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Essence (Lucinda Williams album)

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Essence
Studio album by
Lucinda Williams
ReleasedJune 5, 2001
Genre
Length50:58
LabelLost Highway
Producer
Lucinda Williams chronology
Car Wheels on a Gravel Road
(1998) 		Essence
(2001) 		World Without Tears
(2003)

Essence is the sixth studio album by American singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams, released on June 5, 2001, by Lost Highway Records.[3] The album debuted on the Billboard 200 at No. 28, selling approximately 44,500 copies in its first week.[4] By 2008, it had sold 336,000 copies in the U.S.[5]

A critical and commercial success, the album earned Williams three Grammy Award nominations in 2002: Best Contemporary Folk Album, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for the title track, and Best Female Rock Vocal Performance for the track "Get Right With God", which she won.[6]

Critical reception

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Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic82/100[3]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[7]
Blender[8]
Chicago Sun-Times[2]
Christgau's Consumer GuideA−[9]
Entertainment WeeklyB+[10]
Los Angeles Times[1]
Q[11]
Rolling Stone[12]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[13]
Spin8/10[14]

Essence was met with widespread critical acclaim. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, the album received an average score of 82, based on 11 reviews.[3] Reviewers observed a departure from Williams' similarly acclaimed 1998 album Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, with Rolling Stone citing the "willful intimacy" in Essence's music[12] and Spin contrasting the "halting, spare" presentation with its predecessor's "giddy, verbose" one.[14] AllMusic similarly stated "those hoping for another dose of the bluesy roots rock of Car Wheels on a Gravel Road may be disappointed, but if you want to take a deep and compelling look into the heart and soul of a major artist, then you owe it to yourself to hear Essence.[7]

The Village Voice critic Robert Christgau found it "imperfect" but still praised Williams' artistry, saying "[she] is too damn good to deny."[9] Salon regarded the album as "an emotional mess of a masterpiece".[15] Entertainment Weekly wrote "Lucinda Williams doesn’t merely wallow in suffering. She savors it like a glass of your finest Bordeaux", and called it her "folkiest, gentlest album" and "a steamy slow-crawl — southern humidity as music — that plays into her strengths as the Joan of Dark of the alt-country set".[10] Q listed Essence as one of the best 50 albums of 2001.[16]

Awards

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Award nominations for Essence
Year Award Category Nominated work Result Ref.
2002 Grammy Awards Best Contemporary Folk Album Essence Nominated [6]
Best Female Pop Vocal Performance "Essence" Nominated
Best Female Rock Vocal Performance "Get Right With God" Won

Track listing

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All tracks written by Lucinda Williams.[17]

No.TitleLength
1."Lonely Girls"4:01
2."Steal Your Love"3:14
3."I Envy the Wind"3:12
4."Blue"3:52
5."Out of Touch"5:25
6."Are You Down"5:24
7."Essence"5:50
8."Reason to Cry"3:39
9."Get Right with God"4:16
10."Bus to Baton Rouge"5:50
11."Broken Butterflies"5:41
Total length:50:58

Personnel

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Additional musicians:

  • David Mansfield – viola
  • Ryan Adams – tremolo guitar ("Essence")
  • Gary Louris – background vocals ("Essence")
  • Joy Lynn White – background vocals ("Get Right With God", "Bus to Baton Rouge", "Broken Butterflies")

Charts

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Chart performance for Essence
Chart (2001) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[18][19] 59
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[20] 47
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[21] 29
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[22] 47
UK Albums (OCC)[23] 63
US Billboard 200[24] 28

References

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  1. ^ a b Nichols, Natalie (June 3, 2001). "Rawer This Time Around". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 16, 2017.
  2. ^ a b Houlihan, Mary (June 10, 2001). "Lucinda Williams, 'Essence' (Lost Highway)". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on November 19, 2018. Retrieved June 16, 2017.
  3. ^ a b c "Reviews for Essence by Lucinda Williams". Metacritic. Retrieved November 12, 2011.
  4. ^ Martens, Todd (June 14, 2001). "Staind Fends Off Radiohead, St. Lunatics At No. 1". Billboard. Retrieved 22 February 2007.
  5. ^ Caulfield, Keith (February 8, 2008). "Ask Billboard: Williams' Wild 'West'". billboard.com. Billboard. Retrieved 9 February 2008.
  6. ^ a b "Artist: Lucinda Williams". The Recording Academy. Archived from the original on October 26, 2021. Retrieved April 27, 2020.
  7. ^ a b Deming, Mark. "Essence – Lucinda Williams". AllMusic. Retrieved August 10, 2005.
  8. ^ "Lucinda Williams: Essence". Blender (1): 107. June–July 2001.
  9. ^ a b Christgau, Robert. "Lucinda Williams: Essence". RobertChristgau.com. Retrieved November 12, 2011.
  10. ^ a b Browne, David (June 8, 2001). "Essence". Entertainment Weekly. No. 599. p. 74. Archived from the original on April 16, 2017. Retrieved November 12, 2011.
  11. ^ "Lucinda Williams: Essence". Q (178): 125. July 2001.
  12. ^ a b Berger, Arion (May 24, 2001). "All the Small Things". Rolling Stone. No. 869. p. 86. Archived from the original on March 4, 2007. Retrieved July 20, 2007.
  13. ^ McGee, David; Miles, Milo (2004). "Lucinda Williams". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). London: Fireside Books. pp. 875–876. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  14. ^ a b Weisbard, Eric (July 2001). "Lucinda Williams: Essence". Spin. 17 (7): 125. Retrieved November 12, 2011.
  15. ^ McLeese, Don (May 31, 2001). "Lucinda Williams' psychosexual murk". salon.com. Salon Media Group. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
  16. ^ "The Best 50 Albums of 2001". Q (185): 60–65. December 2001.
  17. ^ Essence (booklet). Lucinda Williams. Lost Highway Records. 2001.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  18. ^ "Lucinda Williams chart history". Retrieved 2021-10-02 – via imgur.com.
  19. ^ Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010 (PDF ed.). Mt Martha, Victoria, Australia: Moonlight Publishing. p. 302.
  20. ^ "Charts.nz – Lucinda Williams – Essence". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 28, 2022.
  21. ^ "Norwegiancharts.com – Lucinda Williams – Essence". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 28, 2022.
  22. ^ "Swedish Charts > Lucinda Williams". Sverigetopplistan. Retrieved 2021-10-02.
  23. ^ "Official Charts > Lucinda Williams". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 2021-10-02.
  24. ^ "Billboard 200 > Lucinda Williams". Billboard. Retrieved 2021-10-02.
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