Lyle Lovett - Pontiac

Rating 5

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Item#: 2531624

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UPC: 076744202826

Description:: Personnel: Lyle Lovett (vocals); Billy Williams (acoustic guitar); Ray Herndon (electric guitar); Paul Franklin (steel guitar); John Hagen (cello); Steve Marsh (saxophone); Matt Rollings (piano, synthesizer); Matt McKenzie, Edgar Meyer (bass); Harry Stinson (drums); Emmylou Harris, Vince Gill, Francine Reed, J. David Sloan, Harry Stinson (background vocals).
On his second album, Lovett solidified his songwriting abilities and his style, emerging as Nashville-via-Texas`s answer to Randy Newman. Beneath PONTIAC`s ornate production and elegant melodies lurks major-league irony and cynicism. Lovett`s resonant, Jesse Winchester-like deadpan delivery is the Kabuki mask behind which insecurity and anthropomorphism run gleefully rampant. Our boy seems to have more troubles with women than the young Elvis Costello did; in "L.A. County," he drives cross-country to go postal at the marriage of his ex-love and her new beau. "She`s No Lady" finds the narrator married and in the throes of existential despair, though it`s mollified by some slick, jazzy chording.
All this expertly crafted sarcasm is redeemed by the poignant, elliptical "If I Had a Boat," a folk-country ballad full of touching, poetic imagery, and by the Townes Van Zandt-ish "Simple Song," whose simple, minor-key melody carries considerable lyrical heft. As "She`s No Lady" and "If I Had a Boat" remained staples of Lovett`s shows for years to come, PONTIAC is rightly regarded as one of his key releases.