Steve Earle - El CorazA³n

Having watched him throw away the prime years of his career on smack and prison, Steve Earle fans were reassured by the singer's 1995 comeback, Train A Comin', where he reclaimed the past in exquisite acoustic arrangements. They were further encouraged by the 1996 followup, I Feel Alright, which staked out the present with rock & roll defiance. Their patient faith was rewarded with El Corazon, an album that no longer looks back at those lost years but looks forward to the rest of Earle's career. Combining the sheer beauty of Train A Comin' with the bristling energy of I Feel Alright, El Corazon plows new ground with Earle's most explicitly political song yet, his furthest leap into another character's voice, a hard-core bluegrass number with the Del McCoury Band, and a hard-core grunge rocker with the Supersuckers. Earle turns the Fairfield Four into the Jordanaires behind his Elvis vocal on "Telephone Road," and he imitates Townes Van Zandt's austere minimalism even as he sings an elegy to his late mentor on "Fort Worth Blues." All in all, these dozen tunes are the best songwriting Earle has produced since his 1986 breakthrough, Guitar Town, and he sings them with the take-it-or-leave-it authority of someone who has nothing left to prove. On the album's first and best song, "Christmas in Washington," he offers a mournful prayer to Woody Guthrie to come back and rescue us from an era of wishy-washy Democrats and ruthless Republicans; Earle sings it as if his prayer had been answered and the Okie troubadour's ghost had found a home in his belly. --Geoffrey Himes Amazon.com

This may be...

...the ultimate Steve Earle album. I bought this on a whim about 10 years ago, in hopes it might be a pale reflection of Copperhead Road, which I had heard years earlier. In the words of our great president, "Mission Accomplished." I was a lost midwestern boy living in Los Angeles, and the first song especially, as well as the last, sustained me through many days when I thought I was at the end. This was also my initial exposure to Woody Guthrie, as mentioned in song #1, which absolutely changed my life. Christmastime in Washington stands alone against any folk song ever sung as one of the greats. September 25, 2008

Lots of Heart

This is one of Mr. Earle's finest. He displays, once again, his wide range of musical styles and his ability to write great lyrics. Many good songs including Taneytown, Fort Worth Blues, an homage to Townes and Van Zandt, and Telephone Road, a finger snapping tale of finding solace at the local rockin' juke joint. May 27, 2008

Hearts On Fire

Steve Earle's fall from grace has been well documented, as was his recovery. I was working as a writer in Nashville when the stories about Earle begging for change outside of clubs were circulating. As the artist behind one of my favorite CD's of all time, "Copperhead Road," it disturbed me that a talent of this magnitude had dropped down so far.

"El Corazon" is the CD that changed that for good. Having gotten the past out of his system on "Train a'Coming" and "I Feel Alright," "El Corazon" finds him at a peak of songwriting, rediscovering his voice and reclaiming country from the world of hat acts. He brings in the Fairfield Four to channel Elvis Presley on "Telephone Road." Emmylou Harris drops in for vocals on "Taneytown." There's some near bluegrass on "The Other Side Of Town." And to top it off, Earle revisits his days as a musical bad boy by bringing in SubPop artists The Supersuckers to grunge up "NYC."

Earle also regains his social voice here. On the songs "Christmas In Washington," "Taneytown" and "Ft Worth Blues," Earle begins the turn into politics that would boil over into controversy once "Jerusalem" and "The Revolution Starts Now" were ultimately released. "Ft Worth Blues" is an eulogy to Towns Van Zandt, and a beautiful closer to the CD. It is, however, on "Christmas In Washington" that Earle measures up to Van Zandt's best work, as well as Woody Guthrie, the song's obvious inspiration. Decrying a nation's capitol where the Democrats sat frozen with fear after the Impeachment hearings were tossed and the Republicans began to overtly plot their revenge, Earle asks why no-one else seems to notice...or for that matter, care. It is such a potent song that even Joan Baez has covered it.

Although some here on Amazon have claimed "Christmas In Washington" is a weak song to lead "El Corazon," I respectfully disagree. It sets the voice of the CD into a troubadour mode, with "Ft Worth Blues" paying the perfect tribute at the end. In between, the stylistic mix shows that Steve Earle had overcome his long odds and recovered his rightful place as a singer and songwriter among the long lost country outlaws. A reminder that the Nashville establishment gave up on authenticity decades ago, "El Corazon" is music with a real heart. March 22, 2007

My 3rd favorite Steve Earle CD - this one is essential

#1. Guitar Town
#2. I Feel ALright
#3. El Corazon
#4. Transendental Blues

...in my humble opinion. August 24, 2006

A Classic

Back when this album was released, I remember falling immediately under its spell. Years later and... it's only grown stronger. It may well be Steve's finest hour--that's a tough call, granted, and one that on another day, in another mood, I might quibble with myself. But here he covers all of the bases: acoustic-folk, heavy-duty rock 'n' roll, message music, story songs and ... forget it. Why explain the unexplainable? Just plug this sucker into the CD player and crank it: Buttressed by Emmylou Harris' haunting harmonies and Steve's own gritty delivery, the thud-thick, Crazy Horse-like chords of "Taneytown" will leave you on the floor. Same with "If You Fall": killer chords, killer vocals, killer lyrics .... followed by the birth of something grand: "I Still Carry You Around," the inspiration for Steve's collaboration with The Del McCoury Band, The Mountain. Another highlight is "Poison Lovers," a duet with Siobhan Kennedy that's just plain intoxicating--if you're like me, you'll be hitting the "repeat" button ad infinitum. And then, of course, there's Steve's incisive tribute to the late Townes Van Zandt, "Ft. Worth Blues." In short, rock 'n' roll, country, where ever the hell you classify Steve, music doesn't get any better than this. February 24, 2006

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