CD Reviews

Dan Wilson

Free Life | American/Sony

By KEN MICALLEF | November 19, 2007

2.5 Stars

The Dixie Chicks loved Dan Wilson so much, they asked him to compose five songs on their 2006 album, one of which was the single “The Long Way Around.” Sony savior Rick Rubin loved Dan Wilson so much, he signed him to his American imprint, writing in a press release, “There exists a purity and honesty in his work that is few and far between in today’s music.” Commoner fans of Dan Wilson remember his classy and classic ’90s band Semisonic, and before that Trip Shakespeare. Whatever his guise, Wilson writes homespun songs that pull at the heart with deep hooks and engaging melodies. He’s a singer-songwriter of the ’70s school, relying on equal parts intimacy and harmony to connect. “You’ve got all the sugar you’ll ever need,” he sings on “Sugar” (where he’s joined by yet another admirer, Sheryl Crow), and that’s the menu for Free Life. The songs are sturdy enough, evoking classic Neil Young and post-Byrds Roger McGuinn, but given Wilson’s tremulous voice and sweet song titles, it sometimes seems he’s singing to a kindergarten class. And then on “Baby Doll,” “Golden Girl,” “Honey Please,” and “Come Home Angel,” he seems to be in the running for “sweetest guy alive.” It’s as if he were trying to impress mom while keeping the kids at bay.

Dan Wilson + Sondre Lerche | Paradise Rock Club, 967 Comm Ave, Boston | November 27 | 617.931.2000

Related: Rebel Belles, All access pass, Music City Dos, More

Topics: CD Reviews , Neil Young, Sheryl Crow, Rick Rubin, More

| More

Most Popular

The Current Issue

Table of Contents

Cover Archive

Masthead | Authors | Contact us

Blogs

Where To Follow Me
Talking Politics | March 24, 2013 at 11:09 AM

Mo Takes His Turn
March 21, 2013 at 12:59 PM

[Q&A] KMFDM's Sascha Konietzko on art, Columbine and having balls
On The Download | March 18, 2013 at 3:22 PM

See this film series: The Belmont World Film Series @ Studio Cinema in Belmont
Outside The Frame | March 18, 2013 at 11:00 AM

See this film: This is Spinal Tap [with post-film talk by expert from Acoustical Society of America] @ the Coolidge
March 17, 2013 at 12:00 PM

ARTICLES BY KEN MICALLEF

SIA | January 28, 2008
Australian vocalist Sia Furler has one of the greatest potty mouths in alt-rock.

NATALIE WALKER | January 14, 2008
It’s all soothing, but Walker’s never too sweet.

DAN WILSON | November 19, 2007
It’s as if he were trying to impress mom while keeping the kids at bay.

SERJ TANKIAN | October 08, 2007
Playing almost all the instruments and freed from the Goliath prog-metal of System of a Down, he gives full release to his inner clown parade.

SWEDE STUFF | June 04, 2007
To most rock fans, psychedelic means Jimi Hendrix and Arthur’s Lee’s Love, or Iron Butterfly’s “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” and Frigid Pink’s “House of the Rising Sun.”