Essence (Lucinda Williams album)

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Essence
Essence - Lucinda Williams.jpg
Studio album by
Lucinda Williams
ReleasedJune 5, 2001
Genre
Length50:58
LabelLost Highway
Producer
Lucinda Williams chronology
Car Wheels on a Gravel Road
(1998) 		Essence
(2001) 		World Without Tears
(2003)

Essence is the sixth studio album by American singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams, released on June 5, 2001, by Lost Highway Records.[3] The album debuted on the Billboard 200 at number 28, selling approximately 44,500 copies in its first week.[4] By 2008, it had sold 336,000 copies in the U.S.[5]

The album earned Williams a Grammy Award nomination for Best Contemporary Folk Album. She also won in the category of Best Female Rock Vocal Performance for the song "Get Right With God" and was nominated for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for the title track.

Critical reception[]

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic82/100[3]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic4/5 stars[6]
Blender4/5 stars[7]
Chicago Sun-Times3/4 stars[2]
Christgau's Consumer GuideA−[8]
Entertainment WeeklyB+[9]
Los Angeles Times3/4 stars[1]
Q4/5 stars[10]
Rolling Stone3.5/5 stars[11]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide4/5 stars[12]
Spin8/10[13]

Essence was met with widespread critical acclaim. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, the album received an average score of 82, based on 11 reviews.[3] Reviewers observed a departure from Williams' similarly acclaimed 1998 album Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, with Rolling Stone citing the "willful intimacy" in Essence's music[11] and Spin contrasting the "halting, spare" presentation with its predecessor's "giddy, verbose" one.[13] The Village Voice critic Robert Christgau found it "imperfect" but still praised Williams' artistry, saying "[she] is too damn good to deny."[8] Salon regarded the album as "an emotional mess of a masterpiece".[14] Q listed Essence as one of the best 50 albums of 2001.[15]

Track listing[]

All songs written by Lucinda Williams

  1. "Lonely Girls" – 4:01
  2. "Steal Your Love" – 3:14
  3. "I Envy the Wind" – 3:12
  4. "Blue" – 3:52
  5. "Out of Touch" – 5:25
  6. "Are You Down" – 5:24
  7. "Essence" – 5:50
  8. "Reason to Cry" – 3:39
  9. "Get Right with God" – 4:16
  10. "Bus to Baton Rouge" – 5:50
  11. "Broken Butterflies" – 5:41

Personnel[]

Additional musicians:

  • David Mansfield – viola
  • Ryan Adams – tremolo guitar ("Essence")
  • Gary Louris – background vocals ("Essence")
  • Joy Lynn White – background vocals ("Get Right With God", "Bus to Baton Rouge", "Broken Butterflies")

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b Nichols, Natalie (June 3, 2001). "Rawer This Time Around". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 16, 2017.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b Houlihan, Mary (June 10, 2001). "Lucinda Williams, 'Essence' (Lost Highway)". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on November 19, 2018. Retrieved June 16, 2017.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Reviews for Essence by Lucinda Williams". Metacritic. Retrieved November 12, 2011.
  4. ^ Martens, Todd (June 14, 2001). "Staind Fends Off Radiohead, St. Lunatics At No. 1". Billboard. Retrieved 22 February 2007.
  5. ^ Caulfield, Keith (February 8, 2008). "Ask Billboard: Williams' Wild 'West'". billboard.com. Billboard. Retrieved 9 February 2008.
  6. ^ Deming, Mark. "Essence – Lucinda Williams". AllMusic. Retrieved August 10, 2005.
  7. ^ "Lucinda Williams: Essence". Blender (1): 107. June–July 2001.
  8. ^ Jump up to: a b Christgau, Robert. "Lucinda Williams: Essence". RobertChristgau.com. Retrieved November 12, 2011.
  9. ^ Browne, David (June 8, 2001). "Essence". Entertainment Weekly (599): 74. Archived from the original on April 16, 2017. Retrieved November 12, 2011.
  10. ^ "Lucinda Williams: Essence". Q (178): 125. July 2001.
  11. ^ Jump up to: a b Berger, Arion (May 24, 2001). "All the Small Things". Rolling Stone (869): 86. Archived from the original on March 4, 2007. Retrieved July 20, 2007.
  12. ^ McGee, David; Miles, Milo (2004). "Lucinda Williams". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). London: Fireside Books. pp. 875–876. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  13. ^ Jump up to: a b Weisbard, Eric (July 2001). "Lucinda Williams: Essence". Spin. 17 (7): 125. Retrieved November 12, 2011.
  14. ^ McLeese, Don (May 31, 2001). "Lucinda Williams' psychosexual murk". salon.com. Salon Media Group. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
  15. ^ "The Best 50 Albums of 2001". Q (185): 60–65. December 2001.

External links[]

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