Steve Earle - The Revolution Starts . . . Now

Genre country Publisher E-Squared/Artemis External Links Steve Earle Artemis Records

Earle observes in the CD liner notes: "In between [recording this album] and over meals [the band and I] talked about the war, the election, baseball, and women," revealing precisely why the political songs on this record work so much better than those on 2002's Jerusalem: he thought them through in advance. True, when Earle calls out the FCC for allowing talk radio to "piss and moan about the immigrants" rather than scrutinize the president, the actual blame should fall on Clear Channel Communications, the right wing corporation that owns three-quarters of American radio stations. (But then again, he couldn't have cleverly titled the track "F the CC," could he?)

But his song for the American and Iraqi working men fighting the rich man's war and his sympathetic account of a hired killer for the military gone AWOL both work because he sidesteps judgments and conspiracy theories and aims instead for good old observational narrative, letting the listener to consider the implications for himself. However, the love songs which last time were Earle's saving grace function more as mere changes of pace here, Emmylou Harris or no, and if there were more uptempo throwaways like the rockabilly number about the shitty car, it might put this pretty good effort over the top. As for the faux-calypso, apparently unironic love letter to Condi Rice, I respectfully request to Mr. Earle that he stick to the issues.