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[Departure]

Shooter Jennings

Black Ribbons

Josh Bell

Wed, Mar 10, 2010 (3:30 p.m.)

Shooter Jennings, Black Ribbons

If nothing else, Shooter Jennings’ fourth album, Black Ribbons, is completely unexpected. There’s nothing on his first three albums of outlaw country and Southern rock to indicate he’d pull out a 70-minute concept album set in a dystopian future, featuring narration by horror icon Stephen King, influenced more by Pink Floyd and Nine Inch Nails than Jennings’ dad Waylon or any of the other country legends whose sound he used to emulate.

The Details

Shooter Jennings
One and a half stars
Beyond the Weekly
Shooter Jennings
Billboard: Black Ribbons

So Black Ribbons is audacious, but it’s also a complete mess. The album is structured as the final broadcast by a rebel radio DJ known as Will o’ the Wisp (played by King), who’s spending his last hour before the government shuts him down playing the music of Hierophant, “the one band the American fascocrats don’t want me to play.” When you give your music that kind of introduction, you’d better live up to it, but Jennings just wallows in a dark sonic mush, with vaguely psychedelic songs that sound like he’s listened to Dark Side of the Moon too many times while stoned.

Dropped in the middle of all this is “God Bless Alabama,” a lovely, laid-back country ditty written by Matt Reasor of defunct alt-country band High or Hellwater and dedicated to Jennings’ daughter Alabama. It’s the kind of appealing, catchy tune that Jennings used to record on a regular basis, but it sounds jarringly out of place among industrial dirges and space-rock rambling.

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I totally and completely disagree with this review. Shooter Jennings' albums have in my opinion, all been rock records. Electric Rodeo?? Bad Magick is a very heavy tune on a record from 4 years ago. Also King wrote a fictional story based on some ideas...Shooter didn't introduce his music as the 1 and only worthy band...those are King's words to set the tone of being controlled and having overly processed music for the masses as the dj's only choice. Perhaps your interpretation is a bit literal. But it seems like you prefer unoriginal music for the masses if you liked it when you thought shooter was emulating others. Another point I disagree with wholeheartedly. And finally God Bless Alabama, the "laid-back country ditty" is layered with the same electronic and industrial influences that you complain about. Soooo i think your review is a "complete mess".

Posted by: madwoman on 3/11/10 at 12:41 p.m. (Suggest removal)

You're right that there were rock elements on Shooter's past albums (which I refer to as "outlaw country and Southern rock"), but nothing compared to what he does here. And there's a big difference between a song like "God Bless Alabama," which is country laced with a few electronic elements, and most of the rest of the album, which is full-on rock/industrial (and a pretty poor example of it).

But that's all a matter of opinion. One thing that's not is who wrote the words that King says. That all comes from Shooter. As King told the L.A. Times: "He sent me a draft, and it was just about perfect. I altered a few things and expanded some of it, but he knew exactly what he wanted." (http://articles.latimes.com/2010/feb/27/...)

Posted by: joshb on 3/12/10 at 4:35 p.m. (Suggest removal)

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