eMusic

Start Your Trial

Killers From Space

by

James Luther Dickinson

 
Killers From Space
view larger image View Larger

Rate it!

Avg: 3.5 (16 ratings)

This isn't country, and it isn't blues — it's just plain crazy ol' Memphis music.

  • We Say...

    Review by Keith Harris

    Before his sons grew up to become the North Mississippi All-Stars, Jim Dickinson was playing piano for Aretha and the Stones, producing Big Star and the Replacements, and, like most producers and session men, hearing lots of songs. He remembered the best of 'em, gradually adopting the role of a modern day folklorist — a folklorist who just so happens to record his own field recordings. Dickinson's flexible piano style adapts easily to both the stately roll of "Eloise" and the "Brown Sugar"-style boogie of "You Better Rock Me Baby," while his boys do him proud in their supporting role. And age has done Dickinson the favor of making his valiant approximation of the melody sound gruff and weathered — his creaky voice can find its way around a tune, though it might take a roundabout route to get there.

    Some of this material hails from familiar-ish sources: "Dirty On Yo Mama" was written by Jim Hurley ("Son of a Preacher Man") and "Texas Me" is a Doug Sahm song about fading away in California. Others are more obscure, pilfered from forgotten Green on Red side projects or, in the case of the forlorn "No, No Never Again," from some Australian folkies Dickinson produced in the '80s. Then there's "Nature Boy," an obscure Tennessee punk number that's so weirdly loose it barely seems to be happening, with tinkling piano, drums that shuffle along and horns calling in from another room. This isn't country, and it isn't blues — it's just plain crazy ol' Memphis music.

  • They Say...

    Review by Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide

    Though billed to James Luther Dickinson, this is the same Southern roots rock musician who most rock fans know as multi-instrumentalist Jim Dickinson. He's the lead singer (and co-producer) on this record, but only wrote one of the dozen songs. The others were drawn from diverse sources like Doug Sahm, the Green on Red side project Howard Hughes' Brain, a member of his backup band, and several obscure songwriters who Dickinson's met and worked with in his various travels. Unsurprisingly, it's a stew of down-home blues, country, gospel, and R&B, though woven together in such a manner that makes it more easily classifiable as rock than as any of those specific genres. Dickinson's droll, irreverent humor is reflected in his delivery of some of the material, though some of it's also infused with a sense of wizened resignation (and, in some of the more romantically inclined tunes, desperation). Maybe it's because Dickinson's appearances as a Rolling Stones session man are his most well-known credits, but some of the tracks can't fail to bring to mind the Stones in their more subdued, even low-energy moods. That, however, highlights a difference between this and the Stones: that group has a master vocalist, and Dickinson's singing is only gruffly functional. Even though it's a solo album, it might have been better had a more expressive and supple singer been taking most or all of the leads, with Dickinson focusing on the multi-instrumentation and production that are his chief strengths.

  • You Say...

    Write a Review

    I would like to say...

    Artist: James Luther Dickinson

    Album: Killers From Space

    Review Title: (maximum 50 characters)

    Your Review: (maximum 1,000 characters)

    Cancel

    Please keep your comments to the recordings themselves, and be courteous and respectful. Thanks! For further info, read our Community Guidelines.

“ The indie iTunes — Hardcore music fans are migrating to eMusic, the iTunes Music Store's cheaper, cooler cousin.”


Rolling Stone
Start Your Trial

© 1998-2009 eMusic.com Inc. eMusic and the eMusic logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks in the USA or other countries. All rights reserved.

All Music Guide © 1992 - 2009 All Media Guide, LLC
Portions of content provided by All Music Guide, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC

Facebook®, YouTube, Flickr™ and Wikipedia® are registered trademarks of their respective owners, Facebook Inc., Google, Inc., Yahoo! Inc. and Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Neither Facebook Inc., Google, Inc., Yahoo! Inc. nor Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. are partners or sponsors of eMusic. eMusic uses the Facebook, Flickr, YouTube and Wikipedia API but is not endorsed or certified by Facebook, Flickr, YouTube and Wikipedia. eMusic does not pre-screen, monitor, endorse nor assume any liability for websites, contents, products, services or claims made by Facebook, YouTube, Flickr™ and Wikipedia®.

Legal or copyright question regarding Facebook, YouTube, Flickr or Wikipedia content on eMusic? Please email us.