Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Binding: Audio CD EAN: 0075596185424 Label: Asylum Records Manufacturer: Asylum Records Number Of Discs: 1 Publisher: Asylum Records Release Date: September 26, 1995 Sales Rank: 4382 Studio: Asylum Records
Amazon.com essential recording: Emmylou Harris's formula has been to match a crack crew of left-of-center country players with an assortment of tasteful tunes and head into the studio with a nonintrusive producer. Now and then (most notably the 1980 bluegrass collection Roses in the Snow), she tampers with her basic blueprint and comes up with something exceptional. Wrecking Ball is one of those. Daniel Lanois's radiant production no longer seems as fresh as it did on albums by U2, Peter Gabriel, and Bob Dylan, but here its hum enfolds Harris like an electric blanket. Lanois's usual recruits, including U2 drummer Larry Mullen Jr., and New Orleans regulars Malcolm Burn, Brian Blade, and Daryl Johnson, lay down a solid base for Harris's weary vocals and Lanois's buzzing guitar. At its core, Wrecking Ball seems almost too finely calculated. Hot producer plus sought-after songwriters plus venerated performer frequently totals to deadly bore. Here, however, all that calculation adds up to something. --Steven Stolder
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - Alternate country universe
A towering achievement and also an immensely likeable record. Emmylou Harris, after spending the first half of the 90s playing and recording solid if traditionally-oriented country albums, in 1995 teams up with Daniel Lanois and engineer Malcolm Burn to make a surprisingly experimental, electronica-influenced, slow-burning gem of a modern country record that sounds nothing - absolutely nothing - like country music sounds in 1995 (or since, for that matter). She forges a completely unique path here, presenting material in a way that boldly proposes an alternate universe: one where country music ... Read More
Rating: - A Different and Difficult Album
At first, this was the first Emmylou album I listened through. At first I was a little bit disappointed but even the next time I started to like it much more. It seemed like all the songs were opening. "All My Tears", "Orphan Girl", and "Where Will I Be" were the easiest ones. "Deeper Well" may sound a little bit strange but it's one of my favorites in this album. The title track opened for me in the 6th listening time. If you have listened only Emmylou's 70's albums, you may feel a little bit disappointed at first but give it a chance! It's a great album, a little bit slower than the first Emmylou ... Read More
Rating: - Like Spun Gold
It's impossible to be serious about music and not realize the great contribution Emmylou Harris has given us over the years. Although she has always been a left fielder in country music pushing the envelope when some of her contemporaries we're trying on their disco slippers to make a quick buck, Emmylou new this didn't suit her. She sought out songs that move her. With "Wrecking Ball", Emmylou took a wrong turn that really WORKED and hit it out of the ballpark. The marriage of her spiritual yet sensual voice with virtuoso production by whiz kid Daniel Lanois created a new benchmark for what could ... Read More
Rating: - Just love it
This is just a great CD. I've bought it twice. Should have fought harder for it in the divorce.
Rating: - Emmylou dressed in barbed wire....
Some time shortly after this was released, I was fortunate enough to catch a free Emmylou concert in Nashville, courtesy of the Thursday afternoon "Dancing in the District" series on the banks of the Cumberland. Most of her material that day came from this CD, with the "barbed wire guitar" playing provided by Buddy Miller in the same style as presented here. Many of Emmylou's core country audience left before the end, disappointed I suppose at her new approach. But I was enthralled with her courage and flexibility in stepping out on this branch. The combination of classic material and the raw edge ... Read More
- 
- 