Gravitational Forces

Amazon.com
Robert Earl Keen always delivers his quota of rambling songs. The beautifully crafted Gravitational Forces, however, turns around stories of guys whose ropes have run out. On his first album in more than three years, the singer-songwriter often backs down from the bravado of past blurts like "Whenever Kindness Fails." Not that it's absent in the breakneck remake of his signature "The Road Goes On Forever" or even the cover of Joe Dolce's homebound "Hall of Fame." Yet he dwells more on the troubled side of his drifting characters' lives: the wrong-side-of-the-law losers of "Wild Wind," the homeless loner of "Not a Drop of Rain." Keen tweaks pavement-bound verities even further on the Dylanesque "Goin' Nowhere Blues" and the deadpan spoken-word title track, which takes out his frustration with a half-day sound check on the club's puzzling decor. If this debut for the Lost Highway label raises Keen's profile even further, the attention will be well deserved. --Rickey Wright

Tracks:

(My Home Ain't In The) Hall of Fame
Hello New Orleans
Wild Wind
Not a Drop of Rain
I Still Miss Someone
Fallin' Out
High Plains Jamboree
Walkin' Cane
Goin' Nowhere Blues
Snowin' On Raton
Gravitational Forces
The Road Goes On Forever

Amazon.com

Robert Earl Keen always delivers his quota of rambling songs. The beautifully crafted Gravitational Forces, however, turns around stories of guys whose ropes have run out. On his first album in more than three years, the singer-songwriter often backs down from the bravado of past blurts like "Whenever Kindness Fails." Not that it's absent in the breakneck remake of his signature "The Road Goes On Forever" or even the cover of Joe Dolce's homebound "Hall of Fame." Yet he dwells more on the troubled side of his drifting characters' lives: the wrong-side-of-the-law losers of "Wild Wind," the homeless loner of "Not a Drop of Rain." Keen tweaks pavement-bound verities even further on the Dylanesque "Goin' Nowhere Blues" and the deadpan spoken-word title track, which takes out his frustration with a half-day sound check on the club's puzzling decor. If this debut for the Lost Highway label raises Keen's profile even further, the attention will be well deserved. --Rickey Wright

Customer Reviews:

What was he thinking?.......2006-11-04

Okay, I love Robert Earl Keen. Been listening to him for years, even have "No Kinda Dancer" on LP. But this album? I think he spent 20 minutes in the studio and called it good. If you're looking for good Keen, check out "A Bigger Piece of Sky" or "West Textures" - great albums. And look at this one's price - $1.15 used says it all.

Middle of the Pack.......2006-08-13

Not one of Robert Earl's best, but certainly not one of the worst. One of those CDs where you really like a few of the songs (Snowin' on Raton, Going Nowhere Blues, Wild Wind), some are worth listening to, and a few are just not really necessary (re-make of "Road" with bad singing). Worth buying if you REALLY dig REK, but would not recommend if you are looking for a starting point. For that I would purchase West Textures, Gringo Honeymoon for a start. Those are A+ albums.

Underrated.......2006-08-12

Another classic. Tons of great songs. I specifically disagree with a recent reviewer about Not A Drop of Rain and Walking Cane - those are two of my favorite songs on the album. There are only 2 mediocre songs on this album, and of course REK always throws in a novelty song like Gravitational Forces :)

R.E.K. mails it in.......2006-03-20

This album was very disappointing, particularly coming on the heels of such great records as Picnic and Walking Distance. The tell-tale track here is the awful remake of REK's signature song, "The Road Goes on Forever." Robert is clearly drunk as a skunk on this track, slurring his way through the opening and finishing the song with a manic repetition of the title phrase. Undoubetedly, he has done the same thing live a hundred times, and the fans probably eat it up every time (I know I do). But that just goes to show how complacent this once-great singer-songwriter has become. He knows he can fill a room almost anywhere in the country with fans who are thrilled to slur right along with him, so long as he plays this song and a few others from "No. 2 Live Diner." While he as certainly earned the adulation, its a shame that he isn't pushing himself as a songwriter anymore. Maybe he needs a Rick Rubin, a la Johnny Cash and Neil Diamond, to break him out of his current rut (newer albums "Farm Fresh Onions" and "What I Really Mean" are equally disappointing).

As for other tracks, "Not a Drop of Rain" is an inferior take on a musical theme already brilliantly explored on Walking Distance's "Feeling Good Again" and "Billy Gray". "Walking Cane" isn't half as fun as "That Buckin' Song". Other tracks range from fair to foregettable, with the title track coming in at just plain awful. Until I hear that REK is back telling his brilliant musical stories of American life, I'll content myself with his early albums.

How could you go wrong?.......2005-09-28

This has been one of my favorite Keen listening experiences. With covers of Cash, Townes Van Zandt, Terry Allen with several really good Keen originals, how could you go wrong? Keen seems to be really comfortable with his role as a really good song interpreter (hear Walkin' Cane) balanced with his own songwriting abilities. Hence the opening song: "My Home Ain't In the Hall of Fame." Keen's own songs "Hello New Orleans," "Wild Wind" and "Not a Drop of Rain" sound very good interspersed with the fantastic covers that he performs. My only reservation is the title song and the seemingly unnecessary remake of his own "The Road Goes On Forever," which comes off sounding like Joe Ely's cover of it. So for tracks 1-10, this is a great CD.

Music Album:

Music Album