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Product details
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Track Listings
| 1. Hollywood Is High |
| 2. Freak Magnet |
| 3. Sleepwalkin' |
| 4. All I Want |
| 5. New Generation |
| 6. In The Dark |
| 7. Rejoice And Be Happy |
| 8. Mosh Pit |
| 9. Forbidden |
| 10. When You Died |
| 11. At Your Feet |
| 12. I Danced |
| 13. I'm Bad |
| 14. Happiness Is |
| 15. A Story (featuring Pierre Henry) |
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Formed in the early 1980's, the Violent Femmes folky, quirky, acoustic-driven take on power pop gained them a reputation as the freakish cousins of the then-massive New Wave movement. It also gave them quite a huge following, especially after the success of their debut. Their formula was simple: Gordon Gano's adenoidal whine and offbeat lyrics coupled with Brian Ritchie's frenzied acoustic bass and a simple, stripped down drum kit. Almost two decades later, their formula really hasn't changed much; Freak Magnet couldn't really have been performed by anyone other than the Violent Femmes. Gordon Gano still knows how to write great pop songs, and "Hollywood Is High", "Sleepwalkin'" or "New Generation" could have easily appeared on any previous Violent Femmes release. Freak Magnet is not the sound of a band maturing, or exploring a new sound or even expanding on an old one; rather, it's the sound of a band comfortably within it's element. After the feeble effort of 1994's New Times, Freak Magnet is a fantastic return to form. --Robert Burrow
Product Description
VIOLENT FEMMES Freak Magnet (2000 UK 15-track CD including Hollywood Is High & Sleepwalkin picture sleeve LC7180)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Exciting, energizing, and amazing, the eclectic trio are back with a heaping handful of unorthodox songs that will send your senses to the greter planes of space. The whine of Gano, the thunder of Ritchie, and the beatkeeping of Hoffman are in full force. Rejoice and Be Happy, Freak Magnet, Happiness Is are three quick stand outs of electric brilliance, while Forbidden and Requiem send acoustic (not boring acoustic, VF Acoustic) shivers down your body....
Buy this CD!
2 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I had expected a more mature version of my favourites: the first album and Hallowed Ground. Unfortunately Freak Magnet is staid and banal with the worst of the early albums (noisy and discordant) but none of the best. Freak Magnet does not have the crazed and tortured authenticity that I expect from the Violent Femmes. It sounds old, bored and complacent.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
19 reviews
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
They're Back
10 Mar 2000
Format:Audio CD
After years without a studio album, Freak Magnet is finally out. It is their best album since "Why Do Birds Sing?". After the weak "New Times" and the only slightly better import only "ROCK", the Violent Femms have regained their footing. Songs like "Freak Magnet", "Sleepwalking" and "I Danced" are fun upbeat tunes that sound like the old Violent Femms. This is a must have album for any Violent Femms fan.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Yikes, what a cool album!
30 Mar 2000
Format:Audio CD
One of the best party albums I've heard. Although the second half of the album is a little less upbeat (and the last song is downright scary), all of the songs are strong. I really like the title song and the US single, "Sleepwalkin'". It's classic Femmes...and I kind of think of it as their first album, only a little more electric and quite a bit more upbeat. I definitely recommend Freak Magnet!
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
kicking
27 Mar 2000
Format:Audio CD
Releasing their first studio album in six years, the Violent Femmes have received mixed reviews. Comments have included progress, the punkish, cynical band still cranking out clever little ditties that are wearing thin after 15 years. Superficially, this may seem a correct analysis, but on deeper reflection, entirely wrong. VF's two previous releases, New Times, and, Why Do Birds Sing? are unrelated sounds, each its own genius, the maligned New Times a logical, intellectual sound extension, and also a filled-out, grown-up VF sound. Who else in the world could have written a catchy song about the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio? Freak Magnet has brushed away the complexity of adding to the New Times sound, an evolutionary dead-end, and made a switch as timely as U2's musical progress between Rattle & Hum and Achtung Baby. Freak Magnet reviewers have also been skewed by experience. None mention having seen the Femmes live, and this album is all about live; refer a welcome treat, Viva Wisconsin, released in the last 6 months. Freak Magnet is the cumulative output of 20 years plugged and unplugged, streetcorner, theater, stadium and studio. A writer's object is their so-called 'natural voice', not fancy college words getting in the way of communication, but a conversational voice best captured on a tape recorder. Freak Magnet is the VF Natural Voice, their musical Natural Voice, an album instantly translatable to the stage, the quick tempo of a busking-sound drum, their style, as distinctive as the wrong-end drumsticks of Pantera. Catch this music live and you will know conversion, and when it comes time to slow the show down, VF will perform bittersweet ballads up there w/ the best. U2 is rumored to be returning to their old sound- the Joshua Tree era- minus techno, can they as assuredly make the transition to their roots as the Violent Femmes?
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