Matador

All Music Guide, August 2005
One of 2005's most essential instrumental recordings."

Product Description
The Native Language debut of Phoenix, AZ-based contemporary jazz group Turning Point, MATADOR blends instrumental rock and blues elements with edgy world beat textures to create a truly exciting and original cinematic experience. With over 61 minutes of playing time, MATADOR features mostly original compositions by this 5-piece group and two contemporary arrangements of Chick Corea's classic "Spain" and Latin Pop sensation Alejandro Sanz's "Quisiera Ser."

Matador
Matador,Turning Point,Native Language,Jazz,Pop,Smooth Jazz

Average customer rating:

"My best friend's a butcher, he has sixteen knives."

This album has 286 5 star reviews and it's still comes up as a 4 star album!!!!!!!

It's like learning a new language...

freaking love this album

If Edgar Allen Poe were alive and wrote music now....

Turn On the Bright Lights
Interpol
Manufacturer: Matador Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Our Love to Admire

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Is This It

ASIN: B00006BTCA
Release Date: 2002-10-08

Tracks:

Untitled

Obstacle 1

NYC

PDA

Say Hello To The Angels

Hands Away

Obstacle 2

Stella Was A Diver And She Was Always Down

Roland

The New

Leif Erikson

Amazon.com
Interpol create literate, atmospheric, moody, trashy post-punk music that recalls '80s faves the Psychedelic Furs. And this is definitely a good thing. While most young bands are content to rhyme "make it" with "fake it," Interpol pens melodramatic tales of tortured and tortuous urban relationships that are truly refreshing. Like their peers the Strokes, they're bright, sophisticated, and meticulous enough to build stirring soundscapes. Turn On the Bright Lights is a must for anyone who missed Echo & the Bunnymen, the Furs, and Joy Division the first time around. --Dominic Wills
Album Description
Australian version of the absolutely stunning full-length debut from New York's Interpol. Think Joy Division meets Psychedelic Furs, Echo & the Bunnymen and the Smiths. Includes the bonus track, 'Specialist'. Matador. 2002.
Album Details
The Stunning Debut Album that Incorporates So Many Postpunk Influences: Joy Division, Television, Morrissey, . Includes the Bonus Track "Specialist".
Customer Reviews:

"My best friend's a butcher, he has sixteen knives.".......2007-07-13
Interpol makes music with repetitious guitars and bass accompanied by slightly off-kilter vocals delivering nonsense lyrics. It's better than that sounds, but maybe not as great as some critics would think. Turn On the Bright Lights is a fun album to listen to. It's never boring, and they create some deeply affecting melodies that are really quite enjoyable. There's rarely a dull moment throughout. I just really don't see how it's much better than similarly catchy/non-varied music that is labeled as punk and generally ignored. Interpol is about as good as that general kind of music gets, but I think they get a ton of acclaim because they sound more mysterious, not because they're actually that superior musically.

The first track is my favorite. The piano blends with the guitar and works well with the rest of the sounds. "Obstacle 1" is a good single, since it encapsulates their sound quite well and is one of the better songs. "NYC" is a slower song and fairly enjoyable. "PDA" is another good single that represents the band well. The thing is, most of the songs do a good job here, because they all sound pretty similar. "Obstacle 2" has catchy vocals and nice interaction with the instruments. Towards the end there are a couple tracks over six minutes long that show a bit more range from the band as they experiment a little. "Roland" might be the hardest track, with a good riff in the chorus. All in all, not a whole lot about the album really stands out from the rest but it is a consistent, good album.
This album has 286 5 star reviews and it's still comes up as a 4 star album!!!!!!!.......2007-07-09
Ok , the title says it all , nuff said. This is one the greatest albums i've ever heard in my life , it flows perfectly from start to end and the musicianship is outstanding. Why is it still only 4 stars , why????!!
It's like learning a new language..........2007-05-29
For the longest time I kept telling myself I really oughta write a nice review for Interpol on Amazon, and tonight's the night. This is my ode to TURN ON THE BRIGHT LIGHTS by the amazing New York band Interpol. I had bought the CD the year it came out and decided to take it with me on a road trip from LA to Vegas. I should say I absolutely dread driving to Vegas, most Angelenos do. What is supposed to be a 3-hour trip usually turns out to be a 5-hour bumper to bumper nightmare and the road leading to Sin City is not exactly scenic, with nothin' but desert and all, I mean, how many cactus can one admire in an endless open field of cactuses? But I sensed this trip was different, and I knew the instant I heard the opening track to this flawless debut of an album.

What's more, with each song I grew increasingly interested in the music and slowly drifted from my environment, finding myself enjoying the ride. The road rage that I had started slipping away with each passing of familiar street signs. Imagine a perfect harmony of landscape blended with poetry for my ears. Surely this can't be one of the rare albums that I can listen to throughout its entirety, I pondered, and anticipated. In the end I wasn't let down. With each repeated listen (that's the trick I think, one would have to give this multiple consecutive hearings in order to fully appreciate it), I realized I started developing feelings for the album.

Feelings?

Ah, but let me tell you why.

Each song tells a story, and when I'm told a story, I want it to be as intoxicating, as dreamy and as atmospheric as each song is on this album. It evokes a mood that's long lost along with childhood, the mood of being afloat, being weightless, being innocent with a sense of discovery. As soon as you hear the opening words, you'll know you're being transferred to a place where you wish time stood still. It's mesmerizing, this album, to say the least. And it is dark, and ambient, and very moody, in all good sense of the words. It is music that evokes the very feelings in me, the longing, the fears, the hopes and the dreams. Whenever I'm in a bad mood or have had a tough day, I play this album and instantly feel better. It has over the years become my best friend, my confidant, my haven, a way to relax and enjoy this thing called life. This album is excellent throughout and that's how one should listen to it, in its entirety, but like anybody else I have my own personal favorites:

The beautifully lush opener "Untitled" really paints a picture for the rest of the album. This song makes me want to renew old friendships with long neglected school chums, "I will surprise you sometime, I'll come round.." It reminds me of the carefree, more fearless days of my youth.

"Obstacle 1" and "PDA" were singles I had heard on the radio that propelled me to buy the album. Both are fast with great guitar and drums. I thought if the rest of the songs sound like the two, it'd be money well spent. Turns out I got every pennies' worth and then some. This record really was the best 13-dollar investment I've ever made.

An early favorite is "Hands Away." This is perhaps the most melodic, most hypnotic song on the album. I was cast under its spell upon hearing the beginning riffs. "Will you put my hands away, will you be my man?..." This song is kinda like "Untitled" in that there are only a handful of lyrics to both the songs but the impact they'll hit you with is immeasurable.

My absolute favorite song in the Interpol catalogue is the wonderfully sexually blatant, yet tender and romantic 7-minute opus called "Stella Was a Diver and She's Always Down." It's flawless, this song. There is not a part in this epic song that I don't like. From the music to the lyrics, it's like a dream, and a nice way of spending seven minutes of one's day, loving "Stella" the way Paul Banks does:

"when she walks down the street, she knows there's people watching
building fronts are just fronts, to hide the people watching her
she once fell through the street, down the man hole in that bad way
the underground drip, was just like her scuba days..."

The last song on the album is called "Leif Erikson" and I find out he's one of the first European settlers to set foot in the States. I don't know what that has to do with the song really, cos to me this song conjures up all kinds of notions and ideals of romance. From Paul's voice and the lyrics to the dreamy surreal atmosphere of the drums and guitars, this the most mesmerizing song of all:

"she says it helps with the lights out
her rabid glow is like braille to the night
she feels that my sentimental side should be held with kids gloves
she doesn't know that I left my urge in the ice box
she swears I'm just prey for the female
well then hook me up and pull me babycakes
cause I like to get hooked

the clock is set for nine but you know you're gonna make it eight
so that you can take some time and teach each other to reciprocate..."

If you're still reading this then tonight's the night. Get romanced by a lil' Interpol and who knows, maybe you'll start harboring feelings too.

Afterall, they're nothing more than feelings.
freaking love this album.......2007-05-18
I got into Interpol by seeing them at a few festivals in 2004... and after they joined the Curiosa festival I was hooked. They are an amazing band, and if this isn't a perfect first album, I don't know what is. And they keep getting better and better.

I just saw them in Las Vegas and they did about four of their new songs off the upcoming album - and everything sounds fabulous! This is going to be a great year for this band.
If Edgar Allen Poe were alive and wrote music now...........2007-02-12
For some reason, whenever I hear this cd I think of Poe. The lyrics are creepy but also beautiful, which is why I think it reminds me of him. I didn't instantly love this album, but the more I listen to it, the more I like it. It's not something catchy that quickly becomes annoying; it's quite the opposite. My favorite tracks are Untitled, NYC, PDA and Obstacle 1, but the album works better together than apart, in my opinion. I think some people might find Antics easier to listen to (it's faster paced), but there's something about this cd that draws me to repeat listenings. If you're looking for something different than what you hear on the radio now, I'd recommend giving this a try.

Average customer rating:

Best yet

The Greatest

Cat Power- The Greatest

overall worth it

decisions decisions...

The Greatest
Cat Power
Manufacturer: Matador Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Fox Confessor Brings the Flood

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ASIN: B000HKCUI8
Release Date: 2006-09-12

Tracks:

The Greatest

Living Proof

Lived In Bars

Could We

Empty Shell

Willie

Where Is My Love

The Moon

Islands

After It All

Hate

Love & Communication

Amazon.com
If you are an artist at a crossroads/ "maturing point" in your career, it's a great idea to seek out the original musicians who played on music you adore and that inspire you greatly-it's the opposite of what Rick Rubin does with the old folks. The results, however, are often lackluster; it can just be too hard to forge a connection in a short period of time with studio dudes twenty to thirty years older than you. Chan Marshall, who took just three years between albums this time, returned to Memphis to record with many of the architects of Southern soul music at Ardent Studios on The Greatest. And from the first and titular tune, a mournful and gorgeous ballad with swelling strings, backing singer and shimmery guitar accompaniment that tells the tale of a boy who wants to become a great boxer, it's clear that the results of this experiment are uniformly awesome. The sultry-voiced artiste sounds fully at home within these songs, these lovely analog Southern sounds that bridge black and white musics. It's not like she's on a trip of trying to be Aretha or anything; besides, the arrangements on all the songs are different. The loping, fiddle-accented "Empty Shell" sounds like the Unholy Modal Rounders backing Bobbie Gentry. All the songs are pretty, slow and melancholy; there's nothing like "He War" on here. We are not in the habit of quoting press releases, but it's hard to beat this line from the Matador one-sheet: "If Alex Chilton were today a beautiful young woman, he'd sound like this." Amen, or something. -Mike McGonigal
Album Description
This is not a greatest hits album, despite the title. It contains all-original songs written by Chan Marshal (professionally known as Cat Power), and features the great Memphis session musicians Teenie Hodges on guitar, Leroy Hodges on bass (Al Green, Hi Rhythm Section), drummer Steve Potts, and more. The combination of Marshall's superbly evocative and flexible voice plus some of the greatest Southern soul players, has produced a masterpiece. These songs explore themes of Southern loss, longing, and marginality. The limited first digipak pressing and regular single vinyl contain a bonus track. After the first pressing sells out, the regular jewelcase version will not contain a bonus track.
Customer Reviews:

Best yet.......2007-06-15
Teaming Cat Power with the Hi team who recorded behind Ann Peebles and Al Green was an unexpected and brilliant idea. A special alchemy took place at Ardent Studios in Memphis which enhanced both Cat Power's gorgeous smoky voice and the soulful groove the band has laid down. I would say that that it was worth the price of the album just for the majestic opening song, The Greatest, were it not that it is also available as a single, but that would be to unfairly demean the rest of the record. Of course Cat Power does not need embellishment, as is demonstrated on the unadorned song Hate. Cat's most accomplished album to date.
The Greatest.......2007-06-08
Chan Marshall (aka Cat Power) is by now well known for her inconsistent live performances. See her on Friday and she'll croon for hours. See her on Saturday and she'll hunch over the piano with a bottle of Jack, muttering diatribes under her breath before running offstage in tears. Taken with her tortured lyricism and sprawling full-lengths, these actions painted Cat Power as simultaneously brazen and insecure, and as such, she helped redefine the notion of the independent musician by living out the discomfort that came from composing exactly what she felt she needed to compose.

So what would Cat Power think upon hearing that she'd receive a hefty recording budget and play with Al Green's hit-makers at the same studio as Dave Matthews and R.E.M.? If you said, "She would run screaming into the night," you're wrong. Abandoning the oblique, quietly angsty indie rock of You Are Free, Cat Power cuts her teeth on Southern soul for her seventh LP, The Greatest. She recorded the album in Memphis at the world-famous Ardent Studios with veteran soul musicians Mabon Hodges, Leroy Hodges and Steve Potts, for a detour into a singer-songwriter's take on Memphis blues-lite.

This is indeed an impressive setup, but The Greatest still falls a bit short. Yes, Potts and the Hodges brothers are supposed to ballast Marshall, not upstage her, but they're not given nearly enough to do--a twang here, a lazy drum fill there, and all performed with a disappointing lack of élan. Fault the studio, too, for rendering the album's second half somewhat limp and same-sounding, and for some of the album's biggest blunders: in roughly half the songs, for example, Marshall's voice appears as a ghosted backing vocal, like a gospel singer from beyond the grave. It's sillier than it sounds.

Cat Power hardly lets these flaws derail the entire album, however, since the strength of her records has always been in the arrangements, vocals and lyrics--not the studio techniques or the backing band. Marshall's voice has never sounded better than it does here; coarsened by whiskey and time, her vocals take on a torchy, sultry tone that fits the music like a glove.

The album's first half also features some of Cat Power's loveliest songs to date. If the gently swinging ditty "Could We" is perfect for playing over the barroom juke as young couples sway on the dance floor, "Lived in Bars" is the moonlit slow-dance after the barroom has closed down for the night. The title track is the album's crown jewel, beginning as an archetypal Cat Power piano arrangement and adding guitars, strings, and a slowly loping drumbeat like ripples in a pond. Far from being a song of fist-pumping glory, "The Greatest" is actually a saddening white flag; Marshall begins, "Once I wanted to be the greatest / No wind or waterfall could stop me." Anyone who knows Cat Power can easily conjecture what becomes of our narrator from here.

Yet what's missing from The Greatest are those gripping moments found on You Are Free and earlier, more overtly tense albums like Myra Lee. There's more drama in a song like "Names" (from You Are Free) than in anything The Greatest has to offer, and it's not because Marshall holds back lyrically; she doesn't, if bald-faced confessions like "I hate myself and I want to die" are any indication. It's because she allowed the Memphis soul theme drive the work to its final destination, and somewhere along the way it became more important to sound pretty than to create something meaningful. The Greatest is Cat Power's most listenable record thus far, but for an artist this willfully difficult, is that really a success?
Cat Power- The Greatest.......2007-05-20
Awesome CD, great to just relax and listen to while drinking some wine!
overall worth it.......2007-05-19
It's not her best career work, but similar to her live performances there are some magic moments that make the CD worth it. She puts out such heartfelt work it's hard not to support it.
decisions decisions..........2007-03-25
you can divide cat power into two parts it seems. if you did, you would get PJ Harvey and the other would be Dido. The album the greatest seems to be the dido side of cat power, which isn't such a bad thing. Cat is an idiosynchratic artist, but she does have a straightforward voice more suited to the new R&B style that she has latched on to. Don't be dismayed, Cat has not given up on the haunt and sultry-ness of her act. That much still remains.

Average customer rating:

Best yet

The Greatest

Cat Power- The Greatest

overall worth it

decisions decisions...

The Greatest
Cat Power
Manufacturer: Matador Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music
Singer-Songwriters | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music
Indie Rock | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music
Piano | Keyboard | Instruments | Classical | Styles | Music
General | Folk | Styles | Music
General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
Singer-Songwriters | Pop | Styles | Music
Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music
General | Rock | Styles | Music
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Fox Confessor Brings the Flood

Comfort of Strangers

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Corinne Bailey Rae

ASIN: B000C0X3ZC
Release Date: 2007-03-20

Tracks:

The Greatest

Living Proof

Lived In Bars

Could We

Empty Shell

Willie

Where Is My Love

The Moon

Islands

After It All

Hate

Love And Communication

Amazon.com
If you are an artist at a crossroads/ "maturing point" in your career, it's a great idea to seek out the original musicians who played on music you adore and that inspire you greatly-it's the opposite of what Rick Rubin does with the old folks. The results, however, are often lackluster; it can just be too hard to forge a connection in a short period of time with studio dudes twenty to thirty years older than you. Chan Marshall, who took just three years between albums this time, returned to Memphis to record with many of the architects of Southern soul music at Ardent Studios on The Greatest. And from the first and titular tune, a mournful and gorgeous ballad with swelling strings, backing singer and shimmery guitar accompaniment that tells the tale of a boy who wants to become a great boxer, it's clear that the results of this experiment are uniformly awesome. The sultry-voiced artiste sounds fully at home within these songs, these lovely analog Southern sounds that bridge black and white musics. It's not like she's on a trip of trying to be Aretha or anything; besides, the arrangements on all the songs are different. The loping, fiddle-accented "Empty Shell" sounds like the Unholy Modal Rounders backing Bobbie Gentry. All the songs are pretty, slow and melancholy; there's nothing like "He War" on here. We are not in the habit of quoting press releases, but it's hard to beat this line from the Matador one-sheet: "If Alex Chilton were today a beautiful young woman, he'd sound like this." Amen, or something. -Mike McGonigal
Album Description
This is not a greatest hits album, despite the title. It contains all-original songs written by Chan Marshal (professionally known as Cat Power), and features the great Memphis session musicians Teenie Hodges on guitar, Leroy Hodges on bass (Al Green, Hi Rhythm Section), drummer Steve Potts, and more. The combination of Marshall's superbly evocative and flexible voice plus some of the greatest Southern soul players, has produced a masterpiece. These songs explore themes of Southern loss, longing, and marginality. The limited first digipak pressing and regular single vinyl contain a bonus track. After the first pressing sells out, the regular jewelcase version will not contain a bonus track.
Customer Reviews:

Best yet.......2007-06-15
Teaming Cat Power with the Hi team who recorded behind Ann Peebles and Al Green was an unexpected and brilliant idea. A special alchemy took place at Ardent Studios in Memphis which enhanced both Cat Power's gorgeous smoky voice and the soulful groove the band has laid down. I would say that that it was worth the price of the album just for the majestic opening song, The Greatest, were it not that it is also available as a single, but that would be to unfairly demean the rest of the record. Of course Cat Power does not need embellishment, as is demonstrated on the unadorned song Hate. Cat's most accomplished album to date.
The Greatest.......2007-06-08
Chan Marshall (aka Cat Power) is by now well known for her inconsistent live performances. See her on Friday and she'll croon for hours. See her on Saturday and she'll hunch over the piano with a bottle of Jack, muttering diatribes under her breath before running offstage in tears. Taken with her tortured lyricism and sprawling full-lengths, these actions painted Cat Power as simultaneously brazen and insecure, and as such, she helped redefine the notion of the independent musician by living out the discomfort that came from composing exactly what she felt she needed to compose.

So what would Cat Power think upon hearing that she'd receive a hefty recording budget and play with Al Green's hit-makers at the same studio as Dave Matthews and R.E.M.? If you said, "She would run screaming into the night," you're wrong. Abandoning the oblique, quietly angsty indie rock of You Are Free, Cat Power cuts her teeth on Southern soul for her seventh LP, The Greatest. She recorded the album in Memphis at the world-famous Ardent Studios with veteran soul musicians Mabon Hodges, Leroy Hodges and Steve Potts, for a detour into a singer-songwriter's take on Memphis blues-lite.

This is indeed an impressive setup, but The Greatest still falls a bit short. Yes, Potts and the Hodges brothers are supposed to ballast Marshall, not upstage her, but they're not given nearly enough to do--a twang here, a lazy drum fill there, and all performed with a disappointing lack of élan. Fault the studio, too, for rendering the album's second half somewhat limp and same-sounding, and for some of the album's biggest blunders: in roughly half the songs, for example, Marshall's voice appears as a ghosted backing vocal, like a gospel singer from beyond the grave. It's sillier than it sounds.

Cat Power hardly lets these flaws derail the entire album, however, since the strength of her records has always been in the arrangements, vocals and lyrics--not the studio techniques or the backing band. Marshall's voice has never sounded better than it does here; coarsened by whiskey and time, her vocals take on a torchy, sultry tone that fits the music like a glove.

The album's first half also features some of Cat Power's loveliest songs to date. If the gently swinging ditty "Could We" is perfect for playing over the barroom juke as young couples sway on the dance floor, "Lived in Bars" is the moonlit slow-dance after the barroom has closed down for the night. The title track is the album's crown jewel, beginning as an archetypal Cat Power piano arrangement and adding guitars, strings, and a slowly loping drumbeat like ripples in a pond. Far from being a song of fist-pumping glory, "The Greatest" is actually a saddening white flag; Marshall begins, "Once I wanted to be the greatest / No wind or waterfall could stop me." Anyone who knows Cat Power can easily conjecture what becomes of our narrator from here.

Yet what's missing from The Greatest are those gripping moments found on You Are Free and earlier, more overtly tense albums like Myra Lee. There's more drama in a song like "Names" (from You Are Free) than in anything The Greatest has to offer, and it's not because Marshall holds back lyrically; she doesn't, if bald-faced confessions like "I hate myself and I want to die" are any indication. It's because she allowed the Memphis soul theme drive the work to its final destination, and somewhere along the way it became more important to sound pretty than to create something meaningful. The Greatest is Cat Power's most listenable record thus far, but for an artist this willfully difficult, is that really a success?
Cat Power- The Greatest.......2007-05-20
Awesome CD, great to just relax and listen to while drinking some wine!
overall worth it.......2007-05-19
It's not her best career work, but similar to her live performances there are some magic moments that make the CD worth it. She puts out such heartfelt work it's hard not to support it.
decisions decisions..........2007-03-25
you can divide cat power into two parts it seems. if you did, you would get PJ Harvey and the other would be Dido. The album the greatest seems to be the dido side of cat power, which isn't such a bad thing. Cat is an idiosynchratic artist, but she does have a straightforward voice more suited to the new R&B style that she has latched on to. Don't be dismayed, Cat has not given up on the haunt and sultry-ness of her act. That much still remains.

Average customer rating:
Challengers
The New Pornographers
Manufacturer: Matador Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B000S9KSC8
Release Date: 2007-08-21

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Average customer rating:

sweeeeeeeeeeeeeet melody and melancholy

Imagine my love

priceless Diamond

Imagine Our Love
Lavender Diamond
Manufacturer: Matador Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Release the Stars

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ASIN: B000OMD4FW
Release Date: 2007-05-08

Tracks:

Oh No

Garden Rose

Open Your Heart

Side Of The Lord

I'll Never Lie Again

Dance Until Tomorrow

Like An Arrow

My Shadow Is A Monday

Bring Me A Song

Here Comes One

Find A Way

When You Wake For Certain

Amazon.com
"I'll never stop a bullet/But a bullet might stop me/I'll never drink the ocean/But the ocean might drink me," sings Becky Stark in a voice that partially floats and partially soars amidst Lavender Diamond's acoustic slow-waltz. It's a new day, Lavender Diamond might say, one where peace and love replace war (and irony). Despite the liner-note photo of Stark in the midst of stars and blue sky and nature's wonders, the band sounds melancholic in spots, shading her vocals with subtlety, combining all the sunniness with a tiny touch of Elliott Smith - even if Stark sings things like "Oh I must be on the side of the Lord" without a trace of irony. The piano, acoustic guitar, and percussion vibe is perfect here, muted for "I'll Never Lie Again" and bolder for "Oh No," which associates crummy weather with lovelessness, a sentiment that's almost funny in such an upbeat, airy setting. --Andrew Bartlett
Customer Reviews:

sweeeeeeeeeeeeeet melody and melancholy.......2007-06-29
Great folk-rock here folks. They are influences from Fairport Convention (Sandy Denny-era), Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez, etc. Becky Stark has a great voice...though I think it's a stretch for anyone to compare her to the one of the greatest voices in human history, Shirley Collins.

Overall, this LP is very listenable all the way through. It brings to mind current folk-rock revivalists like Meg Baird and the Espers (not as good though). Regardless, it's quite solid and worthy of your time, effort, and purchase. CHEERS!!!!!!!!!!!!
Imagine my love.......2007-06-28
If you said that Lavender Diamond sounds like a sparkly, ubersweet little band who plays hopeful pop.... you'd be right.

Fortunately the Angeleno band aren't just restricted in that. Their debut album "Imagine Our Love" is G-rated chamberpop, sure. But it's wrapped in a warm blanket of exquisitely pretty instrumentation, beautiful vocals and a feeling of wistful hope.

Gentle drum and bells segue into an anthemic piano melody, with Becky Stark wistfully crooning, "Oh no, it's such a sad and grey day out/when will I love again?... Oh no, we are turning as we go/into a world of stone..." Not only is it a mournful cry for personal love, but apparently tackling the loveless world outside.

"Garden Rose," on the other hand, fully embraces the chamberfolk description -- weepy strings painted over a gentle acoustic guitar. "I'll never stop a bullet/but a bullet might stop me/I'll never drink the ocean/but the ocean might drink me..."

Then in an about-face, they go all chamberpop in the bouncy, chipper "Open Your Heart" ("Well the streets are low/when you have to go/where are you running to?"). The songs that follow tend to be somewhere in between -- gentle folk, wind-wispy pop, soaring delicate little ballads, and occasionally a thumpy little piano-rocker. The only real misfire is "Like An Arrow," an awkward tribal-thump pop song.

Normally I can only take a small amount of cheery, sunny happiness at once. So it's something of a tribute to "Imagine Our Love" that I can listen to the whole thing in one go -- it sounds like the crystalline little sister of Midlake.

It also staunchly avoids the typical trappings of pop-rock, like electric guitars and bass. Instead, we have some truly ethereal, weeping strings and trickling piano. Sometimes they're played on their own, and sometimes with an acoustic guitar to keep things from just floating away.

And Stark really makes the songs shine by pouring her clear, sweet vocals through them like rays of sun. What's the problem, then? Well, the songs she sings tend to be rather simplistic (see "I'll Never Lie Again," repeated ad nauseam), though they show flickers of songwriting skill. ("You can see this road is forever/so let's dance without any fear..."

Though hampered by their simplistic lyrics, Lavender Diamond excels in every other way in "Imagine Our Love." If they wrote more complex songs, it would be perfect.
priceless Diamond.......2007-05-25
Lavender Diamond has hypnotized me. I'm under their spell. Becky Stark's voice (with its classical roots) is transporting and ethereal, delicate without sacrificing its potency and confidence. There are songs on this CD ("Garden Rose", "Like an Arrow") that could accompany meditation. Indeed, the songs FEEL like meditation. Cynicism and apathy, pass by. The album's themes range from the optimistic and hopeful to the melancholic and hesitant. I find myself relating to both sentiments with equal verve. "When will I love again?" Stark repeats in the heartwrenchingly challenging song "Oh No" that opens the album, and wondering when and how a broken heart will heal is certainly an idea that everyone can relate to during their lives. (This beginning of this song left me breathless. "What a way to begin an album!" is what I thought, immediately wanting to hear more.) Even if your heart is now whole, it's not hard to put yourself back in that place, just as when you listen to a love song, it's not hard to remember when you were in love. "Open Your Heart" isn't exactly a love song, but with its cheerful tone and playful strings, 'oh oh oh' refrains, and handclaps, it feels like it should be in the background while you run across a field holding hands with someone. Other reviews have compared their sound to singers from the 1960's and 70's, and that is definitely true, although that is not to downplay their unique style and execution. The messages of love, love lost, and hope in this album are unlike anything I've ever heard before, and I subscribe to all of them.

Postscript/anecdote: there's a bit of serendipity in play here as well. I saw a Lavender Diamond show advertised in a Portland alt-weekly newspaper, described there as "winsome folk-pop." The description caught my eye and I made a note to investigate them. I later bought their album on this whim, and a few weeks after that, by some cosmic coincidence, Becky Stark, solo and acoustic, opened for a reading by author/filmmaker/artist Miranda July in a church in downtown Portland with a eerily beautiful three-song set. I'd been looking forward to July's book ever since I saw "Me, You and Everyone We Know" and it was suddenly felt like we had friends in common.

Average customer rating:

They made a fan out of me

Not What it Seems

They are afraid of singing

Hmmm...

Yo la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la Tengo

I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass
Yo La Tengo
Manufacturer: Matador Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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The Information

Boys and Girls in America

Sky Blue Sky

ASIN: B000GUK0HM
Release Date: 2006-09-12

Tracks:

Pass The Hatchet, I Think I'm Goodkind

Beanbag Chair

I Feel Like Going Home

Mr. Tough

Black Flowers

The Race Is On Again

The Room Got Heavy

Sometimes I Don't Get You

Daphnia

I Should Have Known Better

Watch Out For Me Ronnie

The Weakest Part

Song For Mahila

Point And Shoot

The Story Of Yo La Tengo

Amazon.com
It's no surprise that a group named after something said during a baseball game would title an album after something said during a basketball match. It is a bit of a surprise that this band remains so incredibly good, and capable of surprising even longtime listeners. This one's so diverse and such a mixture of different styles, it's reminiscent of the group's all-request on-air shows they play annually to support New Jersey-based radio station WFMU. Book-ended by two long, droney tunes, you've got garage-rock rave-ups, country-pop, horn-driven R&B, little gorgeous atmospheric songs, some brilliant falsetto singing, and... this list could go on and on. Who else would think to pair conga-style percussion to a Suicide-esque synth drone? Or even to work with longtime Dylan collaborator and strings arranger and violinist David Mansfield and have genius illustrator Gary Panter do the artwork at the same time? It's the little things that matter, especially when you mastered the big ones twenty-plus years ago. --Mike McGonigal
Amazon.com
This bold, eclectic, 80-minute album is the pinnacle of the band's twenty-year career. From eleven-minute guitar jams to gorgeous ballads to winsome horn-drenched pop songs, this album is all over the map, in a very good way. Features the talents of longtime Nashville producer Roger Moutenot, violinist Dave Mansfield of Dylan's Rolling Thunder Review, and the jacket artistry of Gary Panter (Raw, Jimbo).

More from Yo La Tengo

I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One

Painful

And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out

Fakebook

Electr-O-Pura

Prisoners of Love (Double Disc Anthology)

Customer Reviews:

They made a fan out of me.......2007-06-03
Now I am not going to pretend to be an expert on Yo La Tengo. This is the first CD of theirs I have bought and I bought it primarily because of the greatest album name in history. OK, I had heard good things about them as well. Now, on first listen, I can see how some might think some of the songs are filler. But, when listening to the album in its entirity, you start to realize that all of the songs are brilliant and in their right place. I have listened to this album four times in a row today already and can not seem to stop. There are so many hypnotic hooks mixed in with the dreamy instrumentals and vocals. Just a very unique band that is hard to describe. They have made a fan out of me and I plan on getting their other CDs as well.
Not What it Seems.......2007-05-22
I rated this right away but after listening to it again I really like it. It deserves 5 stars but I can't seem to change that. You might think it has a latin sound with a name like Yo La Tengo, or maybe thats just me, but it's got that "indy" sound and if thats what you like you will like them.
They are afraid of singing.......2007-04-30
I like this record a lot, but I agree with others here who think the vocals are subdued. That's too bad--the vocal melodies are good, very catchy, but Ira and Georgia aren't loud enough. Can't really tell what they're singing. You can hear James just fine on "Mr. Tough." Ira already sounds like Lou Reed / Roger Waters at times, so he needs to really eat that microphone or dig down. You too, Georgia. We know you can sing. Get it on the tape next time!
Hmmm..........2007-03-28
I'm being generous with the 'four stars' rating. This album didn't actually stick with me as much as I thought it would. I bought it for the wonderful album title (which was worth it, just to say I have it) and was expecting the rest to be as humorous. I don't really get all of it - not that all songs are to be "gotten" - but the most of the songs didn't really grab enough of my attention for me to really enjoy them.

I can totally chill to most of it and so it makes a pretty good background CD, but the opening track "Pass the Hatchet, I Think I'm Goodkind" is only good if you want to freak out for over ten minutes and the repititious nature of the song makes me sick.

I haven't heard any of the previous Yo La Tengo records, so I'm not a die hard fan and therefore probably didn't enjoy it as much as I should have. Maybe I'll pick it up a little later and like it better.
Yo la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la Tengo.......2007-03-18
This album fails on every level. The first track is a stand-up rocker which shows that this band can piss with the big dogs. Then, they proceed to make wee-wee with the poodles. Either they have the actual heart of a poodle, or they have complete contempt for their fans. Neither motivation appeals to me. If a band has no competent vocalist, and can't bring itself to make a change in the line-up, it has limited options: 1) make the material suit your voices (the Dylan gambit); 2) damn the torpedos (the Grateful Dead tactic); 3) tweak your weak vocals electronically (most everyone) or 4) submerge the vocal into the production and hope no one notices. Yo La Tengo succeeds so perfectly with strategy #4 that not one word of the lyrics is even understandable. You can use your voice as an instrument if you're Roy Orbison, but everyone else should have something to say or shut up. Finally, rock, like every great body of work, sees into the future by standing on the shoulders of giants. However, if you take your instrumentation, phrasing, and production completely from the giants' actual songbooks it had better be a send up (Frank Zappa) or it better achieve the speed of camp (The Darkness). Otherwise, you're a rip off. If I want to hear The Beatles or Santana, I'll put them on. When I want something fresh and original, I'll listen to something besides this album.

Average customer rating:

LOVE!

strike a pose, there's nothing to it

Swaggering Shoegaze

All of you "music" snobs please leave Amazon

Album of the Year (.)

Antics
Interpol
Manufacturer: Matador Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Plans

ASIN: B0002PD3HU
Release Date: 2004-09-28

Tracks:

Next Exit

Evil

Narc

Take You On A Cruise

Slow Hands

Not Even Jail

Public Pervert

C'mere

Length Of Love

A Time To Be So Small

Album Description
The follow-up to their mega-successful debut is no less brooding and intense, but charged with flashes of color and romance. "Antics" infuses Interpol's dark musical landscapes with new optimism.
Customer Reviews:

LOVE!.......2007-07-18
I love moody boys singing, and that is exactly what this CD is. Interpol has a very 80's retro sounds, but they don't get bogged down in it, like some of the other current, retro bands. Plus, I think all these songs are incredibly sexy. I don't give it 5 stars becuase as much as I love it, most all the songs sound very similar, there's not a lot of variety here. But the one note this CD hits, is a great one!
strike a pose, there's nothing to it.......2007-07-06
Interpol is one of the most derivative bands I've heard in a long time. It's not that they are a bad band, it's just that it's been done a lot better by several older bands **cough** Joy Division.
Despite this, I did enjoy the first half of TOTBL. There's just nothing new here, and I'm starting to think that their tormented scowls get more attention than their riffs.
Swaggering Shoegaze.......2007-07-04
On Interpol's celebrated debut, Turn on the Bright Lights, the swirling bursts of sonic gleaming and forceful drives were passionate and jarring, full of explosive power and emotional swells despite its dissonant vocal drone. So it must be surprising to some that on their heavily anticipated sophomore release, the band seems to step back from the harsh/beautiful glimmers and bulges into a much more bare-bones sound.

This stripping down is an essential part to the success of this album. While many bands try to take the next step forward, many get bogged down in being overambitious or pushing the experimentation envelope too far. Interpol, however, has fine-tuned their approach and has created an enormously cohesive album with a constant mood without getting mired in repetition or monotony. As a result, it's an even stronger "album effort" from an already widely acclaimed band.

Early comparisons to the likes of Joy Division, the Smiths, My Bloody Valentine, Television, and the Cure (the latter even took them on as an opening act for a recent tour) were inescapable, but this new record finds the band on firmer ground. While keeping their hands in the post-punk of the early 1980s but administering terrific melodies and catchy tunes, the vocals create such a dissonant buzz that it recalls the likes of Lou Reed and virtually the entire Goth musical scene. The Reed comparison is apt especially on the first track, "Next Exit"--if the Velvet Underground were formed today, they would have written that opener. But like virtually every other good rock band hitting their peaks today, there are dozens of earlier artists to compare them to; it's the nature of the beast that anyone could say, "that song sounds like (insert long defunct rock legend)."

Like most great start-to-finish albums, the highlights rise above the cream like a jump start point for a race. There is not a song here that will have you reaching for the skip button, though several may have you flipping back to the beginning two or three times in a row. Not least among them, the first single, "Slow Hands," has such a devastatingly catchy hook, it tears away with a bouncing force that instead of the shoegazing associated with its ilk, it will have your shoes moving. "C'mere" is one of the more upbeat numbers with a jangling rhythm oft associated with the likes of fellow NYC rockers, the Strokes. "Narc" sways and jostles on its animated rhythm section, a powerful groove that ebbs and flows with the spirit of the voice. On "Take You on a Cruise," frontman Paul Banks emerges with the twisted, love-sick lingerer mentality of Robert Smith, breaking the detachment that marked their earlier work. And arguably most impressive is "Evil," with its Carlos D bassline lifted liberally from the Pixies' "Gigantic" and a gradual build before abruptly turning; it forms such a coherent arc that the track emerges as the most complete song on the disc.

The least successful ventures are actually the ones that hearken back most to their debut. "Public Pervert" and "A Time to Be Small," although fine songs on their own right, don't fit in as well with the rest of the mix. They soar too far and buzz too strongly for the package, as if Phil Spector had arrived during those sessions and taken over. However, in the scope of their body, they are perfect pinnings to what once was while we see the endless areas they can still go. While Antics is no timeless masterwork, it's an endlessly listenable and rock-solid venture from an emerging band at the forefront of the crossover indie scene.

Best cuts: "Evil," "Narc," "Slow Hands," "Not Even Jail," "C'mere," "Take You on a Cruise," "Next Exit"
All of you "music" snobs please leave Amazon.......2007-06-14
I have grown tired of seeing every decent new band that comes out being bashed by these so called "geniuses" of music. This band sounds like Joy Division, this band is derivative, this band is an 80's punk rip-off, etc.

I was alive and old enough to listen to and appreciate Joy Division, Violent Femmes, old REM, New Order, etc. Yes Interpol does sound like them, but what band doesn't draw from previous generations? What about Oasis and the Beatles? Their music is better than anything out there today. I don't watch MTV -- it is all hip hop and reality TV --- I saw them on the previous Cure tour and thought they had a good sound. Are they better than their predecessors? I can't say that as all music is completely relative. It depends on what mood one is in to determine what is considered good music. Interpol is a good "new" band. If you want to bash something move over to the Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears area.

Album of the Year (.).......2007-05-25
Interpol delivers in spectacular fashion with a Masterpiece compilation of scrumptious melodies that do everything for me music is supposed to: amaze, stimulate, rock. Ironically these tunes are as soothing, as they are haunting; I can bench press to this music as easily as I can drift off to sleep listening to it. If I was a Music Vampire and needed to absorb fresh, vibrant tunes to stay alive, I could feed off this album alone, for a year. *****.

Average customer rating:

best record ever

The Life Pursuit

i never knew

Thoughtful, sentimental, sad, upbeat, sublime, melodic

nice and breezy

The Life Pursuit
Belle & Sebastian
Manufacturer: Matador Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B000E11568
Release Date: 2006-02-07

Tracks:

ACT OF THE APOSTLE

ANOTHER SUNNY DAY

WHITE COLLAR BOY

THE BLUES ARE STILL BLUE

DRESS UP IN YOU

SUKIE IN THE GRAVEYARD

WE ARE THE SLEEPYHEADS

SONG FOR SUNSHINE

FUNNY LITTLE FROG

TO BE MYSELF COMPLETELY

ACT OF THE APOSTLE II

FOR THE PRICE OF A CUP OF TEA

MORNINGTON CRESCENT

Amazon.com
Oh to be free and frivolous, like Stuart Murdoch and his extensive cast of players as they engage The Life Pursuit. There's no "Take Your Carriage Clock and Shove It" or "Get Me Away from Here, I'm Dying" on this disc. Life has gotten easier, it seems, since Belle and Sebastian's early days. To boot, since 2003's Dear Catastrophe Waitress, the Belle cast has indulged a more 70s-era set of influences: Isn't that Norman Greenbaum's "Spirit in the Sky" beat on the funny "White Collar Boy," a near sequel to "Step Into My Office, Baby"? And how about the T-Rex touch on the opening of "The Blues Are Still Blue"? No worries, Belle and Sebastian retain their gleam flawlessly. A jaunty lift is still in their step, a carefree abandon that charms even as it also reaches to the 70s for the funk-meets-psychedelia, "Song for Sunshine." It's bright and breezy throughout (the titles tell some of the story: "Another Sunny Day" and "Funny Little Frog"), with memorably decorous, familiar bouncing rhythms marking much of the album. The downtone "Dress Up in You" and "Mornington Crescent" are spare and lovely, wide-open in their pacing. All the same, "For the Price of a Cup of Tea," almost triggers a sing-along with just its name. --Andrew Bartlett
More from Belle & Sebastian

Push Barman to Open Old Wounds
The Boy with the Arab Strap
Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant

If You're Feeling Sinister
Tigermilk
Belle & Sebastian--Fans Only

Customer Reviews:

best record ever.......2007-06-10
I've always liked Belle & Sebastian. This is the best record they ever made. Anybody who doesn't like because it's too "slick" or "glossy" you are stupid. You may yearn for the charm of un-produced songs of the past and they were great but these songs are better. I don't skip over nothing. This is one of the better full record/albums prolly ever made. I really believe that.
The Life Pursuit.......2007-06-08
Reductive as it may sound, recent decades have musical signifiers that define the eras that spawned them. The `70s had disco. The `80s had synth-pop. The `90s had grunge. If you didn't look very hard, you might conclude that the `00s lack a musical style to call its own, but in fact, many of today's rock musicians have made their mark by culling from genres past: post-punk, folk-pop, new wave, garage rock and surf rock, just to name a few.

Forced to give an example of this trend, you could do a lot worse than Belle & Sebastian. They blazed onto the scene in 1996 with their first wide release, If You're Feeling Sinister, a winsome folk-pop pastiche that channeled The Field Mice, Nick Drake (in a big way) and Simon & Garfunkel. But even past-dependent bands need to evolve, and after treading water on 2000's Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant, they bounced back in 2003 with the sonically rich Dear Catastrophe Waitress and again in 2006 with The Life Pursuit--an album even more varied and energetic than its predecessor.

Playing "Spot the Influence" on The Life Pursuit is pretty easy if you've been following your music history. The carefree, eclectic spirit of The Smiths echoes throughout the album, most prominently on the sprightly "We Are the Sleepyheads" and the infectiously catchy "Funny Little Frog." There are shout-outs to `50s rockabilly a la Bill Haley ("The Blues Are Still Blue"), road trip-style Americana ("Another Sunny Day") and even Motown soul ("Song for Sunshine"), reminiscent of Marvin Gaye's more uptempo numbers.

The Life Pursuit transcends mere idol worship, however, due to Belle & Sebastian's ever-apparent modernist skew. "White Collar Boy" is the obvious exemplar: It's backboned by a stomping beat lifted from The Clash's "London Calling," and its jangly, bouncy guitars recall those oh-so-cheery performances on "American Bandstand." But the band takes advantage of modern instrumentation by incorporating a squelchy Korg in lieu of a bass, which makes sense in this flashy context. Additionally, the subject matter concerning an unceremonious white collar crime stands in blatant contrast to the song's instrumental cuteness. Think Stereolab in full Marxist mode and you've got the idea.

Between 2000 and 2006, Belle & Sebastian transformed from a collaborative outfit to what is now, essentially, a Stuart Murdoch solo project. As with Dear Catastrophe Waitress, Murdoch serves as principle songwriter, lyricist, vocalist and guitarist. He's more willing to take left turns than the rest of the band, and while his R&B singing comes off a little awkwardly, he has an unusually high success rate when he stretches himself. "Another Sunny Day," for example, is prime alternative country-rock, its driving rhythm and twanging guitars recalling the sunny, expansive highways of Nashville. As if that weren't enough, he's complemented by Waitress producer Trevor Horn, who has an intuitive feel for the band and lends them an appropriately crisp sound.

The Life Pursuit is Belle & Sebastian's most energetic release, and therein lies its only flaw. If someone had described Belle & Sebastian as "energetic" circa 1996, you probably would have laughed, but after ten years the band has moved fully out of the bedroom and into the world at large. The problem is that the most valuable introspection often occurs in the quiet confines of the bedroom, and for all of The Life Pursuit's giddy joy, most of its appeal lies right on its surface and doesn't especially reward deeper listening. If that makes The Life Pursuit slightly less masterful than Dear Catastrophe Waitress, it also firmly cements Belle & Sebastian's exciting new direction and heralds them as some of the finest torch-bearers of the 2000's zeitgeist.
i never knew.......2007-05-25
wow! i truly love this album. the songs are melodic but not depressing. the lyrics are beautiful and fierce! and all i wanna do is listen to this album again and again! "funny little frog" has a wonderful beat to it and makes me wanna hug somebody! all i wanna do when listening to "we are the sleepyheads" is drive with the wind in my hair! all the songs are great! buy this album!
Thoughtful, sentimental, sad, upbeat, sublime, melodic.......2007-04-02
Such an interesting set of emotions this music conjures, with ranging from the effervescent and hopeful "For the Price of a Cup of Tea" to a winding and countryish, starkly devastating "Another Sunny Day".

There are stories in every song, yet without otherwise downbeat, morose or self-important tones meant to drive meanings home. Often, the music seems an ironic consideration, offering even subtle sarcasm and unabashed expression to carry (and parry?) the prosaic tellings. I can hear creative timing and inescapable, sugary licks from 10cc, with the modern exuberance of Supergrass, in pop elements of their formulations. Some later Stranglers modern rock and even 70s Bowie influences infect a number of tracks. Throughout, there is a sense of arthouse sensibilities beneath the slick production - which seems a polished representation of their actual music, rather than being a simple covering or gussying up of inferior music that we often hear from obfuscatory, post-production effects in such prevalent use these days.

Loads more influences are evident, but hopefully you get the idea: each song has been imbibed with meaningful consideration of its unique storyline, yet wrapped in driving, highly complementary and fresh sounds that evoke familiar influences. It almost sounds like pop music that *must* have already been recorded by others, yet you are constantly reminded that it was never quite like this.

There are no didactic qualities to the otherwise thoughtful tales - they seem offered for reflection on both the speaker and yourself, as seems fitting. No moralizing in subjects touching on religion, relationships or society. Marvelously open to your judgement, with layers of depth to consider during and even after the listen. Regardless of whether you find a personal sharing in the situation or not, these individual themes evoke empathy by virtue of their thorough crafting and closely conjoined melodies.

At first, the tunes themselves pulled me in to a purchase. But, after a handful of repeated listenings (and, I rarely "repeat listen" to anything) the lyrical depth of consideration, whimsy and even simple story-telling craft carved deep furrows into my daydreaming times. Some songs have gained more emotional weight than I initially expected - yet, they remain so compelling, I keep going back to listen again. And, I have kept coming back to this record throughout my first week of ownership, many times a day. Quite odd for me, really.

Since this purchase, I've gone back in their catalogue to buy "If You're Feeling Sinister", which seems from the same roots . . . just, less musically advanced, more fragile in the production and certainly not near as confident in the presentation in contrast to The Life Pursiot. Yet, just as deep and emotionally considerable without being too ponderous, even then. Both albums are lovely and enjoyable in their own ways, with much shared between them, essentially.

I feel this latest album by Belle & Sebastian sounds part of a natural progression, perhaps a maturation of both musicality and acceptance/understanding of their subject matter, and can see plenty of room for broadening their sound styles beyond "The Life Pursuit" without losing who they appear to be at the core.

Recommended.
nice and breezy.......2007-03-30
i never really heard any of their stuff before...and i am reminded of that other scottisch band Zephyrs in places, but less spacy. This record sparkles and is just right.

Average customer rating:

Chan the (Wo)man Marshal makes another hit!

melancholy

Lover her or hate her

GREAT VOICE!

She can't play, but she can sure sing

The Covers Record
Cat Power
Manufacturer: Matador Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B00004NHDY
Release Date: 2000-03-21

Tracks:

(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction

Kingsport Town

Troubled Waters

Naked If I Want To

Sweedeedee

In This Hole

I Found A Reason

Wild Is The Wind

Red Apples

Paths Of Victory

Salty Dog

Sea Of Love

Amazon.com
Chan Marshall devised the Cat Power moniker in order to put a degree of separation between herself and the often-twisted individuals who inhabit her songs. Here, she takes another step back while also taking a step forward. As the album title indicates, these are covers of other people's songs. Yet she sings them with no less intensity than if they were her own. Mick Jagger may have snarled the definitive "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," but Marshall takes a different tack. She removes the chorus and returns it as elegant slow blues. The Velvet Underground's "I Found a Reason" becomes a near-wordless cry. She relies only on her sufficient guitar picking and likeably amateurish piano tinkling, creating an isolated web not unlike that of Neil Young at his most deserted. Most appropriately, she covers "Red Apples" by Smog, whom she resembles in approach. Obscure (traditional and early) Bob Dylan, Nina Simone, and Michael Hurley tunes complement the bruised but not buried surroundings. --Rob O'Connor
Customer Reviews:

Chan the (Wo)man Marshal makes another hit! .......2007-06-12
The Covers Record is an album that is typical Cat Power: subtle melodies underneath Chan Marshal's quiet, yet powerful vocals. I would venture to say that this is one of the most unique albums of covers that anyone will come across.
melancholy.......2007-01-12
I love this album. Her renditions of these classics are so unique to her style and melancholic. I love it.
Lover her or hate her.......2007-01-12
Chan seems to have the type of voice you love or hate; kind of like Bjork or JoAnna Newsom.

Put me in the love camp.

I'm listening to Covers right now, and let me say that the song "Naked If I Want to Be" is simply jaw-droppingly awesome. How can someone express such true, naked (no pun intended) emotion?

Truly incredible.
GREAT VOICE!.......2006-11-04
She has an excellent voice. Not typical. She does a great job of covering all of the songs!
She can't play, but she can sure sing.......2006-09-03
If you've been listening to the Cat Power album, The Greatest, you'll know that Chan Marshall makes a superb blues singer. The Covers Record, a likable collection of cover songs recorded in the late 1990s, serves as a nice introduction to Marshall's blues/folk singing style. There is no backup band on this stripped down album, only Marshall's voice and one other instrument per song. Spare, but it gets the job done.

Some reviewers have fawned over her version of the Stones classic "Satisfaction." I'm okay with that, but I'm considerably more enchanted by "Salty Dog," the country blues standard made famous by Mississippi John Hurt. Marshall does a wonderful version of it, easily on par with any folk or blues singer you can think of. One reason this song stands out for me is that she sticks to her strength (bluesy singing) and turns the guitar duties over to an actual professional, Matt Sweeney. He does nice job playing fingerstyle guitar John Hurt fashion. It's so easy to like this song. It's simple, clean, and sounds really great.

If only she had followed this approach for every song on the album! This could have easily been a five star album... not even just five stars, but a THOUSAND stars! But instead, Marshall prefers schlubing her way through the piano and guitar parts rather than have one of her talented friends provide a proper accompaniment. The Covers Record has a DIY quality to it as a result. Although I do like The Covers Record--it's one of her best albums--I keep thinking of how great it might have been if only she focused exclusively on singing.

Fortunately for us, Marshall's great voice saves the album. The CD is quite listenable even in spite of some of her bumbling and plodding accompaniments. I approve of the stripped down approach--no drum machines, no distorted guitars, no overdubbed harmonies. Truly, it would have been a formula for absolute perfection, if only!

Ah well... what are Cat Power fans if not an exasperated bunch? Look at any forum about her. It's one post after the next making excuses for her screwups, or making suggestions for improvement: "Chan would be so good if only she didn't cry and stop playing, or if only Chan would tune her guitar, or if only Chan would complete the song without messing up, or if only Chan would get a good producer who could help her." Somehow these problems never seem to arise with her peers like Ani Difranco, Regina Spektor, PJ Harvey, etc... but Cat Power fans have to learn to be tolerant. Every song can't be a winner. And in her case, it's more like every tenth song might be a winner, but only if the moon is right, she happens to be in a good mood, isn't drunk, nobody says anything mean to her, and she decides to let someone else play guitar for a change. Then and only then you may just get to hear something really magical come out of her.

In any event, The Covers Record has some remarkable moments and if you can accept its DIY limitations, it's a good listen.

Average customer rating:

Pure Pop Perfection

It takes more time to appreciate this one

Not my cup of tea

So far above the fray it's almost unfair

New To The Indie World And Love This Recording

Twin Cinema
The New Pornographers
Manufacturer: Matador Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music
Indie Rock | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music
Canada | North America | International | Styles | Music
General | Rock | Styles | Music
Power Pop | Rock | Styles | Music
Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music
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ASIN: B000A2H880
Release Date: 2005-08-23

Tracks:

Twin Cinema

The Bones of an Idol

Use It

The Bleeding Heart Show

Jackie, Dressed in Cobras

The Jessica Numbers

These Are the Fables

Sing Me Spanish Techno

Falling Through Your Clothes

Broken Breads

Three or Four

Star Bodies

Streets of Fire

Stacked Crooked

Amazon.com
Imagine a loose consortium of musicians who combine the lilting melodies of the Zombies with the driving hooks of the Kinks. Sure, it's what all the kids are doing these days, but Vancouver's New Pornographers are one of the few--along with the Shins--to get the balance right. Their third full-length offers more of the same smart power-pop that made Mass Romantic and Electric Version instant classics, plus some surprising new moves. As singer/songwriter Carl Newman (The Slow Wonder) has noted, "You can't play ebow without sounding like Eno," and indeed, Brian Eno's sublime early recordings are evoked on this more introspective offering. There are also strong new vocalists joining Neko Case: Nora O'Connor (the Blacks) and Newman's piano-playing niece, Kathryn Calder. If there was a flaw with previous efforts, it was that the contributions of Dan Bejar (Destroyer), fine as they were, sounded somewhat out of place. Just as they're better integrated this time around, Twin Cinema offers every member of this insanely talented ensemble the chance to shine. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
Album Description
The third album from Vancouver's pop maestros continues to feature Neko Case and Dan Bejar (Destroyer), as well as new vocalists Kathryn Calder and Nora O'Connor. These songs veer more toward the rocking and the personal than the sugar of earlier works. Chief singer/songwriter A.C. Newman has absorbed not just the mechanics of classic songwriting, but the heart, while indulging his admiration of demented current bands like Fiery Furnaces and Frog Eyes. Expect to hear influences from The Moody Blues, Tubeway Army, Wings, Eno, The Stranglers, 10cc, and other greats, all filtered through Newman's warped worldview.
Customer Reviews:

Pure Pop Perfection.......2007-07-13
Absolutely the best cd Ive heard in years for pure musical craftsmanship. The hooks are relentless and come at a blistering pace... initially they seem overdone and in-your-face, but after a few listens everything just clicks. I'll be the first to admit it took a couple listens to get into at first, but now this cd is like an addiction. I just have to listen, its no longer optional. The songs, and the album as a whole, just fit together perfectly. Its not often that I discover a cd thats so good that I feel compelled to write an online review (This is only my 2nd or 3rd Amazon review).

Neko Case is the icing on the cake, Im a huge fan of her solo work, and her contribution here makes the songs that much better. Do yourself a favor, pick up this cd and give it a few spins. Soon you wont be able to remove it from your cd player. And check out Neko Case's "Blacklisted" cd, the style is completely different from NP, but you'll be glad you did.
It takes more time to appreciate this one.......2007-06-12
When I first got my hands on this hotly anticipated 3rd release from the NP's it didn't "hit" me like the first two. After a year of low rotation in my collection I'm now listening to it over headphones and it's just now striking me what a great disc this is. It's as good as their other discs and in a lot of ways even better. The Bleeding Heart Show is such a great tune. Don't give up on this one right away. Put it away for a month or two if you don't get it right away and then pull it back out on a rainy day and give it another try - you'll get it.
Not my cup of tea.......2007-05-29
I guess it all depends on the type of music you like. I was drawn to The New Pornographers through Neko Case, and sad to say was dissapointed by the band. Not that they aren't a supremely talented band, but the droning voice of A.C. Newman wears thin on me, as is the case with Colin Meloy of The Decembrists. In fact, the two bands sound a lot alike, but Meloy brings a deeper literary flavor to his music that makes the songs much more enjoyable to listen to, at least for me. I much prefer Neko Case in her own element, singing her reverb-heavy folk ballads with a voice hauntingly familiar to Patsy Cline.
So far above the fray it's almost unfair.......2007-05-16
If CDs ever become extinct and scientists need to extract their DNA thousands of years from now to recreate them (a la Jurassic Park), "Twin Cinema," the perfect pop-rock concoction, had better be the disc they use. My question is, who says heavy electric guitars are mandatory to make the perfect rock record? The New Pornographers prove that several great singers, some piano, unique songwriting and a penchant for the perfect pop melodies from song to song will carry a band just fine. Of course, the lush, bountiful quality to these songs qualifies them as more than mere pop tunes. Calling these songs pop is doing them a disservice.

The opposite of stodgy would be upbeat, and that's what "Twin Cinema" is, even on the slower tunes, which have a tendancy to transform to livelier jingles by the end. The title track begins the CD like a blast of fresh-air power pop, a feature many of these songs share. Yet the New Pornographers seemed to create this album with the knowledge that people like to download songs that suit their individual tastes these days. Thus, there is a diverse feel to the record, almost as if more than one band was involved in making it. The album is fluent throughout, yet diverse and creative enough to keep you on your toes. "Twin Cinema" never feels dull, because the tunes take unique turns every step of the way. The snappy songs are enhanced by crisp production, quirky lyrics and superb drumming, which might get a little lost amid all the ultra-catchy sounds.

Neko Case has the best female vocals in rock. Such songs as "The Bones of an Idol" and "These are the Fables" are nothing less than elegantly beautiful. "Broken Breads" sounds like Syd Barrett (see The Madcap Laughs) performing a tune in 2005. The vibrating guitars on "Three of Four" is pure swank, reminiscent of a few songs on R.E.M.'s Monster from 1994. The chorus on "Star Bodies" has the lushest-ever vocals by Case (double-tracked), for a sound that is irresistable. Finally, "Stacked Crooked," the last song, has the defiant sound of redemption, looking forward with a sense of hope and positivity, despite the screw-ups of the past: "Stacked crooked all along but now I'm on my way."

Who knows where the New Pornographers will take it from here, but it's hard to imagine they will ever top the brilliance of this album.

New To The Indie World And Love This Recording.......2007-03-29
I started surfing around on Amazon about 4 months ago and discovered this recording. To preface, I have a very diverse music background and like everything from Miles Davis to Led Zeppelin to Neil Young to the Minutemen to the Grateful Dead to the Sex Pistols, etc.

This recording is so unique that I've listened to at least parts of it almost daily since I bought it 2 months ago. Very diverse range of sound, great lyrics, and very well produced. I highly, highly recommend it.

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