I bought two albums last night.

This one:

And this one:

I haven’t listened to Patty Griffin’s yet, but I just gave “West” the once-over. Before I tell you what’s great about it, though, please indulge a digression about “Essence.”

I thought “Essence” sort of sucked. Too much effort, not enough payoff. (With, as always, some notable exceptions. “Lonely Girls” can reduce me to a pile of goo in 15 seconds.) The same thing goes for “Car Wheels On A Gravel Road.” I loved “Car Wheels,” but it was (famously) overproduced. However, the bootleg demos — stripped-down versions of the songs on the album, usually just Lucinda, a guitar, and minimal backing vocals — take out all the extraneous high-art arrangements and allow the songs themselves (and Lucinda’s raw, un-retouched vocals) to come through.

Which is why I like West. It sounds like it was recorded in a hotel room (with some pretty pro equipment), not the big, fancy studio in which it was undoubtedly actually recorded. Lucinda’s voice when it hits the high notes is ragged, almost hoarse, the way she sounds live. The songs (except the title track) are more pop than country. One (“Come On!”) is even—shockingly for Lucinda—funny. And, true to form, many of them are heartbreaking. One song, “Rescue,” has this line: “He can’t save you/from the plain and simple truth/the waning waters of your youth.” Another, “Fancy Funeral,” is a cautionary tale about spending a fortune to bury a loved one. (The record is dedicated to Lucinda’s mother, who recently died). As usual with Lucinda’s records, there are a few stinkers (“What If,” a utopia/dystopia parable, is sort of painful to sit through) and a few uninspired knockoffs of earlier songs (“Where Is My Love” plagiarizes the far superior “Joy,” from “Car Wheels.”)

Coming Monday: Patty!