Album Review: "Give Up the Ghost" --- Brandi Carlile

Brandi Carlile officially released her third album "Give Up the Ghost" yesterday. Haven't had a chance to pick it up yet (yes, folks, I'm one of those few people who still buy hard copy CDs. I just like to be able to physically hold things that I buy) but no doubt I will.

What I have heard from free whole-album audio on Billboard's website has left me with some initial impressions. And they're not all good. I've been looking forward to this album for a while now, having kept apprised of some of the new road songs through concert postings on YouTube, etc. There are some good tunes on the new album that suffer in the vocals and instrumentation from the concert versions. The lyrics haven't changed (much). The music simply isn't as good. There are several tracks that don't flow well and don't have good rhythm. It pains me to write this criticism about one of my favorite singers.

I accept that each artist does what they think is right and what sounds right. "Give Up the Ghost" is Ms. Carlile's album. I am a listener. But to my ears, this album could have been much better. Perhaps part of the reason is the time lapse since "The Story" was released. Many of the songs on "... Ghost" have been bouncing around on the road for two years. The band may know them a little too well. Something that worked on "The Story" was that producer T-Bone Burnett took them out of their comfort zone by having them use unfamiliar instruments. As a result, that album had freshness... it had an edge. Similar to something from my college days, when you're taking an exam, you should almost always stick with the answer you gave first. It's when you go back and second-guess yourself that you often run into problems. There has no doubt been pressure to tour as much as the band does in order to build up the fan base, but "... Ghost" should have been done sooner.

Also a small disappointment, the new album should have been titled with the more familiar "Giving Up the Ghost." If you're going to use phraseology, use the phrase that rolls off the tongue. "Give Up..." is stilted, not as natural. What's more, I don't understand the decision to go with command sentence form, as if the listener is supposed to "give up the ghost." Grammatically speaking, the track "If There Was No You" should be "If There Were No You." Ms. Carlile actually dropped out of high school to focus on her music. I'm not generally in favor of this choice, but I also recognize that the broad structure of high school just isn't for some people who are exceptionally gifted in one area of study and exceptionally devoid in other areas. Some people's brains are just not wired for science and math. High school has zero-tolerance of/for this fact. Still, Brandi would benefit immensely from Professor Jambeck's "The English Language" grammar course.

(Image © The Beaumont Club)