| Pistola | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | Willy DeVille |
| Cover: | WillyDeVillePistola.jpg |
| Released: | February 4, 2008 |
| Recorded: | Nut Ranch, Studio City Mayflower Hotel, New York |
| Genre: | Roots rock, New Orleans R&B, Tex-Mex, Latin rock |
| Length: | 43:27 |
| Label: | Eagle |
| Producer: | John Philip Shenale, Willy DeVille |
| Prev Title: | Crow Jane Alley |
| Prev Year: | 2004 |
Pistola is the last album by Willy DeVille, released on Mardi Gras day 2008 as a nod to DeVille's musical roots in New Orleans. The album was recorded in Los Angeles with Brian Ray, Lon Price, The Valentine Brothers, and other musicians who had played with DeVille for years. For this album, DeVille borrowed bassist Davey Faragher and drummer Pete Thomas from Elvis Costello's backup band, the Imposters (DeVille's band Mink DeVille toured with Elvis Costello in 1978). John Philip Shenale produced the album, his fourth production effort for Willy DeVille.
Said DeVille about his choice of titles for the album: "I wanted (the album) to sound like those old cowboy movies ... Pis–to–la: the sound has that feel of the western, and something hot too. An exciting sound, just like what I hope the music will be for people."[1]
NME said about Pistola, "DeVille's louche fusion of rock 'n' roll, Tex-Mex and country styles has matured with age, and his most recent work is among the finest of his recording career."[2]
Spin said that the album "sees (Willy DeVille) continue his successful partnership with producer John Philip Shenale. The new album finds him once again creating his unique mixture of rock, soul, R&B, blues and Cajun with articulate lyrics and Willy's distinctive vocal style."[3]
Independent Music said about the album:
(Willy DeVille) ... has never been more artistically potent than on Pistola, confronting the demons of his past with an impressive lyrical honesty and unexpectedly diverse musical imagination. DeVille’s beloved New Orleans provides the touchstone for most of the album: the ex-addiction anthem "Been There Done That," for instance, is couched in infectious clavinet funk, while "You Got The World In Your Hands" sounds like Tom Waits covering Dr John's "Gris-Gris." Elsewhere, there are echoes of the Stones, Springsteen and "Spanish Harlem"—all this, and a great version of Paul Siebel's classic "Louise" too. Who would have thought it?[4]
Leap in the Dark praised the album's bold originality: "Pistola is not the type of album you'd expect from as established a performer as Willy DeVille. Most people at his stage in their careers wouldn't be taking the risk of including pieces as unconventional as 'Mountains of Manhattan' and 'Stars that Speak,' but Willy has always marched to the beat of his own drummer. It's that willingness to take risks that keeps his music fresh and alive, and the ten songs on Pistola are no exception."[5]
Andrew Carver said, "DeVille ... is one of those rare artists who seem to have dragged their prime years across the decades, and Pistola is another triumph of experience."[6]
Critic Thom Jurek said about the song "The Stars that Speak,"This track succeeds in summing up DeVille’s entire mythology and professional persona in lyric form; it is read in his trademark smooth-whiskey-meets-cigarette-smoke voice. It reveals, just under the surface, not only the promise of dim lights, perfume, mystery, and sweat-stained sheets, but a figure whose most prominent feature is the outline of a human heart, cracked and broken over and again, who remains resolute in the notion that love prevails."[7]
Unless otherwise noted, all songs by Willy DeVille.