Bell Bottom Country

70年代アメリカンロック幻の名盤!...ではなく2022年新録音のヴィンテージロック!
サザン～スワンプロック的マナーを再現したサウンド&プレイに耳を奪われつつ、メロディ構成がしっかりしておりいずれの楽曲もキチンとキャッチーなサビに到達する70年代にはないサービス精神が見事な楽曲揃い((14)以外全曲レイニーが共同作曲)。カントリーロック&モータウンのハイブリッド的な(1)「Hillbilly Hippies」。後期ビートルズ的Aメロからアッパーでロッキンなサビに味変、さらに中間部ではレゲエも挟まる(2)「Road Runner」、ファンク的ダイナミズムがカッコイイ(4)「Grease」、カントリールーツの歌心が光るミドルの泣きメロものはどれも高レベル!締めは、名作曲家リンダ・ぺリーのファースト・キャリアである4 Non Blondesの大ヒット曲92年作(14)「What's Up (What's Going on)」のカヴァー!70'Sサウンドとリッチな90'sメロディの融合は図らずもレイニーの魅力そのものなのであった!

Having had a breakthrough hit in 2021 with Sayin What Im Thinkin and its accompanying single "Things a Man Oughta Know," Lainey Wilson offers something of a manifesto with its 2022 follow-up, Bell Bottom Country. Take the title slightly literally: its deliberately, defiantly retro, dredging up images of the 1970s, an era when country singers werent necessarily wearing bell-bottom jeans but rockers certainly were. Wilson simultaneously belongs to both camps, reviving some of the spirit of the outlaws and the hippie country-rockers that served as their counterparts. Its a territory previously explored by the likes of Eric Church and Miranda Lambert, a pair of singers produced by Jay Joyce, who also helms Bell Bottom Country. Joyces sinewy yet nimble production is filled with muscle and color, its shifting sounds emphasizing how Wilson doesnt stay in one place: she can be a defiant rocker but also a sensitive troubadour, a writer with a flair for melody and a weakness for puns, a singer whose sentimental streak is happily tarnished by a gritty twang. She occasionally leans into the rock aspects of her persona a bit too hard -- even if she betters the original, there was no need for a cover of 4 Non Blondes "Whats Up?" -- and she does show a fondness for country corn, yet those traits are offset by her knack for narrative and natural earthiness, qualities that help make Bell Bottom Country a compelling listen. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine