Customer Reviews:
 This is the best Lambchop album December 1, 2008
M. Brown (Cardiff United Kingdom)
Mainly because it's the most heartfelt and least self-consciously quirky. I thought Damaged was the most boring thing ever; I didn't even get through the whole of it, so I was not at all optimistic about its successor. How many Lambchop albums could really be considered classic? Only Nixon and Is A Woman. This album may lack the same kind of stand-outs as those two albums, but I found myself impossibly moved by these tracks. I listened to a promo copy, I don't know if the actual album has a lyric booklet, and I don't know what half the words are, but it's the moods of the pieces more than anything . . . a powerful melancholy that Wagner has only occasionally tapped before (specifically on the Is A Woman album). This album is NOT BORING. Don't believe the other review that says that. Damaged was boring, because it felt like nothing was really at stake, like Wagner was going through the motions to some degree. Others will no doubt scoff at the idea that this is Lambchop's best album, but it's the one that affected me most, and that's how I measure how good an album is. Particular mention goes to 'Slipped Dissolved And Loosed','Of Raymond' and 'Popeye'. Don't miss the experience of this album, because it is special and unique.
 Boring as hell November 15, 2008
Luke (Bristol, UK)
5 out of 8 found this review helpful
Listened to OH (ohio) once, thought, 'Dull. Very dull. Better give it a second chance.'
Listened to it twice, thought, 'Damn! Why did I waste my money?'
I'm a seasoned lambchop fan, have most of their albums, like dozens of tracks off the early albums, loved Is A Woman and listened to it over a hundred times - so it's not as if I don't like quiet, thoughtful, contemplative songs with obscure lyrics...
But...
...the praise Kurt Wagner has received for his recent discs has clearly gone to his head. The Damaged CD was ok but moving in the dull direction (and didn't improve when I saw him live) - and OH (ohio) trumps that. The tracks are all very, very samey and have little emotional charge. Even the cover of Leanard Cohen's Chelsea Hotel (which I was looking forward to as a Leonard Cohen fan) turns the song into a dull monologue. The lyrics are mumbled and difficult to understand - or, when clearer, just plain boring. There's not much in the way of melody.
My message to Kurt is: 'Even though you have a lovely voice and an interesting way with words - please don't forget that you also need to entertain your listener... We need SOME attempt at variety in the melody; SOME attempt at relevance in the lyrics, and SOME effort put into your delivery. A long and gentle warble is not quite enough.'
To other listeners: if you want some eccentric and interesting alt. country with a little bit of umph, try Giant Sand's latest: Provisions.
Genius October 13, 2008
Simon Rea (IOM)
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
Im a huge fan of Kurts beatiful band. Stumbling upon them back in the NIXON days... That they are branded Alt country it will shock any new ears that OHIO drifts along with subtle understated grace. As usual it takes a few spins for the tresures to shine through But like all Lambchops albums give it a little time and the rewards are worth there "wait" in gold.. This gem of an album will have pride of place on my player...... until the band bring out another..!!
Album of the year in my world
 "I am free from all decisions / I am free from all despair..." September 28, 2008
cathy earnshaw (Berlin, Germany)
12 out of 13 found this review helpful
I have to confess that I'm a complete Lambchop neophyte, but I happened to hear this album and loved it. The painting on the front by artist Michael Peed, Kurt Wagner's former grad school mentor, sets the scene for the album's soundscape: violence (through the window, you can see LA police officers beating a man in a racist attack) is comically and critically contrasted with the intimacy that takes centre stage (a man fondles his lover's breast on a dishevelled bed, blissfully unaware of the tumult outside). There is something more fiery being held back in the music, too, kindling on the coals in the background, but never quite bursting into flames. With his restrained baritone - such a refreshing counter to the rampant unsubtleties of mainstream music, I'd have to say - Kurt Wagner's lyrics are barely audible (on one track he wryly sings, "I'm such a bad enunciator / Understanding me is hard"). But this makes the secrets of the lyrics all the more special when they do get heard. "We'll I'm not too acquainted with the topography of your mind", he sings on Slipped, Dissolved and Loosed, "I need a detailed description / a representation of some kind". By then, the drip-drop melancholy of this brilliant album will have already charmed you over.
Standout tracks: A Hold of You, I Believe in You (a cover sung originally by Don Williams in the 1970s), Of Raymond, Slipped Dissolved and Loosed
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