Search - Vic Chesnutt :: West of Rome

The poet laureate of the south

01/07/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Vic Chesnutt may well be the greatest popular music lyricist of his time. Awash with brilliant wordplay and allusion, his sad, funny songs reveal the complexities of individual consciousness to an extent that no other writer has done. After hours of listening to this album, you'll finally begin to realize his grasp of self, how fully he realizes the absurdity of life. "West of Rome" is his first masterpiece,a kind of folk tour through Athens, Georgia, that bohemian enclave in the heart of the rural South. Vic fights through the social gnats of "Soggy Tongues" while attempting to understand himself ("Stupid Preoccupations"), and the culture which he was raised in ("Bug"). Along the way, he notes in exquisite detail characters and situations that would "make a whale of a movie", a poignant, realistic one. Endlessy clever and inventive in rhyme, always sincere in emotion, "West of Rome" functions as the musical successor of Faulkner and O'Connor, and is a work of genius."

The World According to Vic

Thomas Mathew | Charlottesville, VA | 12/08/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Vic's self described "Sophomore Squirt," West of Rome, is a strange collection of smart, quirky, beautiful songs, produced by the loving hands of Mr. Mikey Stipe. Though there seems to have been some friction between the two (judging from some rather odd liner notes), the results are stunning. Vic is NOT your run-of-the-mill singer/songwriter type, and this might cause some to snap the CD in two upon first listen. But for some (me included), Vic's bizzaro lyrics and simple melodies sink their teeth into you--and the teeth stay sunk. Try this on for size: "feathers are falling and I can't dodge them / the tar is oozing from my little noggin / it's ugly, ancient residue / now there ain't no mistaking who's been accused." Well, sounds kinda awful in cold print. But for my money, Vic is a gem, and this album is his best."

Vic's `second squirt`, his `Ask The Dust`, his masterpiece

Stanley Beaker | Beachy Head, England | 04/26/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is the early raw Chestnutt, when accompaniment was minimal, predominantly acoustic and when he was desperate to wrestle every lyrical jewel into every little space. The title reference to the great American writer John Fante, is a key to this, Chestnutt's `second squirt`, his `sophomore slough`, his `Ask The Dust`, his masterpiece. Like prime Fante, this free-wheels with fevered flights of imagery, suffused with playful and surreal comedy and `stupid preoccupations` with waylaid terms (`puny ingratiations`, `croaker sacks`, `tectonic panache`...) that Vic stretches, rolls and spits with unmistakable relish (`pee-yew-nee in-gray-shee-aa-shuns`), but is ultimately steeped in tragedy (`Florida` concerns the suicide of a friend). These are broad comparisons, Chestnutt, straddling the high-wires of lazy `alt country` classifications, is a unique, unrivalled figure in modern American music, as typified by champions as diverse as Mary Margeret O'Hara, R.E.M. (Stipe produced this record and offers some funked-up clavinet), Garbage and even Madonna. Like Fante Chesnutt is undervalued, and demands your immediate attention, and this is the record to begin the crusade."