I thought all the hippie, cowboy, biker types talking politics mellowed out or overdosed and died. Obviously, I don’t get out often enough.

The Revolution Starts Now or that’s what Steve Earle is planning with his most recent CD. He’s got an uphill battle going though, because he’s definitely not mainstream. In fact, I think I got the only copy in this whole town.

But, this is a small southern town (and I say that with some fondness). It's a place where Toby Keith would be considered a right bright young feller.

I’m guessing some of the town’s upstanding leaders would just as soon this CD not get around in this area and taint the minds of the kids. This one might rank up there with “Temptation of Christ” that got banned from the local theatre, which only made all the kids drive an hour to see what the fuss was all about. I doubt any of the suits around here know about this one. SHHHHH.

Maybe you’ve heard of Steve Earle, and maybe you haven’t. He was billed as the next Hank Williams at one point. Yeah. He sounds a little country, but he also goes kind of rock. I guess he probably falls in the folk bin these days.

After that strong start, he had some problems with the law—went to jail for some drunk driving and having that bag of heroin in the car. That wouldn’t have hurt him too bad (on the country scene), but he really didn’t cotton to the masses. He’s not one to sing about his horse, women, and booze. Well, he can sing about all that. After all, he is from Texas. But, he’s way too political to be a radio country singer. That’s all that “I love my truck” junk. If it’s got any depth, then forget it. That's why all those cowboys wear boots.

“Revolution” was churned out in a few days with “all but two of these songs . . . recorded within 24 hours of the first line hitting the paper.” Though some of the songs are a little rough around the edges, the total effect is immediate and intense. In places, I almost feel like I’m listening to Earle sit in the corner singing along with his Walkman on headphones. This is a timely collection designed to slam the current government before the big November elections, so don’t expect it to sound very slick Nashville.

In case you’re not sure (hint, hint, wink) which side of the great political divide Earle straddles, then let’s just say that in “F the CC,” he talks about the mf-ing USA and does a cheerleader-like chant spelling the most popular profane word in the good old US of A.

Really now, if that was the best he could do, then I would not be owning this CD. I’m sure I could hold my own in a cussing contest (tick me off, and I’ll prove it), but I save those so they really make an impact. Keep it clean, and when you do lay an F bomb, then everyone listens. He f-ing overdoes that, but I forgive him, because this is an excellent creative effort overall.

The CD starts out with the “Revolution” manifesto. If Dylan and Bruce Springsteen had a kid, then this might be the sound you’d get. It’s kind of a 60s stoner rock sound.

Next up is “Home to Houston.” This one is a first person song-story about a kid is Iraq who prays “God get me back home to Houston alive and I won't drive a truck anymore (one correction Earle--make that "no more.").”

The sound on "Home" is pure rockabilly redneck where the line between Saturday night and Sunday morning is about as thick as a two by four. These are the boys from my town that wore boots and Levi red tags before they traded those in for fatigues. Their mommas are praying just as hard as the soldiers, and they don’t even promise that those boys will live clean when they get back. They just want ‘em home period.

Along the same theme is “Rich Man’s War.” You don’t see the Bush twins out there fighting this war, and you won’t. Bush took the rich man’s ticket back during Vietnam, and he knows his family is not going to pay on this one either. War has always been about sending off our kids when we’re not at the top of the income pyramid. Those deciding don’t have to weigh out the same sacrifices. My kid? Your kid? OOPS. It's my kid. Anyway, this song is again Dylan-sounding though Earle has a more melodic voice. The growl is there, but it’s secondary to the full rich sound of Earle belting out a variety of styles.

Earle preaches on with “Warrior.” You’ll almost miss the message in the hypnotic sound of cadence similar to Pentcostal dogma but electrified with a low-key Hendrix style background. A-men brother. Pot luck right after the sermon. Hope it's crow for Bush.

Some do take to the life of war, and that's just a sad fact. Back when I was a kid, one woman here divorced her husband after he signed up for a third tour in ‘Nam. It’s one thing to do your duty and another to fall in love with the maiming and killing. “The Gringo’s Tale” is an old-timer who served in Grenada and is telling the new Iraqi-bound kid about the costs of being a warmonger by chance and then choice.

If you can’t beat someone down fair and square, then hit low. That’s what Earle does in “Condi, Condi.” I do take exception here, and I’d delete this trash off my copy if I could. The best that Earle can come up with is to suggest that he would sex “Condileeza” up, since she’s seen as being uptight. Trash her politics, but stay out of her pants. When a woman gets to the top, some guys just can’t handle it. I’d like Earle much better if he could fight a girl without being nasty. Hit her in the chin or black her eye before trying to make light of her because she’s a woman.

After Earle trashes Condi and F’s the CC, then he hits with two love songs. They sound a little lost here, but when you toss in Emmylou Harris, I don’t care. These pieces are haunting—sad but hopeful. A whole boatload of women will welcome men home old beyond years from being called on to do duty and sometimes the unthinkable. The parents and kids pay for the war too, but the women usually end up being the ones to bear the brunt of the aftermath. Some can handle it. Some can’t. It’s a shame any have to. My Grandma spent her whole life paying for World War II, and even now she sometimes goes out of her head when she's on pain meds in the hospital and says she wishes she had never married. World War II was hell. Marriage was hell too after that one. Why would we expect any different after this one?

“The Seeker” addresses the lost souls spawned by war. “I was eight years old when my granddaddy died.” That’s going to be the reality for some kids, and it’s going to have an impact. My boys never knew their great-granddad, and their dad didn’t know his Grandpa. He went out in World War II. That left a void that will never be filled—a lost chapter in their lives.

The song and CD ends:

“But there’s a new day tomorrow and maybe I’ll hold
Something brighter than gold to a seeker.”

The message here in the last song sums it up. If we do seek truth and support what’s right, then there is light at the end of the tunnel. In this CD, Earle thinks that getting Bush out of the White House is the answer. He cared enough about his convictions to craft this CD and again . . . “The Revolution Starts Now” (to close the work). It's a nice wraparound and a reminder about the bottom line.

If you’re anti-Bush or undecided, then check this one out. It’s got a country, rock, 60s sound and very message-based stories. I’d like it even if the tone wasn’t political, but it “defiantly” is from start to finish. I thought the days when musicians took it to the streets with song were over, but this is a throwback but right on the wire in terms of world events. Earle thumbed his nose at conventions long ago, so he doesn’t get the same kind of body slam that the Dixie Chicks got for saying Bush is a b*stard. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have the big and young audience that the Chicks had. I don’t guess this is going to be a teen pick, but it ought to be. They are the ones who will die for the cause . . . cause Bush says so. And, they’ll not know what hit them or why.

As a mother of two sons, a woman, a teacher . . . I don’t support a war that isn’t built on any foundation of truth. They didn’t show me the weapons of mass destruction. They weren’t there. We’re tilting at windmills or perhaps oil wells, and don’t count me in. I’m in on the “Revolution,” and “in my own backyard.”

I'm not sold on Kerry, but I hope he is the lesser of evils.

***********

If you're looking for protest music, then the best one out is by Green Day - "American Idiot."

Review at:

http://www.epinions.com/content_158190964356




Recommended: Yes