Lucinda Williams - West

From the opening lines of first song "Are You Alright?", I felt in sure hands with this record, Williams' latest. I don't know if it's her best album (though if it's not, it's pretty close), but I do think that it could well be a culmination of sorts - the apotheosis of everything she's recorded before. Expansive and unhurried, it's the sound of an artist with complete faith in her voice and songs; more than anything else, it sounds like a Lucinda Williams record, but to me West also seems to partake of that same pure, rich stream that runs through Emmylou Harris's best work - a clean, fierce kind of ache which is grounded in the dirt but also has something of the stars to it. It's understated and restrained and it burns slowly all the way through, but if West isn't a masterpiece, it's the next best thing to one.