Rock Bands & Pop Stars
Dixie Chicks Pictures
Band:
Dixie Chicks
Origin:
United States, DallasUnited States
Band Members:
Laura Lynch (lead vocals), and sisters Emily Erwin and Martie Seidel Maguire
Dixie Chicks Album: «Taking The Long Way»
Dixie Chicks Album: «Taking The Long Way» (Front side)
    Album information
  • Customers rating: (4.4 of 5)
  • Title:Taking The Long Way
  • Release date:
  • Type:Audio CD
  • Label:
  • UPC:
Customers rating
Track listing
Review - Product Description
CD/DVD (NTSC/Region 0) features a bonus four track DVD that includes, Interview with Rick Rubin, Not Ready To Make Nice (Music Video), Not Ready To Make Nice (Making of the video) and Flowers (Non-album bonus track) (DVD-Audio).
Review - Amazon.com
Nothing changes folks like babies and war, and since the release of their last album, 2002's Home, the Dixie Chicks have been forever altered by both. If that album showcased the trio as precocious young adults, Taking the Long Way finds them sobered and matured, and in a grown-up state of mind. Produced by the celebrated Rick Rubin (Johnny Cash, Red Hot Chili Peppers), who saw the Chicks as "a great rock act making a country album, not a country act making a rock album," their new record impresses both as beautiful sonic tapestry (peppered with myriad Beatlesque hallmarks) and forthright yet vulnerable portrait of three women shaken by the personal and political events of the past few years. As they make clear in the defiant "Not Ready to Make Nice," they still smart over the backlash from their 2003 Bushwhacking. But as they assert on the equally autobiographical "The Long Way Around," they could never "kiss all the asses that they told me to" and just follow others aimlessly--and silently--through life. This means that the Chicks are simultaneously prideful and scornful of celebrity ("Everybody Knows"), and that as new mothers they increasingly treasure the refuge they find in life with their families, out of the spotlight ("Easy Silence," "Lullaby," "Baby Hold On"). The push and pull of both passions drive this record, which also touches on the personal issues of infertility (with which sisters Martie Maguire and Emily Robison both dealt) and Alzheimer's (from which Natalie Maines's grandmother suffers). The trio crafted all 14 cuts with the help of such writers as Sheryl Crow, Gary Louris, Mike Campbell, and Keb' Mo', laying out their lives as honestly and intimately as they might in their diaries. For that reason, on first listen, Taking the Long Way seems too somber--in need of a bit of levity and more than a couple of uptempo songs (like the sexy, '60s-flavored "I Like It") to resonate for the long haul. It also seems to lack the writing quality that Darrell Scott, Patty Griffin, and Bruce Robison brought to Home. But on repeated plays, those concerns dissipate. By the last cut, the R&B/gospel offering "I Hope," the Chicks have chronicled their journey with as much spirituality as spunk, their pain deeply ingrained in their protests. --Alanna Nash
Customer review
52 of 56 people found the following review helpful:
- It is about the music

I have always been a Dixie Chick fan, so I was destined to buy this album especially with the flurry of not so nice press. Well...there isn't a song on this album that you don't want to know by heart. A fantastic mix of songs to laugh, to cry and to comtemplate life about. It is a perfect introduction after 3 years!! The Track --"Not ready to make Nice" --- who can't relate so some aspect of their life?? Not to mention, "I Hope". This album needs to be heard becaue it is great music and the Chicks are heros. They make no apologizes for being who they are and that is refreshing in a world where everyone is trying to fit in. This is music, life and inspiration!!

Customer review
109 of 124 people found the following review helpful:
- fat chick loving the chicks....

never been one to write a review...never been one to rush out the first day an album is released to purchase it...but I did for the Chicks.....it gives me a chance in some small way to give back to a group who's music has given me so much pleasure over the years. The first time I heard "Not Ready to Make Nice" actually gave me goosebumps....any album that can do that deserves 5 stars. C&W music stations in Houston had been my steady staple since I was a preteen, but when they boycotted the Chicks - I boycotted them(c&w stations) - now my music library is full of all kinds of music you wouldn't expect from a 40 year old woman - everything from the Blackeyed Peas to Bowling for Soup to the Chieftans....the narrow minded people who turned me off c&w actually broadened my world..

btw....if anyone in the C&W music industry should be boycotted for offensive and insulting remarks....consider Toby Kieth for his song "Running Block"(from White Trash With Money).....nothing like offending and insulting every "Fat Chick" in America......nowadays there are probably more of them than there are Bush supporters.......

Customer review
663 of 785 people found the following review helpful:
- Love those Chicks!

I fell for the Chicks a few months after Home came out, when I heard "Landslide" playing on a tinny tape player in an empty cafe beside a highway, among the pine trees near Apsley, Ontario. The waitress was wiping down the tables and singing along. I thought it was about the prettiest music I'd ever heard. So wistful and strong and beautiful -- just like that waitress and her rocky Canadian town.

When I came home, I bought all the Chicks albums (well, the ones with Natalie anyway) and they just blew me away. I listen to a lot of different stuff -- Beck, Buck Owens, Buddy & Julie Miller, Bill Withers, the Beastie Boys, the Beatles, Bach (and that's just Bs) -- but there's only a handful of musicians that really touch my heart. The Chicks are definitely on that list. Songs like "Long Time Gone," "Tortured, Tangled Hearts" and even "White Trash Wedding" transport me. I'd listen to "Travelin' Soldier" more, but it always makes me cry.

Anyway, I downloaded Taking the Long Way right away this morning. And I'm loving every song. The Chicks sound beautiful together, and it's great to have them back. "The Long Way Around," "Easy Silence" and "Not Ready to Make Nice" are a great three-pack to kick off the package. "Lullaby" is the one that brings that pleasurable lump to my throat.

By the way, it's really interesting to read these negative reviews. One guy attacks Natalie for being (allegedly) fat. Some lady says she'd never buy the CD (and therefore hasn't heard it), but still feels qualified to give it one star. If these are the kind of people who were boycotting the Chicks and causing that whole ruckus ... well, I think their level of discourse pretty much speaks for itself. I don't think we should worry about them.

But then there are the people who just seem mad that the Chicks aren't playing "country" anymore. These are the ones I feel sorry for. Listen, is country music so endangered that fans have to somehow close ranks and attack one of their "own" for making an album in LA? Of course not! Like everything else, country music benefits from diversity. Listen to Taking the Long Way on its own terms. I'm sure that's what Merle Haggard, Tim McGraw and even Hank Jr. are doing. If you don't, it's your loss.

Customer review
43 of 47 people found the following review helpful:
- The Chicks need real country fans support

This is one of the best CDs they've put out - I'm glad that they put together these songs to show that they can overcome the baloney that had to put up with just because Natalie voiced her opinion - it's sad to think in this country of FREEDOM that someone has to go through everything they did because they have a mind of their own - Way to go Girls the music is awesome and your strength is marvelous keep up the good work!!!!!

Customer review
42 of 46 people found the following review helpful:
- The Long Way is Often the BEST Way!

This is a beautiful album. I am still a huge fan!

I am glad to know there are still bands which do not sell out and that continue to write meaningful lyrics!

This is probably one of the best new releases of the year so far...