Shut Up, Video Director

Little Big Town: Go Big or Go Home Monochrome

Shut Up Train - Little Big Town - Little Big Town Videos

Sometimes, video directors think that just because a song is gentle, the video for it also needs to be quiet and soft. This is not so. This is especially not so when a song achieves its gentility because the singer is merely controlling great force — of emotion and vocal chords.

Case in point: the newest video from Little Big Town, “Shut Up Train.” This is one of the stellar songs from their recent album The Reason Why, and The Inky Jukebox is thrilled they have decided to showcase it on its own. It’s one of those songs that rolls along like that train, chug-chug-chugging at an even pace until it can’t hold back and explodes. The premise is that the singer can’t sleep and blames the train, when in fact it’s her memories that keep her awake. Ultimately, she concedes defeat, claiming “I give up: you win” at the end of the last verse, which is the lynchpin that releases all that emotion. The line is repeated while the rest of the band, acting as backing singers, flood in with the chorus one more rousing time.

Here’s what’s wrong with the video.

It has been shot in a hotel room. The singer is presumably at home, complaining about a regular train, not in a rather luxury suite which would have thick windows and not wake its guests with train noise.

It’s in black and white. There’s nothing wrong with this, per se, except that whenever they shoot Kimberley they overexpose her, making her seem like a dour raccoon with her blonde mane and black eyeliner. Also, black and white for a soft song is laying it on a bit thick.

It’s mostly in close-up. The boxed-in faces made The Inky Jukebox feel claustrophobic, and force you to focus on the individuals when this is inherently a group song. Also, they look really really miserable. They are not miserable: look.

The lighting for the group shots is shit. The spotlight that shines through the group members from behind blinds me and makes me want to change the channel. The hotel room is clearly shot with pro lights and does not evoke actual home or hotel room lighting.

It’s all been done before. Madonna. Alanis Morisette. Sugarland. All of them did the whole singing the lyrics and then stopping while the song continued lark. All it does is remind you of videos where this technique has been employed far better. It’s got cliché all over it.

It does not stay true to the song: there is no build up so that we can appreciate the emotional breakthrough at the end. The editing is choppy and repetitive, going back and forth from Karen writhing about fully dressed and not sleeping in her expensive hotel room singing to the camera, and the group, who look like outtakes from the “Bohemian Rhapsody” video quad shot.

Queen: Also miserable

The Inky Jukebox has seen them perform this song live; it was great. How about you bring that all on home to me instead?

 http://littlebigtown.com/

Cover Me

"Why then, / What needest thou have more covering than a man?"

So asks John Donne in his quest to get into a lady's panties in Elegy XIX. It's a double entendre: by "covering" he not only means covered as in he will act as her blanket once she is naked (by adopting the missionary position), but he also alludes to a far more scandalous and bestial meaning for the word "cover."  In animal husbandry, to cover one animal with another is to mate them; hence, a ram covers a ewe. In modern farming, each ram in a field has a different color crayon strapped to his belly, so that the farmer may know which ewe has been covered by which ram by what shows up on her back. Some ewes are real sluts and look like a child's coloring book in no time flat.

None of this has anything to do with the following, except for the tenuous link with the word "cover" -- in this case, when one singer covers another's song. Check out this lovely version of Adele's massive hit "Rolling In The Deep" by Little Big Town, who demonstrate what a talented bunch of harmonizers they are.

What has she been up to? 

— She's been rolling in the deep. 

Little Big Town A Bit Hit In A Big Little Town

Little Big Town at Burgettstown, PA, May 15 2011

The Reason Why…

…Little Big Town isn’t a huge mainstream act that familiar to a zillion people is beyond The Inky Jukebox’s comprehension. Oh, wait…we do actually know why. It’s because in America there is a strict rule when it comes to music: all of it must be squashed into little pigeonholes and only played exclusively on that pigeonhole’s radio station or TV channel so that only the demographic targeted by that station’s sponsors ever hear it.

Little Big Town is a 70’s throwback band who really have the chops to live up to the hype. They sound a lot like a mix between Fleetwood Mac (whom they openly acknowledge as models) and ABBA (that other quartet featuring two boys and two gals, a blonde and a brunette, who sing mesmerizing harmonies). None of them is a hardship to look at, and all of them carry their weight when it comes to delivering the vocal goods, either as leads or backups.

This year, they are touring tucked into the wing of Sugarland’s Incredible Machine tour, though they really should be headlining their own gigs. They have plenty of material to put on a two-hour show of hits, so it feels a bit like a cheat to only get them for an hour while the crowd is busy buying nachos, beer and t-shirts.

At Pittsburgh’s First Niagara Pavilion they truly had their work cut out for them, playing to a half-empty hillside of the most bedraggled rednecks you can imagine, who were only a couple of hours into a cold evening standing in the pouring rain. For those who sang along to every word, they brightened the dismal evening considerably.

Karen Fairchild’s star turn on the slow bluesy ballad “Shut Up Train” lived up to every expectation, while her partner in crime, Kimberley Schlapman rocked what looked like a pair of tight leather pants, boots and a flared jacket (very rock ‘n’ roll). The Inky Jukebox has seen Little Big Town up close and can assure you that this foursome don’t look like you and me. They look every inch the celebrities they are.

By the time they hit their first smash, “Boondocks,” with its delicious a cappella overlapping coda, the crowd had grown and joining them with raucous abandon.

Because they have collaborated so often with their pals in Sugarland, we all expected a little something-something, which came at the end of Sugarland’s encore: the catchy “Just Like A Prayer.”

Go see them and buy seats right up close. 

Awesome Foursome: Little Big Town

The Reason Why

Little Big Town

Little Big Town released their fifth record, The Reason Why, by Fleetwood Mac in August. That’s right, you heard me. If you got the joke, you already know how awesome Little Big Town are, so you can go make popcorn or feed the chickens or something. If you didn’t, then let me clarify.

Little Big Town are a quartet who make songs that sound like Fleetwood Mac if Fleetwood Mac’s music was a little more Nashville and a little less LA. And did less coke. And didn’t break up with each other so much. And were still around. The first time I heard Little Big Town I thought “They remind me of….hmmm….Fleetwood Mac….” And almost immediately I saw the CMT Crossroads special they did with Lindsey Buckingham which sort of sealed the deal. ("Go Your Own Way") If you ever wished Fleetwood Mac were still making great records, wish no more: they are. ("Kiss Goodbye")

Although a fair share of the singing is handled by the men, it is the ladies who are the stars of the show. Like any good foursome (ABBA), the blonde one catches your attention first, and then you realize that the brunette does most of the heavy lifting. I won’t beat around the bush: Kimberly Schlapman looks like Glen Close in Jagged Edge: scary as all-get-out. But listen to her: she has a Marilyn Monroe voice. (“Stay.”) Karen Fairchild’s voice is the kind ordinary girls think they could probably imitate but probably not. (“Shut Up Train.”) The magic happens when they sing together. On record it is lovely; if you listen to them in practice, a capella, it is sublime (“You Can’t Have Everything," "Bring It On Home.")

Little Big Town put on a great set at this year’s Country Throwdown. I saw them close-up when they rode past me on a vehicle, and let me tell you something: they look better than normal folks. They look like famous people. They were every bit as good live as they sound on record, which is no surprise. They also make handy back-up singers; they appeared on Jamey Johnson’s “Macon” and The Zac Brown Band’s “Colder Weather,” enriching both songs with the well-practiced harmony of a band who has been singing together for donkey’s years. Also check out the collaborations they’ve done with pals Sugarland (“Life In A Northern Town” and “Walking In Memphis.”)

The Reason Why you should get this album? Why the hell not? It’s really good. (“Lean Into It”) And Christine McVie retired, already. ("I'm With The Band") Besides they look good in thigh-high boots and shake tambourines. 

Capitol Nashville

http://littlebigtown.com

Official YouTube Channel