Dwight Yoakam - Blame the Vain

Dwight Yoakam
Blame the Vain
New West, 2005
In the vein of ultra-produced country: 5/10
Synthesizers, fake british accents, and steel guitars: 9/10
Overall: 6/10

Yes, I'm reviewing a country record. Dwight Yoakam is really the only salvagable artist from my childhood, you see. My family constantly listened to country music radio, which, in the late 80's and early 90's, was crap. Of course, I didn't want to listen to it, but because I found myself constantly hanging out with these people, I found myself occasionally finding some redeeming quality among this pop/country/drivel. Most of it came from Yoakam, and If There Was a Way and This Time are two of my favorite albums. Full of nostalgia, yup, but still great tunes.

Blame the Vain came out last year, and I'm finally getting around to giving it a proper listen. Most of the album is exactly what I expected, and I don't even want to get into those tracks. The slick production, layed back steel guitar solos, and country cliches abound—it's almost not even worth it. But there are these crazy tracks that don't belong. "Intentional Heartache" starts out with a short bongo solo. Thank god, after two bland tracks, I really needed a bongo solo to spice things up. Dwight probably wanted to give the beginning of the track some character, seeing how the end is something from a television show. In fact, it's a little skit that might have been lifted from "My Name is Earl," but not quite as funny. Dwight voices the narrator and the antagonized hillbilly who gets his boots painted neon green. Weird shit. Not hilarious, but amusing.

Surprisingly, the next notable track is the very next one. "Does it Show" starts out simply enough, with a prominent bass, and steel guitar; but the piano that's lolligagging in the background eventually forms a phrase in the chorus that sounds more like Elvis Costello than a saloon piano. Then, before the final verse, the vocals suddenly turn into a Bowie impersonation, complete with echo, reverb, and spacious feel.

"She'll Remember" is fucking out there. I don't even know how to describe it. Dwight opens the track in a fake British accent, and over crazy synthesizers yells at some woman who has just dumped him. He sounds a little bit like Nigel from Spinal Tap, especially when he says he doesn't want to count the times she's left before, "No, I don't want to count," and then proceeds to count off the track to start, "1, 2, 1, 2, 3, 4!" The synthesizers disappear, and then it's just a normal Dwight Yoakam country song. A little upbeat, and a lot of sad. But for that one minute, I'm convinced that Dwight is really some fucked up genius trapped inside the body of this country music star.

Maybe he's tired of the country game, and is giving his fans little signs that he's ready to get out. Whatever he's doing, it's weird, and not very consistent. He seems to enjoy the slow numbers with slightly new twists on old country cliches—heartbreak, loneliness, guitars, cadillacs—all that jazz, but after his stint in Hollywood, he sees there's more out there.

It's a good thing, too, because if it weren't for these three tracks, I'd probably completely disregard this album as another slicked up, albeit consistent and sincere, country album from an artist I use to think had artistic promise.