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''Gravitational Forces'' is an album by Texas-based country/folk singer-songwriter Robert Earl Keen. It was first released in the United States on August 7, 2001 on Lost Highway. One reviewer described this album, Keen's ninth, as being "just a hair more to the country side of the folk-rock-country axis than ever before."〔 Indeed, producer and multi-instrumentalist Gurf Morlix, and the various long-time members of Keen's own road band did not shy away from including fiddle solos and steel guitars in the mix when they suit Keen's songs. "I wanted to keep a real natural, organic sound," says Morlix, "My job as producer varies from artist to artist. I help them find the sound they want and then do what it takes to get that on record."〔Kerry Dexter, "Robert Earl Keen: Texas Rising", ''Dirty Linen'', 100, June–July 2002, p.21-23〕 As usual, Keen's songwriting is full of narrative stories and character sketches. ''Performing Songwriter'' described the characters found in ''Gravitational Forces'' as "everyday people pulled, led, and sometimes dragged by some outside strength."〔 ''Billboard'' noted, however, that Keen's more recent tales avoid some of the violent imagery found in some of his earlier songs. Keen has admitted, "Yeah, the body count's a little lower this time."〔〔Compare these songs to e.g. "Whenever Kindness Fails" or "Blow You Away" from 1993's ''A Bigger Piece of Sky''〕 Keen began recording the album after his previous label, Arista Austin had closed down, and before finding his new, albeit brief, home on Lost Highway Records. "When we started this project I hadn't made a deal with any record company," Keen says, "I just knew I would have a deal one way or another."〔 The release arrived at a time when Keen was beginning to receive wider recognition outside of his home state of Texas.〔Ray Waddell, "Keen Hopes His New Lost Highway Disc Will Defy ''Gravity''", ''Billboard'', 113:28, July 14, 2001, p.55〕〔("Austin City Limits Interviews: Robert Earl Keen" ), pbs.org, August 22, 2001〕 As of 2007, ''Gravitational Forces'' remains Keens highest charting album on several of ''Billboard's'' charts (see below). == Song selection == The songs on the album that Keen ''didn't'' write range from Johnny Cash's often-covered classic, "I Still Miss Someone" to Townes Van Zandt's more obscure "Snowin' on Raton". Keen and his band also cover the traditional blues, "Walkin' Cane" in what has been described as a "rowdy, back-porch take,"〔 and treat Terry Allen's "High Plains Jamboree" with a backdrop of "bar room party sounds."〔liner notes, ''Gravitational Forces'', Lost Highway Records, 088 170 198-2, 2001〕 The cover that reviewers most recognize as a choice pick to match Keen and his career outside of mainstream music is Joe Dolce's "Hall of Fame".〔〔 Keen sings: : Keen's own songs provide many of the albums highlights. "Wild Wind" is a harmonica-heavy minor key introduction to a series of tragic small-town characters, that will leave some listeners wanting to know more.〔 Keen says that some of the characters that populate his songs are based upon "dead on real people" while others are composites. In "Wild Wind", he says, "there's a character that just sort of walks around town and sells papers. He's a mixture of about three or four guys that I know... In general I try to keep with real people, because I feel like you always want to have some hint of the truth where it makes it feel real to you."〔 "Not a Drop of Rain" is Keen's personal favorite from the album, "It's a very emotional song, written out of thinking what would happen if I lost everything I have."〔 The song has a somewhat unusual guitar accompaniment played in DADGAD tuning〔Lydia Hutchinson, ("Shawn COlvin exclusive web interview" ), ''Performing Songwriter'', web only, accessed Mar 29, 2007, see also: issue 96, September/October, 2006〕 and its structure eschews the traditional verse/chorus/verse song structure.〔 Singer-songwriter Shawn Colvin fell in love with the song and began performing it.〔 Her version was recorded in studio and released in 2002 on a compilation by radio station KGSR.〔''(KGSR Broadcasts Vol. 10 )'', 107.1 KGSR, Austin, Texas, 2002〕 Keen's "Goin' Nowhere Blues" has been described as "chilling"〔 and contains references to Langston Hughes, Woody Guthrie, Martin Luther King, Cesar Chavez, and down-and-out union workers. Keen manages to connect the tragic aspects of all these disparate lives. The title track, "Gravitational Forces", has been described as "sort of experimental"〔 by some and "bizarre"〔 or "hysterical"〔 by others. Keen delivers a spoken stream of consciousness on the "temporal distortion of a four-hour sound check,"〔 complete with a free jazz accompaniment that caused one reviewer to liken it to Allen Ginsberg's reading of "Howl" backed by the Kronos Quartet.〔 Although one reviewer indicates that the closing track is Keen's first studio release of his own live signature song, "The Road Goes On Forever",〔 Keen first recorded the song for his 1989 album ''West Textures''. In the earlier recording the track was five minutes long, just enough to relate the plot twists in Keen's story. This time it's a seven-minute build-up to some intense and lengthly instrumental solos. In an August 2001 taping of ''Austin City Limits'', Keen and his band gave a live performance including many of these same songs. This was released in 2004 as the album, ''Live From Austin, TX''.〔Jim Caligiuri, ("Texas Platters" ) (review of several ''Live From Austin, TX'' releases), ''Austin Chronicle'', November 5, 2004〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Gravitational Forces」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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