WILLIE NILE : THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL

1. The Day The Earth Stood Still
2. Sanctuary
3. Where There's A Willie There's A Way
4. Blood On Your Hands (with Steve Earle)
5. The Justice Bell (For John Lewis)
6. Expect Change
7. I Don't Remember You
8. Off My Medication
9. I Will Stand
10. Time To Be Great
11. Way Of The Heart

Label : River House Records

Release Date : August 13, 2021

Length : 40:08

Review (Pop Matters) : Willie Nile loves classic rock and roll. He incorporates licks and lyrical references to the Rolling Stones/Beatles/Bob Dylan songbooks all through the 11 tracks on his latest album, The Day the Earth Stood Still. There are also sonic reminders of Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp, and other musicians who mine the same sources. Nile may be paying deference, but he’s also kicking butt. He’s an old-school rocker living in the 21st century and wondering what happened and who knows what’s next. On the title cut, Nile looks out at the empty streets of Manhattan during the COVID crises and connects it to the old sci-fi film about invaders from space. Everything looks deserted. This isn’t the future we once imagined. It may be worse. Nile is descriptive more than judgmental, and he’s no nihilist. He and his electric guitar rock out. “Klaatu barada nikto,” he sings to close out the song to invoke peace and good vibes. Like the rest of us, Nile really doesn’t know what the alien phrase means, and about the present—well, he is just telling us to be kind while hoping for the best. Nile isn’t afraid to be silly, such as on the exuberant “Where There’s a Willie There’s a Way” (co-written with Michael Des Barres), or serious as on “The Justice Bell”, dedicated to the Civil Rights activist John Lewis (and co-written with Frankie Lee). It’s Nile’s openness to ideas that leaves him refreshingly unfiltered. He observes the world and wonders where justice is for the corrupt and when things are finally going to change for the better. In the meantime, he’s not sanctimonious. Nile knows he’s no angel. We all have evil impulses. Nile’s antisocial persona is a person off his meds or the guy who ignores his lover after his passion has ebbed. These make for the most spirited songs because they allow the singer to wallow and spit on the world he has created for himself, even telling St. Peter at Heaven’s Gate to wait while he “uses the can”. The scatological reference is intentionally shocking. Do people even shit in heaven? Nile leaves one wondering. The album was recorded during the pandemic, with players taking safety precautions. There’s not a female musician on the album that features in his live band. Steve Earle also joins him on the political diatribe “Blood on Your Hands”. Nile is a romantic, and several tracks invoke following one’s heart, although this seems to be meant in a more generic sense than a literal one for a specific lover. Willie Nile has released more than 20 records over the past 40 years, and when we are not in lockdown, he still tours and plays for live audiences. He’s always been faithful to his muse. His most recent album shares the same spirit that infused his first one back in 1980. Nile is a national treasure who brings rock to the masses, and while he may sing about “The Day the Earth Stood Still” because of the recent pandemic, he’s still moving and grooving.

Review (Americana Highways) : I’ve followed veteran NYC rocker Willie Nile’s career since 1980. His major-label work was like what Tom Waits would’ve done if Tom was a New Yorker. It had the R&R deviancy of Lou Reed, drive of Springsteen, grit of Chuck E. Weiss, & a pop-punk stab similar to Graham Parker that tantalized. By “Golden Down,” (1981) Willie leaned more toward Willy DeVille & maintained his downtown street cred. He may not have had an aggressive Jim Morrison-type vocal, but there’s no denying the expressive venom Nile possessed. By “Places I Have Never Been,” Nile (electric/acoustic guitars, piano) had played with some distinguished musicians: the Hooters’ (Rob Hyman, Eric Bazilian), Richard Thompson, Roger McGuinn, The Roches, Loudon Wainwright III, members of the Patti Smith Group & Television, even Jakob Dylan. Willie’s career’s been consistent despite some bumps. He never became the fireworks Springsteen was, but Nile was a boxful of M-80s. His material has been sharp through the years whether plaintive or sizzling. He always provides grace & power. He’s sung about the underbelly of the city & its pavement relationships. He has a special quality of sincerity with nothing bombastic or garnered as filler. He explores cliched areas nostalgically (“Off My Medication”). This could be a great song for The Stones to cover. With its rousing punkish/garage rock Chuck Berry incendiary arrangement. Not lame by a long shot. He dips a finger into the past with his straight-ahead approach. But you can’t slight a man who skates by at 73 with musical flames, energy & quality like this. He may look like Keith Richards’ cousin – but Nile can still out rock any 20-year-old, vocally & physically. His latest polished, personal & powerful 11-cut The Day The Earth Stood Still (River House Records-Drops Aug 13) is filled with brilliant songs, & literate lyrics. The Nile-soaked title track, the Springsteen-like “Sanctuary,” the short & sweet rocker superbly sung by Willie of “Where There’s a Willie There’s a Way.” The Dylan-splashed “Blood On Your Hands,” is exceptional while The Clash-reggae rock of “Expect Change,” is of interest. One of Willie’s beautiful ballads “I Don’t Remember You” is a delight & “I Will Stand,” reaches deep into a potent inspired Billy Falcon style. Then to the soulful Garland Jeffreys grooves of the city in “Time To Be Great” — cool to the final beauty of “Way of the Heart” played by Frankie Lee (drums/tambourine/vocals), Stewart Smith (guitar), & Stewart Lerman (bass). Nile survives. I’m glad he’s still firing up his R&R kiln. Musicians: Jimi K. Bones (electric/acoustic guitars/percussion/loops), Johnny Pisano (bass/vocals), Jon Weber (drums), Andy Burton (Hammond B3/piano/glockenspiel), James Maddock, Joe Crowley (backing vocals), & Marc Johnson (piano/tubular bells/glockenspiel/vocals).

Review (Wikipedia) : The Day The Earth Stood Still is the 14th studio album by American singer-songwriter Willie Nile, released on August 13, 2021, by River House Records, it was co-produced by Nile and Stewart Lerman who has worked with Nile on nine of his previous albums. Grammy Award-winning musician Steve Earle is a guest artist on this album. Upon seeing the deserted streets and boarded up stores of New York City because of Covid-19, Nile was reminded of scenes from the 1951 sci-fi movie The Day the Earth Stood Still. Nile uses the phrase "Klaatu barada nikto" in the chorus of the title track of the album. Drawing from his Covid lockdown experiences, in June 2020, he began writing songs for the album. A few years earlier, Nile had been introduced to Congressman John Lewis by Nile's friend, Congressman Joe Crowley. Lewis passed away on July 17, 2020. Nile and Frankie Lee wrote Justice Bell in honor of Lewis and his band recorded it, coincidentally, on January 6, 2021, the day of the Washington insurrection. Nile says "Blood on Your Hands" is a song about dancing with the devil. "If you dance with the devil you can get blood on your hands". Nile invited his friend and neighbor Steve Earle to join him on that song. "Way of the Heart" was recorded in 2009 and brought out as an ending for this album. Photographer Cristina Arrigoni photographed New York City street performer John Figueroa-Gonzalez for the cover photo and other photos in the album. Jon Blistein of Rolling Stone says ""Blood on Your Hands" is a steady stomping rock cut that finds Nile and Earle trading searing verses about human nature's more sinister qualities". John Amen in No Depression: "A project that oozes an ebullient ’70s-rock-and-pop vibe, the 73-year-old delivering some of the more infectious songs of his career". Richard Marcus from Blogcritics: The Day The Earth Stood Still shows Nile to be as versatile as ever. Equally at home rocking the house down as he is singing an intimate song from behind his piano, he lives up to his reputation as one of the troubadours of our times. This is a great album of timely and intelligent music from a heartfelt and aware songwriter." Lee Zimmerman from American Songwriter: "The Day The Earth Stood Still easily measures up to every one of Nile's preceding efforts — taut, tough, and tenacious, and driven by sheer grit and gravitas, as well as passion and purpose." Steve Horowitz in PopMatters says "Nile is a national treasure who brings rock to the masses, and while he may sing about The Day the Earth Stood Still because of the recent pandemic, he's still moving and grooving." Gene Knapp from Elmore Magazine wrote: "Nile uses his masterful way with words to epitomize the world in its greatness and its fallacies". Jim Hynes writes in Glide Magazine: "Nile is one of the best combinations of songwriter and rocker we’ve had over the past three decades and his albums seem to get progressively better each time out." Damian McNairney opines in Folk/Tumble: "Anyone fortunate enough to witness Willie Nile perform live will know that he delivers an energetic show of street smart rock and roll that never fails to leave his audience with a smile on their faces". New York City reviewer Kevin Korber in Spectrum Culture writes: "The Day the Earth Stood Still can remind us of the kind of power that style can have in the hands of a craftsman like Willie Nile." John Apice writes in Americana Highways; "His latest polished, personal & powerful 11-cut The Day The Earth Stood Still is filled with brilliant songs, & literate lyrics". Darryl Sterdan of Tinnitist: "The veteran New York rocker kicks up his heels with a raucous, high-energy outing. Willie Nile has tapped into his own lockdown experience as a source of inspiration for the set of haunting new songs that comprise his emotion-charged new release". From the UK, Mark Engleson in Lyric Magazine says: "Nile is a powerfully topical songwriter, one of the great chronicles of twenty-first American life and society, and of his adopted home city. His writing crackles with intelligence, passion, and insight, and his music is rock n’ roll of the first stripe."