Dwight Yoakam has made many a fine record, but none better than this relatively early one. This Time is flawless, and Pete Anderson's production and guitar playing are stellar throughout. And then there is the songwriting. Yoakam writes many of them himself, and gets help on the others from Kostas, a writing hired gun that appears on many records if you keep your eye on writing credits.
Pocket Of A Clown starts things off, and it's a catchy shuffle with a nice heartbreak lyric. A Thousand Miles From Nowhere is the big guitar country/rock number that Yoakam does as well as anyone, and he manages to still sound a little country. It is that great voice and Bakersfield attitude that does it. Home For Sale is a perfect country weeper, with a great lyric delivered in Yoakam's aching yodel. The title cut is another fabulous heartbreak song. You just know that when Yoakam sings "This time is the last time she'll ever hurt me again", that he'll be back for more.
Two Doors Down is a barroom weeper with a killer electric piano part that sounds like 3 am. Ain't That Lonely Yet is the perfect kiss-off to the woman that wants him back, and Yoakam plays it straight, as always. King Of Fools has a Texas swing feel with fiddle and tremolo guitar. Fast As You is the fast rocker, and it is helped along by driving drums and Hammond organ. The pain in Yoakam's delivery of Try Not To Look So Pretty is palpable, and the lyric is again a nice twist on country's oldest theme. Wild Ride is a funny rocker about that girl that just might be too much, except, of course, for Dwight. The record ends with Lonesome Roads, a fairly typical country song that none the less ends a great record with another strong lyric and arrangement, featuring fiddle and pedal steel guitar.
The strength of the songwriting is impressive to say the least. Just when you think nobody could write another country song with originality about one of the three topics covered by all country songs, along comes Yoakam, and writes an entire album of them. The band is hot, the production perfect, the singing is killer. There are many other good Yoakam albums, and this one sits at the top of that heap.
You nailed it, CJ. We have several Dwight discs, but This Time remains our fave.
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