Was released. Holy crap I'm old. I got it on release day on cd. Listened over and over and over again.

Same here. We saw her open for Emmylou Harris the year before where she played a number of songs from the album.


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Sad that everything she released after it pales in comparison.

I have to say that I like World Without Tears a little better than Car Wheels.


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I like Essence pretty well too, but Car Wheels outshines the rest in my opinion.

Great record, and my first exposure to Lu.
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Between '89 and 2000 I saw Lu 6 times, but haven't seen her since. I think the dynamic of the band changed after Gurf Morlix left. Last time I saw her was a reserved seating show (with the Bottle Rockets opening!) and her band was technically great, but there was a spark missing. Before that it was 3 club shows, 1 outdoor festival (just her and Gurf - both hung over according to her) and 1 acoustic show in a church.

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'just start the song asshole' - Jeff Tweedy

Gharland, I saw her a few times during those years and I felt said spark was fading as well. I know she mostly stands in front of her music stand but something more was missing. I took what I thought might be a permanent break from her live shows but around 2008 or 2009 I went to see her at the North Carolina Museum of Art (outdoor venue) and was blown away by how much better she was than I had ever seen. Went and saw her at War Memorial Auditorium in Raleigh a year later for another great show. She was moving around and her and the band were having fun. They did a cover of AC/DC's "It's a long way to top of you wanna Rock n Roll. Another highlight of that show was seeing one of Jesse Helm's granddaughters in the house. She walked by where I was sitting up front. She's a judge here in town.

I have tickets to see her in a couple of weeks. First time since 1996. I'm really excited to go that show.