- Purchase a product from the Music Store sold by Amazon.co.uk and receive £1 to use on an album download in our MP3 Store. Here's how (terms and conditions apply)
Amazon.co.uk allows you to pay for your items in your local currency. Restrictions apply. Learn More. |
Special Offers and Product Promotions
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
Listen to Samples and Buy MP3s
Songs from this album are available to purchase as MP3s. Click on "Buy MP3" or
view the MP3 Album.
|
Product Description
Review
Jenny Lewis, the Californian ex-child actor and full time member of Rilo Kiley, has used her second solo album to defy expectations. Following Under The Blacklight's retro AOR sound which brought Fleetwood Mac's classic period to mind, she now turns up on a dusty back road, dealing in the kind of gritty Americana that you'd associate more with Lucinda Williams.
Key elements on this album are country rock and gospel leavened with a dash of dirty Southern rock 'n' roll ( The Black Crowes' Chris Robinson makes an appearance). Recorded mainly live over three weeks, in places tracks (like See Fernando) are gloriously in-yer-face, while in others the harmonies (provided by a host of pals including Zooey Deschanel) are swoonigly lush. The title track's chorus will melt any heart.
Subject-wise Lewis still sticks to what she does best: confessionals with a distinctly grown-up bent (especially on the sexually charged opener, Black Sand). And despite the often-raucous, joyful feel (there are several references to abuse and cruelty. Godspeed is about a friend mired in a dangerous relationship, with Lewis' entreaties falling on deaf ears. Badman's World seems to detail a grim figure from Lewis' distant past. The songs often come across as some cool road movie, peopled by lowlife and losers. Carpetbaggers - her duet with Elvis Costello - is an upbeat tale of grifters and users. So upbeat in fact, that Costello sounds like he did back in 1978. Amazing.
Less successful is Lewis' attempts to (in her own words, do a 'Streisand' by turning three songs into a medley on The Next Messiah. All three songs are fine, but could have stood on their own legs without being shoehorned into a track nearly nine minutes in length..
Acid Tongues is a good album that really focusses on her maturing talent as a songwriter of real note. This credibility capturing performance may reach a maturer audience but one still hopes that she won't discard the obvious pop genius that lurks on previous work. --Chris Jones
Find more music at the BBC This link will take you off Amazon in a new window
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Definite grower,
By
This review is from: Acid Tongue (Audio CD)
After being thoroughly disappointed with Rilo Kiley's last album I approached this with some trepidation. Thankfully this turned out to be a good listen - not immediate but a definite 'grower' after a few plays. Songs such as 'Pretty Bird' and 'Godspeed' are gorgeous, for example. I've even grown to quite like Elvis Costello's contribution to 'Carpetbaggers' which at first struck me as rough and too raw. Now I think I think it fits the song. All in all, worth a listen. Jenny Lewis is a talented writer and singer - one wonders why she needs Rilo any more as this is far superior. I do agree with the reviewer about the cover - it is shockingly bad considering the quality of the contents. No stars for that!
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gives me tingles,
By
This review is from: Acid Tongue (Audio CD)
I must admit that the first album passed me by as did Rilo Kiley, so I guess I'm not really speaking as a Jenny expert here. But I really recommend this album to anyone looking for an album with a soul, what I mean by that is that when you listen to this it's hard to feel alone as it's as if Jenny's voice is in the room with you. The way she sings is so passionate, making it easy to get caught up in the stories she's telling, which are great by the way and have kept me coming back for more. To be honest I don't buy many cds anymore and only got this on a whim, but i'm really pleased with it and think its great value for money as it's full of hits and the sort of album you'll revisit in years to come. The only thing I don't like is the song with Elvis Costello on it as I don't like his voice, but if you're cool with him it's all good!
9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
BEWARE OF THE PACKAGING,
By
This review is from: Acid Tongue (Audio CD)
On first listen this is pretty good. Better than her last album or any of the Rilo Kiley albums.Very mature with lots of interesting arrangements and instrumentation. So 4 stars for the album.
However, I wouldn't usually review an album on the strength of one listen, but what I really want to do is warn prospective purchasers that this comes in a card sleeve.Something Amazon's description fails to mention. And it's not even a good card sleeve. In fact I've got cd singles with more and better packaging than this. Frankly, for nine quid this is abominable.I would only knowingly have bought this if there was no alternative.My advice to anyone wanting to buy this album is to first see if you can get it in a proper cd case.And if you're a fan of Jenny Lewis I'd certainly recommend this.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews |
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Listmania!
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
