History (Loudon Wainwright III album) explained

History
Type:Album
Artist:Loudon Wainwright III
Cover:Historyalbumcover.jpg
Released:1992
Studio:The Hit Factory, New York City
Genre:Folk, folk rock
Length:46:06
Label:Charisma
Producer:Loudon Wainwright III, Jeffrey Lesser
Prev Title:Therapy
Prev Year:1989
Next Title:Career Moves
Next Year:1993

History is an album by the American musician Loudon Wainwright III, released in 1992 on Charisma Records.[1] [2] Wainwright supported the album with North American and European tours.[3] [4]

Production

Wainwright chose the tracks from around 25 songs he had written over the course of four years.[5] [6] He originally wanted to use Family Album as the title.[7] His ex-wives, Kate McGarrigle and Suzzy Roche, provided backing vocals on "So Many Songs".[8] Syd Straw sang on "When I'm at Your House".[9] A banjo was used on "The Doctor".

The final track, "A Handful of Dust", is an adaptation of a song written by Wainwright's father.[10] "Hitting You" references an incident with his daughter Martha Wainwright.[11] "A Father and a Son" is directed to his son, Rufus Wainwright.[12] "The Picture" was inspired by a childhood photograph of Wainwright and his sister Teddy.[13] "Talking New Bob Dylan", commissioned by NPR, is both a tribute to Bob Dylan and a reflection on being labeled, in the early 1970s, "a new Dylan".[14] [15]

Critical reception

The New York Times noted that "the core of the album examines family history with a directness and a pained honesty, and it takes up a subject—childrearing—that most baby-boom songwriters have unaccountably avoided except when mistily celebrating a birth"; Stephen Holden later listed it as the third best album of 1992.[16] [17] The Morning Call considered History to be the sixth best album of the year; the Houston Chronicle included it on a list of the year's best records.[18] [19] The Sydney Morning Herald deemed the album "about as close to a masterpiece as any musician could reasonably expect to produce."[20]

Rolling Stone wrote: "The soul of Wasp angst, of quiet bleeding on summer lawns, Wainwright's spare folk laments are absolutely exceptional."[21] The Philadelphia Inquirer called History "a masterful scrapbook of songs about raising kids, losing love and growing old that makes plenty of good jokes and makes them hurt."[22] The Toronto Sun opined that "History is so plainspoken, its truths occasionally don't reveal themselves for two or three listens ... Perhaps for that very reason, it stands as one of the year's finest albums."

AllMusic considered the album to be a masterpiece, writing that it "features a mix of the humorous and the serious, the autobiographical and the observational, the rockin' and the balladic, all wrapped up in some classy arrangements."

Track listing

All tracks composed by Loudon Wainwright III

  1. "People in Love" – 2:57
  2. "Men" – 3:35
  3. "The Picture" – 2:32
  4. "When I'm at Your House" – 2:31
  5. "The Doctor" – 4:00
  6. "Hitting You" – 3:03
  7. "I'd Rather Be Lonely" – 2:50
  8. "Between" – 1:27
  9. "Talking New Bob Dylan" – 3:34
  10. "So Many Songs" – 3:52
  11. "4 X 10" – 3:07
  12. "A Father and a Son" – 3:21
  13. "Sometimes I Forget" – 5:53
  14. "A Handful of Dust" – 3:24

Personnel

Release history

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Loudon Wainwright III Biography, Songs, & Albums. AllMusic.
  2. News: Hopewell . Deborah . Wainwright's songs tell his story . Austin American-Statesman . 10 Sep 1992 . Onward . 7.
  3. News: Sullivan . Jim . Wainwright elevates wryness to an art form . The Boston Globe . 7 Dec 1992 . Living . 36.
  4. News: Denselow . Robin . Loudon Wainwright III Royal Festival Hall . The Guardian . 10 Feb 1993 . Features.
  5. News: Jarvey . Paul . No comparison to Wainwright . Telegram & Gazette . 20 May 1993 . C4.
  6. News: Mitchell . Justin . WAINWRIGHT POURS OUT MORE OF SELF . Rocky Mountain News . December 11, 1992 . Entertainment . 100.
  7. News: Lewis . Randy . Loudon Wainwright III 'History' . Los Angeles Times . 19 Nov 1992 . LV Desk . 5.
  8. Bessman . Jim . Loudon Wainwright writes 'history' . Billboard . Jan 9, 1993 . 105 . 2 . 27.
  9. Christgau . Georgia . Lost and found – History by Loudon Wainwright III . The Village Voice . 2 Feb 1993 . 38 . 5 . 66.
  10. News: Snider . Eric . Songs from pages of a life . St. Petersburg Times . 15 Jan 1993 . Weekend . 24.
  11. News: Robins . Wayne . LOUDON WAINWRIGHT'S PERSONAL 'HISTORY' . Newsday . 8 Jan 1993 . Part II . 78.
  12. News: Jaeger . Barbara . Quick Spins . The Record . February 14, 1993 . Hackensack . E6.
  13. News: Allan . Marc D. . Loudon Wainwright bows to sounds of middle age and regrets . The Indianapolis Star . 18 Apr 1993 . G5.
  14. News: Menconi . David . Making a musical splash . The News & Observer . July 2, 1993 . W14.
  15. News: Heim . Chris . Loudon Wainwright III and Maura O'Connell . Chicago Tribune . 27 Nov 1992 . Friday . M.
  16. News: Holden . Stephen . When a Clown Leaves the Highway of Pratfalls Behind . The New York Times . 22 Nov 1992 . A27.
  17. News: The Pop Life . The New York Times . 30 Dec 1992 . C10.
  18. News: Righi . Len . FRINGE COMES CLOSER TO THE MAINSTREAM . The Morning Call . 1 Jan 1993 . D1.
  19. News: Mitchell . Rick . Racine . Marty . Top pop of the year . Houston Chronicle . December 6, 1992 . Zest . 8.
  20. News: Elder . Bruce . DYLAN DEAD, LONG LIVE THE DYLANS . The Sydney Morning Herald . November 24, 1992 . Reviews . 14.
  21. Loudon Wainwright III: History : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone. . July 26, 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20080726100225/http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/loudonwainwrightiii/albums/album/222609/review/5944420/history . 2008-07-26 .
  22. News: DeLuca . Dan . LOUDON WAINWRIGHT 3D GETS LAUGHS AT KESWICK THEATRE . The Philadelphia Inquirer . 8 Dec 1992 . D2.

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