Alison Krauss & Union Station

So Long So Wrong

Krauss and Company Produce Musical Schizophrenia

Review Score:

(10/10)
To the title of "So Long, So Wrong" you can tack on "So Confused". Never have I heard an album which bounces back and forth between such completely different musical styles as this one. For the record, let me admit that I am not a fan of bluegrass -- in fact, I typically hate it. But I love Alison Krauss. Her voice and her music are absolutely sublime.

On song after song, Krauss produces some of the most supremely beautiful music that I have ever heard. "Deeper Than Crying", "I Can Let Go Now", and "It Doesn't Matter" set the musical and emotional stage for the best songs Krauss has recorded since "When You Say Nothing at All".

"Find My Way Back to Your Heart" is a romping, joyous song that manages to merrily skip along while dealing with the emotional difficulties caused by life on the road. The album's crescendo comes on "Looking In the Eyes of Love", one of the most touching and beautiful songs I have ever heard. I can't imagine a song being written or performed more perfectly than this. "Happiness" poignantly examines the hurt that comes when love ends unexpectedly. The album ends with "There Is a Reason", one of the most beautiful and hopeful religious songs ever recorded.

The problem with this album comes when Krauss gives the reins to her Union Station bandmates. When Krauss is not providing the vocals, the band's musical style shifts dramatically into full-tilt bluegrass. Despite the stark stylistic differences, the band inexplicably saw fit to make this transition on almost every other song. Just when the album has succeeded in creating a state of emotional sublimity with "Looking In the Eyes of Love", it jerks you into the bluegrass twang of "Pain of a Troubled Life", before snapping you right back into the somber beauty of "Happiness".

This is not to say that Union Station is not a good band. They are a gifted bluegrass ensemble with considerable musical talents. But Krauss is something else entirely. An understated musical genius, she combines her incredible talents as a musician with one of the best and most original voices in popular music and creates songs which are simple, heartfelt, and honest. Her songs aren't really bluegrass, nor are they identifiable with any other particular musical genre (the album's title song is the only one she sings that has any twang whatsoever). It is simply good music that, in it's simplicity and emotional beauty, is much closer to Jewel's best work than to Bill Monroe.

So how do you grade an album that jumps back and forth between equal parts of the musically sublime and music you can live without? Let's just say that CD technology and the ability to program the song sequence is a lifesaver. When I listen to this album, it consists only of tracks 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 12, & 14. And it is this abbreviated version of "So Long, So Wrong" that I give five stars. The rest can take a hike.

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