Life Is Messy is the seventh studio album by American country music artist Rodney Crowell, released in 1992 by Columbia Records. It peaked at number 30 on the Top Country Albums chart. The songs, "Lovin' All Night", "What Kind of Love", "It's Not for Me to Judge", and "Let's Make Trouble" were released as singles.
Content The album's first two singles, "Lovin' All Night" and "What Kind of Love", were both released as singles. They respectively reached No. 10 and No. 11 on the Hot Country Songs charts in 1992.
"The Answer Is Yes" was covered by Michelle Wright on her 1996 album For Me It's You, while "Lovin' All Night" was covered by Patty Loveless on her 2003 album On Your Way Home.
Critical reception
William Ruhlmann of AllMusic concluded his review with, "Taken together, the songs on Life Is Messy made for a fascinating portrait of an artist at a personal and professional crossroad -- but it didn't have much to do with commercial country music circa 1992, which is what it was primarily marketed as." He compared the songs' sounds primarily to "a pastiche of late-'50s/early-'60s pop". A review by Jack Hurst in the Chicago Tribune rated the album 3.5 out of 4, saying that the album had "a throbbing sound that is out on the pop-ish progressive end of the country spectrum, it treats life in all its surreal hurtfulness without neglecting its epic joys." A less positive review came from Alanna Nash of Entertainment Weekly, who thought that the album showed emotional influence from Crowell's then-recent divorce from fellow musician Rosanne Cash, and highlighted the song "I Hardly Know How to Be Myself", which the two wrote, as the best song on the album. She also compared Crowell's voice favorably to Roy Orbison but added that "too many of his songs splinter into nebulousness with the occasional joltingly bad line".
Track listing
Personnel From Life Is Messy liner notes.
Musicians
"It's Not for Me to Judge" Marc Cohn - background vocals Bobby Colomby - background vocals John Leventhal - electric guitar, acoustic guitar Jeff Porcaro - drums Michael Rhodes - bass guitar Steuart Smith - electric guitar, slide guitar C. J. Vanston - keyboards
"What Kind of Love" Mickey Curry - drums Don Henley - background vocals Booker T. Jones - organ Larry Klein - bass guitar, keyboards Linda Ronstadt - background vocals Steuart Smith - guitars
"Lovin' All Night" Eddie Bayers - drums Barry Beckett - electric piano Rodney Crowell - acoustic guitar, percussion Jim Horn - saxophone John Leventhal - guitars, percussion Michael Rhodes - bass guitar Vince Santoro - background vocals Lari White - background vocals
"Life Is Messy" Eddie Bayers - drums, percussion Vicki Hampton - background vocals John Leventhal - guitars Jonell Mosser - background vocals Michael Rhodes - bass guitar C. J. Vanston - keyboards Lari White - background vocals Steve Winwood - background vocals
"I Hardly Know How to Be Myself" Eddie Bayers - drums Barry Beckett - organ John Leventhal - piano, guitars Leland Sklar - bass guitar
"It Don't Get Better than This" Larry Byrom - background vocals Jim Lauderdale - background vocals Albert Lee - background vocals John Leventhal - guitar, bass guitar, piano, background vocals Larrie Londin - drums
"Alone but Not Alone" Vinnie Colaiuta - percussion Shawn Colvin - background vocals Larry Klein - bass guitar, tremolo guitar, background vocals Steuart Smith - guitars
"Let's Make Trouble" Alex Acuña - drums, percussion Larry Klein - bass guitar, keyboards Reginal Sales - slack drum Steuart Smith - guitars Sam Phillips - background vocals
"The Answer Is Yes" Eddie Bayers - drums Barry Beckett - organ Vicki Hampton - background vocals John Leventhal - guitars Vince Santoro - background vocals Leland Sklar - bass guitar Steve Winwood - background vocals
"Maybe Next Time" Barry Beckett - organ John Leventhal - keyboards, guitar, percussion Larrie Londin - drums, percussion Vince Santoro - background vocals Lari White - background vocals
Technical Michael Brauer - mixing (tracks 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10) Bobby Colomby - production Rodney Crowell - production Jim Dineen - engineering (tracks 1, 6, 10) Larry Klein - production John Leventhal - production Dan Marnien - engineering and mixing (tracks 2, 7, 8) Roger Nichols - engineering (tracks 3, 4, 5, 9) C. J. Vanston - production Michael Verdick - engineering (track 1)
Chart performance
Album Chart (1992) Peakposition U.S. Billboard Top Country Albums 30 U.S. Billboard 200 155 Canadian RPM Country Albums 9
Singles Year Single Peak chart positions US Country US AC CAN Country CAN CAN AC 1992 "Lovin' All Night" 10 — 9 — — "What Kind of Love" 11 9 2 47 5 "It's Not for Me to Judge" — — — — — "Let's Make Trouble" — — 78 — —
Sources