by
Steve Earle
- Record Label: New West
- Release Date: Apr 26, 2011
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
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Apr 27, 2011I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive's lone downer is Burnett's unnecessarily heavy-handed production. That said, Earle's vocals front and center in a brilliant song cycle transcend it.
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Apr 26, 2011With T Bone Burnett's production and Burnett's usual cast of top-notch players (including Sara Watkins on fiddle and vocals), Earle's got another winner. Grammy or not.
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Apr 28, 2011T Bone Burnett's production provides a certain dusky character to these songs that lends them a weight beyond their unadorned sentiments. He's added actor, novelist, radio show host, and playwright to his resume, but Earle proves he's still capable of getting to the heart of the matter with charisma and skill.
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Apr 22, 2011If this T-Bone Burnett-produced album isn't a standout, it still has plenty going for it.
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Apr 26, 2011Steve Earle's stellar new album, produced by T Bone Burnett, takes its name from the final Hank Williams single (as does the multitalented Earle's debut novel, out next month).
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Apr 22, 2011Maybe working on a novel distracted Earle, but the feisty dust-kicker of old appears to have taken this one off.
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May 9, 2011The disc reveals a few hard edges but offers optimism even as it explores the thornier corners of human behavior.
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Entertainment WeeklyApr 29, 2011His death-obsessed ditties feel plenty writerly on their own. Vintage production by T. Bone Burnett adds eerie atmosphere. [6 May 2011, p.74]
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Apr 26, 2011Producer T Bone Burnett and his ace crew of musicians help Earle with masterful skill and deft subtlety.
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MojoMay 18, 2011The record is starting to sound worn. [May 2011, p.105]
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Apr 25, 2011Small quibbles aside, I'll Never Get Out Of this World Alive is a solid addition to Steve Earle's impressive body of work that should satisfy both faithful and new listeners alike.
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May 11, 2011Earle's albums have been extremely uneven for some time now. Certainly that indicates he's put out a sizable amount of dross, but it also means he's recorded a bunch of great songs that have gotten lost in the shuffle.
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Apr 25, 2011[It] doesn't mean there's anything bad here, just an absence of anything new. To evoke another obvious comparison (and obvious Earle reference point), there's something of the late Springsteen syndrome.
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Q MagazineMay 27, 2011While Molly O oozes foreboding, Meet Me In the Alleyway is eerily reminiscent of The The and the Grammy-nominated This City is a genuine gem. [Jun 2011, p.114]
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Apr 26, 2011Produced by T Bone Burnett, this may be the shaggy outlaw's most polished set.
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Apr 25, 2011If not at his absolute peak, I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive is still easily the best album he's recorded since Bill Clinton left office.
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Apr 22, 2011T-Bone Burnett's understated production suggests an aqueous atmosphere, with a few actual sea shanties.
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Apr 26, 2011Earle has always forged armor out of his scars, and by that token, I'll Never Get Out is impregnable, yet achingly vulnerable.
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Apr 27, 2011T Bone Burnett's trademark production has the rhythm section thumping as if you were listening to the whole thing from a booth at your favorite pub. Which suits Earle fine.
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Apr 22, 2011As a songwriter, Steve Earle is blessed with two apparently contradictory gifts: the ability to animate fictional lives, and a streak of cussed, lefty sincerity that gives bite to his truth-telling.
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Apr 25, 2011As befits a novelist, the songs are narratives concerned with the big issues. Life, death, that sort of thing. Good record.
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Apr 27, 2011Earle is a busy man, writing novels, acting and recording but he has found time to make his 14th album full of wonderful moments.
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UncutApr 21, 2011It moves somewhat uneasily through Celtic folk and rural string music. [May 2011, p.92]
User score distribution:
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Positive: 6 out of 6
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Mixed: 0 out of 6
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Negative: 0 out of 6
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May 5, 2011
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May 3, 2011