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Steve Earle
The Revolution Starts...Now
(Artemis)
The Music Box's #10 album of 2004
First Appeared in The Music Box, September 2004, Volume 11, #9
Written by John Metzger
There’s an I.R.S. audit lurking in Steve Earle’s not too distant future, and
one gets the sense he just doesn’t care. Within the less than 40-minute span of
his 12th studio album The Revolution Starts...Now, he rather
hilariously professes his lust for National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice — "Skank
for me Condi/Show me what you got/They say you’re too uptight/I say you’re not,"
he sings on Condi, Condi — and borrows a page from Dick Cheney’s book by
telling the F.B.I., the C.I.A., and the F.C.C. to go fuck themselves.
Not one to shy away from conflict, Earle has been emboldened by those who
called him a traitor and questioned his patriotism after the release of John
Walker’s Blues, the single from his last outing Jerusalem that didn’t
defend the infamous American Taliban’s actions so much as it tried to comprehend
them. Throughout The Revolution Starts...Now, he once again exercises his
Constitutional right to speak his mind, though he tones down the seething anger
that pervaded much of Jerusalem in order to find a more persuasive,
humanistic approach to sharing his points of view. As a result, his customarily
mighty lyrics are all the sharper for it. On the Creedence Clearwater
Revival-laced country-pop of Home to Houston, he plays the role of a
truck driver who went to Iraq to earn a better paycheck only to realize that it
wasn’t worth the risk to his life, and on Rich Man’s War, he
empathetically examines how poor Americans and Palestinians pay the ultimate
price when the only career path available to them is to become a foot soldier in
somebody’s else’s ill-conceived master plan.
Musically, The Revolution Starts...Now continues the tunefully
effective refrains of amped-up country and Beatle-esque pop that forever have
filled Earle’s work. The radiant beams of a string quartet psychedelically drip
with regret around The Gringo’s Tale; Warrior is fueled by a Jim
Morrison-fronting-Crazy Horse intensity; and F the CC is a rampaging
blast of whirling, punk-drenched guitars that is destined to become a
show-closing, audience participation chant. Ultimately, however, the collection
is skillfully designed to frame Earle’s politically-charged message and his hope
that the times are, indeed, a-changin’. 
The Revolution Starts...Now is available
from Amazon. To order, Click Here!
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47th Annual Grammy Award Winner:
Best Contemporary Folk Album
Ratings
1 Star: Pitiful
2 Stars: Listenable
3 Stars: Respectable
4 Stars: Excellent
5 Stars: Can't Live Without It!!
Copyright © 2004
The Music Box
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