WILLIE NILE: Beautiful Wreck Of The World

Willie Nile

Beautiful Wreck Of The World

© 2005 River House Records (693528990122)

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Willie Nile is back with another classic album.

notes

Here's what people are saying about Willie Nile's Beautiful Wreck Of The World.

"A Classic" - Bono

"A Great Album" - Lou Reed

"Willie's so good I can't believe he's not from New Jersey" - Little Steven

"Top Ten Album Of The Year" - Billboard

"On The Road To Calvary For Jeff Buckley)Is One Of The Most Beautiful Songs I Have Ever Heard" - Lucinda Williams

Bio

In the early 1980's, Willie Nile was just one of the thousands of young troubadours playing the tiny clubs of New York's Greenwich Village when New York Times' critic Robert Palmer accidentally stumbled upon a Willie Nile performance. The next day, the Times review called him "an exceptional talent," and "the most gifted songwriter to emerge from the New York scene in some time."

The Times article soon led to a deal with Arista records, where Nile recorded two critically acclaimed albums, "Willie Nile" and "Golden Down." More rave reviews compared the singer to Bob Dylan and Buddy Holly, and called him "a one-man Clash." The excitement surrounding the first album prompted Pete Townshend to request Willie's presence on the Who's summer tour. Nile and his band were soon on the road with The Who, only a few months after Willie's first experience playing with a band.

Nile later released the album "Places I Have Never Been" on Columbia, with the hits "Everybody Needs a Hammer" and "Heaven Help The Lonely," and was followed by the EP, "Hard Times In America."

Over the years, the Buffalo, New York-born singer has recorded and performed with the likes of Richard Thompson, Lucinda Williams, Ringo Starr, The Pretenders, Roger McGuinn and Elvis Costello. In the fall of '03, he was invited to share the stage at three concerts with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, including the two final historic Shea Stadium shows. From Shea to the clubs and concert halls of Europe, Willie's live performances are legendary.

In 1998, Willie was one of the featured vocalists on the all-star ensemble album "Largo," along with Joan Osborne, Cyndi Lauper, Levon Helm, The Chieftans, Taj Mahal and Carole King.

The most recent Nile album, "Beautiful Wreck Of The World," was chosen as one of the Top Ten Albums of the Year by critics at Billboard Magazine, The Village Voice and Stereo Review. Lucinda Williams called "On The Road To Calvary," Willie's song for Jeff Buckley, "One of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard." The album reached the finals of the Independent Music Awards for Best Rock Album of the Year.

"Beautiful Wreck Of The World" marked the beginning of a new chapter in the career of one of America's great singer-songwriters. Willie has just finished work on the follow-up, STREETS OF NEW YORK, a recording that is already being hailed as Nile's masterpiece. It will be released worldwide on January 31, 2006.

Former Time Magazine music critic and Academy Award winning screenwriter Jay Cocks writes of the new album, "The tunes he writes and plays with such blowtorch vibrancy get the myth and magic and danger and sadness and love in this town--of this town--truer, and righter, than anything I've heard since Dion. This record is a head-twister and heart-wrencher. It's rock and roll at its best. It's New York at its best. And there's nothing better than that."

reviews

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  • author: Paolo "jokerman"

    Great album one of the best in Willie discography. Moreover it contains one of Willie masterpiece "On the road to Calvary" dedicated to the great Jeff Buckley. You must have it!!!!

  • Fantastic!
    author: Henrik

    Great stuff! Couldn't get a copy in Europe so I'm glad CD Baby could help out. It's almost as good as Willie Nile's Streets of New York.

  • Absolutely great album - like all of Willie's stuff!
    author: Tim P. from Detroit

    Great album and one that I needed to round out my Willie Nile library. No doubt one of the great unsung writers and rock 'n roll virtuosos of our time. Unlike some of my other blue collar favorites, Willie still knows how to rock and proves it on this album! Buy it and anything else with his name on it...

  • Very enjoyable; Grows on you with second-plus listen
    author: Jim F. from Rochester

    I first heard Willie Nile in the late 70's or early 80's, about the same time we all were getting into Warren Zevon. Warren was findable, but Willie just seemed to disappear. I was thrilled when his newest release (Streets of New York) came out - absolutely his masterwork - and this album was a chance to fill in the blanks. It has similarities to the new album and is maybe a notch less awesome, but it still ranks as a wonderful listening experience. Willie is a muscical chameleon, at times evoking sounds (both instrumentally and vocally) that reminds us of Dylan, Springsteen, and even George Harrison. I'll be seeing Willie in his hometown next week when he does a gig in Buffalo. He deserves MUCH more attention than he's gotten, and it's never too late for him to become an "overnight" sensation. Buy this and whatever albums of his you can get your hands on!

  • Good CD! Rounds out his collection nicely.
    author: Earl R.

    This CD is good, not great. It's Willie all the way through, but I do think his others are a bit stronger. Still, go out and buy it. To complete your Willie library. When are you coming to Chicago?

  • Darn nice offering from Mr. Nile
    author: Stephen Schumacher

    I've been really getting into Willie Nile's recent work after losing track of him following his stellar "Golden Down" from the early 80's. If anything his new stuff is even more artful, consistent, innovative, rocking, creative, and even youthfully energetic that what he cooked up in his salad days. I've already fallen in love with "Streets of New York", but I'll have to give this one a few more spins before I arrive at a considered opinion. But his "Beautiful Wreck" CD has sure gone down nice & easy after two listens, and already its "Road to Calvary" cut is a favorite.

  • More of the same (i.e. great!)
    author: Damian

    I agree with everything in the review below - more of the great great music that I loved with Street of NY. Wish I could track down the earlier stuff too....

  • Great
    author: Ralph Johnson

    Great CD. Much more rocking than his 80's efforts, It amazes me that he never broke it big in the states.

  • author: Alan Doak

    If you like Streets of New York, you'll love this. It's more of the same and just as good. My only regret is that, having rediscovered Willie Nile recently, I cannot lay my hands on my copy of his first cd which was rereleased a few years ago.I'm from Scotland and I'm a big fan of American Roots music - Bodeans, Steve Earle, Chuck Prophet, Smithereens, Ryan Adams, John Hiatt to name but a few. This album is up there with the best of them. Buy with confidence!!! ( and if you see a copy of his first album - let me know)

  • High octane rock, poignant ballads, well-crafted, literate lyrics.
    author: Cooper Michaelson

    I hear echoes of Dylan, the Stones and Paul Westerberg, which is not to say that this fine artist and his songs are derivative. Wille Nile embodies the best aspects of all of the above, creating the kind of music that makes me thrilled to hear it, yet sad that we're living in an age in which it's not getting heard.

  • Good to hear him again.
    author: B2A

    I had a 20 year musical hole filled by this CD. Too bad those just finding him can't get the old stuff. Its all good.

  • This CD proves that Rock and Roll is not dead. It's very good.
    author: Joan Eltringham

    I bought this CD for one song--On the Road to Calvary. It is a beautiful song. Jeff Buckley was a great songwriter and Grace is an album I will never tire of. Willie Nile sounds very much like Bob Dylan. I am looking forward to his next CD which will be released in January 2006.

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