Taking The Long Way
- Dixie Chicks
- Band Name: Dixie Chicks
- Record Label: Sony
- Release Date: May 23, 2006
- Critic Score
- Most active
- Publication
- Most clicked
-
Finally, they put their music where their opinionated mouths are.
-
80It's another good one. [Jul 2006, p.100]
-
[The] lack of zest in the production is forgivable because Taking the Long Way is otherwise a strong, confident affair.
-
[It] embraces the depth and fury of classic rock while remaining true to the trio's Texas roots. [18 May 2006, p.226]
-
80There's still some banjo-pickin' and fiddle-playing, but The Long Way's clean, soft-rockin' vibe is striking in contrast to the traditional bluegrassy leanings of 2002's Home.
-
80Apart from the political material, they've rustled up some of their most gorgeous melodies.
-
With The Long Way Around, the Chicks haven't turned a corner as much as locked horns with their recent past, their spirituality and spunk intact, heroines on the side of truth.
-
75The Texas trio sounds like a new group.
-
Those voices alone are enough to devastate, and they're the reason this album deserves mention among the year's best.
-
70The development in their songwriting is dramatic. [Jul 2006, p.90]
-
70This album has some of what was missing from Home: fire, ugliness, resentment. [Jun 2006, p.135]
-
70The first-time pairing with Rubin has resulted in a surprisingly cohesive mix of country and rock tunes.
-
70On first listen, Taking the Long Way seems too somber--in need of a bit of levity and more than a couple of uptempo songs (like the sexy, '60s-flavored "I Like It") to resonate for the long haul. It also seems to lack the writing quality that Darrell Scott, Patty Griffin, and Bruce Robison brought to Home. But on repeated plays, those concerns dissipate.
-
Taking the Long Way wraps its still-raw emotions in sweet satin sheets of breezy, middle-of-the-road pop. While there are still some country elements, the album mostly exists in that top-down netherworld of Sheryl Crow albums and Tom Petty's "Learning to Fly."
-
If anything, Taking The Long Way is overly blunt, as though the group felt it has an image to maintain. The anger feels calculated.
-
40The bulk sounds little different from most of what passes for mainstream country these days. [Jul 2006, p.113]
-
40Ironically, just as they have become a liberal cause célèbre, the Dixie Chicks sound more conservative than ever.
-
It's not just Rubin's production choices that fail, though--it's the songwriting.
prev
next
Page:
- 1
User score distribution:
-
Positive: 90 out of 109
-
Mixed: 5 out of 109
-
Negative: 14 out of 109
-
Jack5
-
Patrick10Anybody who gives it a 0 or 1 obviously holds a huge bias. There are so many great songs on this album. 10 because it deserves it
-
franciscog10The best album of the year without a doubt.... flawless!!!