer Reviews