Send "Willie Nile " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Popmatters |
 Friends in high places may once in awhile throw you a bone, but won’t really invest themselves into helping you move forward. Willie Nile, championed by Bruce Springsteen, Pete Townshend, Lou Reed and Bono, and this big artist and that other one, still struggled to get this album released in the United States, despite its being the epitome of real, true American rock ‘n’ roll. I’ve learned from experience that it’s only “who you know” to an extent. In a world of artists respecting artists, it’s not right, but you can always be a threat. With The Innocent Ones, Nile once again proves he’s a threat. Is he Springsteen? No. Is he fucking great? Yes. There is not a bad song on this album, 11 in all, 35 glorious minutes, and Nile achieved exactly what he wanted. The goal was to make an album about the downtrodden, the forgotten, the hopeless, in his words, “The Innocent Ones”, but to keep the vibe upbeat and hopeful throughout. Even on the most melancholy songs, such as the title track, things suddenly look up and you might smile and you might just want to keep going on. That’s what the music does to me, and let me tell you boy, that’s a rare feeling for me to have. The music? Well, if you dig Springsteen, Petty, Peter Wolf (post-J Geils) – basically great, melodic American rock, this is right up your alley. It’s done with enough originality to separate Nile from the pack, and includes a few surprises (such as the Ramones-inspired “Can’t Stay Home”) that keep things from becoming mundane. Nile’s beeen doing this for 30 years. Put your faith in that. Now that The Innocent Ones has hit American shores, it’s important to seek it out. This is an artist that needs to be supported. There is nothing cloying, fake, pretentious, or manipulative about the record. Although I find it important, the Bullshit Detector can be forgotten, because it boils down to this: 11 great goddamn songs, one beautiful and cohesive record. Something struck me about the cover of the album: it shows a silhouette of Nile playing his guitar with the cord looped and dragging on the floor, like the real people do it. No cordless/wireless stadium luxuries. And it may mean nothing to most people, but it’s another testament to the honesty of Nile, a tiny, unintentional detail that brings everything down to earth. You’re not wireless. You are confined. It says a lot about the artist and the album....full text |
| Blogcritics |
| Describing “Singin’ Bell,” the opening track on Willie Nile’s new collection, the singer says the song is an effort to filter the populist sentiment of Pete Seeger through the in-your-face sensibility of the Ramones. That’s a fair summation of several tunes on this release. Nile clearly sees music as a vehicle for making affirming statements about the world around him, and he likes to do it with driving drums and guitars. In addition, he clearly is not singing to but about and for his audience as a whole, and you’re invited to join the show. Co-produced by Nile, collaborator Frankie Lee, Stewart Lerman, and Eagles/Rosanne Cash guitarist Steuart Smith, the album kicks off with anthems like “Singin’ Bell” that are disarmingly infectious while asking you to participate in the proceedings—singing, playing, or marching in the army of change. This is most evident in the second tune, “One Guitar,” with a chorus of "I'm a soldier marchin' in an army/Got no gun to shoot/But what I got is one guitar/I got this one guitar." Already a hit in Europe, the response to this call inspired Nile to create the One Guitar Campaign. At oneguitar.org, Nile encourages other artists to record their own interpretations of the song with the various versions sold on iTunes with the profits going to various charities. But you need not be a musician to get into the spirit. “Everybody sing for the innocent ones,” Nile proclaims in the album’s title cut. In “Song For You,” Nile isn’t being introspective but is “lighting a flame” for everyone who’s had a broken heart. If you’re not singing with him yet, odds are you soon will be. Thereafter, Nile tells upbeat, catchy stories about some unusual women. There’s the Rubinoos-flavored “My Little Girl” about a woman who’s desirable despite some quirky flaws. When Nile is talking to a “Topless Amateur,” he’s asking questions of a lady seeking direction—“what are you looking for when crawling on your knees?” The Kinks are an obvious influence for “Rich And Broken” when Nile emulates Ray Davies describing a woman who has everything but a heart. The full band, apparently, sings the verses to “Can't Stay Home,” yet another story of a girl who won’t behave. The poppy, Dylanesque “Sideways Beautiful” champions a girl who’s more than a tad off. She’s ragged company, singing Christmas songs in the summer....full text |
| Allaboutjazz |
| The album, widely acclaimed in Europe, was co-produced by Nile, collaborator Frankie Lee, noted producer Stewart Lerman and Eagles/Rosanne Cash guitarist Steuart Smith. NEW YORK, N.Y.—"This is as good a record as I've ever made," Willie Nile says of his new release The Innocent Ones. That's saying a lot, considering the amount of indispensable music that the tenacious New Yorker has produced over his long and eventful career. The CD, which long eluded the American market except as an import and the odd merch table, has a U.S. brick-and-mortar street date of November 22, 2011. In that time, Nile has survived life as a Next Big Thing, walked away from the major-label world twice, and reinvented himself as a scrappy DIY artist. Along the way, he's built a deeply impressive body of recordings, earned the loyalty of a devoted worldwide fan base, and amassed an extensive backlog of effusive critical acclaim. Willie Nile is both a songwriter's songwriter and an impassioned performer whose stirring, personally charged rock 'n' roll marks him as a true believer. His compositions are as impassioned as they are infectious, and he performs them with a fervor that matches their melodic craft and lyrical insight. The ranks of Willie Nile's fans include Bruce Springsteen, who has invited him to perform with the E Street Band on multiple occasions, including a pair of historic shows at New York's Shea Stadium and Giant Stadium, and Pete Townshend, who personally requested him as the opening act on The Who's 1980 U.S. tour. Other avowed Nile admirers include Bono, Lou Reed, Graham Parker, Ian Hunter, Jim Jarmusch, Adam Duritz, Little Steven and Lucinda Williams, who once remarked, “Willie Nile is a great artist. If there was any justice in this world, I'd be opening up for him instead of him for me." The Innocent Ones decisively demonstrates that, more than 30 years into his recording career, Willie Nile is at the top of his game, making music that's as powerful as anything in his esteemed catalog. The album, recorded in New York and Hoboken with such longtime cohorts as songwriting collaborator Frankie Lee, noted producer Stewart Lerman and Eagles/Rosanne Cash guitarist Steuart Smith, has already won considerable praise from critics and fans overseas, where BBC Radio Scotland recently named it Album of the Week, calling it “stunning . . . THE rock 'n' roll album of 2011!," and JAM magazine proclaimed it to be “full of timeless songs . . . passionate . . . romantic . . . stupendous," and called Nile “one of the best American singer-songwriters of our time."...full text |
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