Supposedly a concept album about the disgraced 37th president of the United States (though the lyrics make no recognizable statements about
Richard Nixon's infamous life and times),
Lambchop's fifth full-length was a powerful consolidation of the strengths they'd gained since their uncertain debut in 1994.
Kurt Wagner's sometimes singing/sometimes talking vocal style and lyrics that were oblique to the point of seeming surreal remained a matter of taste, but his melodies hit a new peak in their beauty and evocative spirit as he merged countrypolitan country, smooth R&B, and chamber pop in ambitious and intriguing ways. And as
Lambchop swelled to 13 musicians (not counting guest musicians, a choir, and the string section), the arrangements became increasingly sophisticated as
Wagner and his collaborators used their rich palette of sounds to inspire a wealth of moods -- from the easygoing groove of "Grumpus" to the luxurious sadness of "Nashville Parent" -- and helped to clarify and strengthen that which seemed uncertain in
Wagner's lyrics. And given the sheer ambition of this album,
Nixon is a milestone in independent record making, music constructed on a grand scale that's richly satisfying without seeming overdone or tricked up simply for its own sake. And regardless of how one feels about
Wagner's abilities as a singer, when he lets his heart do the talking on numbers like "The Distance from Her to There" and "The Book I Haven't Read," his sincerity is undeniable and affecting. Calling
Nixon Lambchop's masterpiece is to ignore the fine work they'd done before and the similarly ambitious work that came afterward, but it is the point where they showed they were in full command of the tools and talents at their disposal, and its glorious eccentricities are as pleasurable as anything in their catalog. [In 2014, Merge Records released a remastered edition of
Nixon with deluxe packaging and a bonus disc, White Sessions 1998: How I Met Cat Power, featuring five songs from a French radio broadcast. The radio session is essentially a
Kurt Wagner solo set, playing four songs that would later appear on
Nixon accompanied only by his guitar and some additional music beds playing on a cassette machine. While these performances strip the songs of the studio magic that helped make
Nixon memorable, they also reveal how strong the tunes really are, still compelling in their most basic form, and
Wagner is an engaging solo performer, though his falsetto is somewhat erratic in this context. If the bonus material is less than absolutely essential, it's certainly worth a listen for fans, and will add to the experience for those checking out
Nixon for the first time.] ~ Mark Deming