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Essence
by
Essence Image
Metascore
82

Universal acclaim - based on 11 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
7.9

Generally favorable reviews- based on 14 Ratings

  • Summary: Although Lucinda Williams' recording career began in 1979, this is just her sixth full-length release, following 1998's well-received 'Car Wheels on a Gravel Road.' 'Essence' features 11 new trackes penned by Williams and co-produced by Charlie Sexton and Bo Ramsey.

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 11
  3. Negative: 0 out of 11
  1. Salon
    100
    It's a nervy progression, almost necessarily uneven because of the risks it takes, balancing a grace that soars toward aching perfection with an intimacy that elicits a squirmy discomfort.
  2. Mojo
    90
    There's no easy niche in which you can place this new statement: like Dylan's Time Out Of Mind, it ventures into a doomy, mythological area, where the directions are muddied and the heartbreak is total. [Jul 2001, p.98]
    All this publication's reviews
  3. Entertainment Weekly
    83
    Her folkiest, gentlest album, Essence is a steamy slow-crawl... [8 June 2001, p.74]
    All this publication's reviews
  4. AllMusic
    80
    Essence sounds full and rich even in its quietest moments, and her sweet-and-sour voice blends with the arrangements with subtle perfection.
  5. Spin
    80
    As halting, spare, and downbeat as its predecessor was giddy, verbose, and, okay, downbeat. [Jul 2001, p.125]
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  6. Trouser Press
    70
    This mainstream update to the unvarnished directness of Sweet Old World starts slow and flirts with blandness but sparks to life about halfway through.
  7. Rolling Stone
    70
    Essence finds Williams returning to the willful intimacy of her earliest records. Laid-back, rock-ish and small in scale, Essence never achieves grandeur but won't particularly alienate the fan for whom her wonders small and large are equally magical.

See all 11 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 8
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 8
  3. Negative: 0 out of 8
  1. Russ
    Aug 14, 2007
    10
    Gotta admit that when I first heard this album I thought it was just ok. But over the years I've found myself returning to it for Gotta admit that when I first heard this album I thought it was just ok. But over the years I've found myself returning to it for repeated listens. Best played when feeling mellow on those quiet introspective moments. Definitely not a party album! These songs just have so much feeling that you can't help but be captured by them. now one of my alltime favorites. To hear these songs with more of a hard-edge, get Live At the Fillmore.… Expand
  2. KeithB.
    Nov 11, 2001
    10
    It doesn't get any better than this. The most raw, unaffected, sensual and heartbreaking music I've heard in a very long time. It doesn't get any better than this. The most raw, unaffected, sensual and heartbreaking music I've heard in a very long time. It's been haunting me day and night since I first listened to it.… Expand
  4. CherylH
    Apr 5, 2004
    10
    Williams' grief, almost beyond bearing, simmers and aches beneath every tune she sings, sighs, whispers in that Delta drawl. It reaches Williams' grief, almost beyond bearing, simmers and aches beneath every tune she sings, sighs, whispers in that Delta drawl. It reaches an absolute boil in the title cut 'Essence', the spiritual yearning in 'Get Right with God', and the heartbreaking, poignant closer, 'Broken Butterflies'. This was the fourth Williams CD I bought, it is still the first one I listen to every night. This is some of the best songwriting you will ever hear.… Expand
  5. rkid
    Oct 19, 2001
    8
    It is easier to like after each additional listening. Not as good as 'Car Wheels' but that's not the point. She is the best of It is easier to like after each additional listening. Not as good as 'Car Wheels' but that's not the point. She is the best of this genre around and anything after 'Car Wheels' is going to be unfairly judged. I love this cd to death anyway. Seein her live soon-can't wait.… Expand
  6. BrandonS
    Feb 3, 2005
    8
    A rare predominantly slow album that never gets boring. Earthy yet ethereal. Who besides Lucinda, Emmylou, and Patty Griffin can pull this off?
  7. MikeT.
    Jul 11, 2001
    6
    This album gets more disappointing every time I play it. I keep waiting for something to happen in these predictable, claustrophobic songs, This album gets more disappointing every time I play it. I keep waiting for something to happen in these predictable, claustrophobic songs, but nothing ever does. "Car Wheels on a Gravel Road" this ain't, believe me.… Expand
  8. BrianM
    Mar 2, 2006
    4
    A gut wrenching torturous record that will make many wonder why music is in their lives at all. For the liife of me, I can't figure out A gut wrenching torturous record that will make many wonder why music is in their lives at all. For the liife of me, I can't figure out why this music is in anyones life. One thing is clear, this music will encourage individuals to obstain from listening to music for long periods of time. Fundamentally, this is a waste of music from an otherwise gifted singer songwriter.… Collapse

See all 8 User Reviews

Awards & Rankings

37
#37 Best Album of 2001
84
#84 Most Discussed Album of 2001
62
#62 Most Shared Album of 2001

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