Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Kristin's Best Bits In One Place, 11 Mar 2007
I've been entranced by Kristin Hershs' music since the early days of Throwing Muses, through her disparate solo albums and her experiments with 5o Foot Wave. I've not loved everything unequivocally, but when Kristin sings my bones vibrate, and even if I don't always understand where she's going, I'm always glad to be along for the ride.
The songs on Learn To Sing Like A Star feel like a writer and performer more in control of her muse than she may have been at times, and enjoying every minute of it. There are moments when I'm reminded of Real Ramona - era Throwing Muses, even of the melodic sensibilities Tanya Donelly brought to their work at that time, but the voice and the lyrics are pure Kristin. There are also moments when the simple directness we've heard in songs on some of her recent solo albums is to the fore. And there are songs that just rock.
I don't know if I can pick outstanding tracks on this album because I honestly don't think there is a bad piece of work on it. As lyrically beautiful and complex as ever, this is an album long-time Kristin Hersh enthusiasts will love, but it may also be more accessible to newer listeners than some of her other work, and if that leads to those people going back and listening properly to her earlier work, and paying attention in the future, that can only be a good thing.
Above all, there is a huge amount of joy and fun in this album, something that's always been in Kristin's work, though sometimes you may have had to look harder to see it. Kristin never just gives us more of the same, and I can't wait to hear what's next.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Kristin at her absolute best, 23 Jan 2007
Been a while coming, but don't they say the best things are always worth waiting for.
Kristin's haunting moody vocals at their very best. An extremely well written and constructed album.
Powerful almost Throwing Muses like numbers, the likes of In Shock will have you knowing you've made the right purchase long before you get to more melodic numbers like Thin Man.
Its just one of those albums that from the moment you hear the first track you KNOW you're gonna love everyone on it, first play through!! A must for anyone who knows Kristins music, a deffinate for anyone curious enough to read this.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Her best since Strange Angels, 9 Feb 2007
Kristin Hersh's Learn to Sing Like a Star is her best work since Strange Angels. Although not as sparsely orchestrated as Angels, the songs here are as bare and powerful. The urgent drums and soaring strings support from cello and violin on the first track In Shock contrast beautifully. The strings never seem out of place, despite the sharp and spiky lyrics and drumwork, and like Sam Phillips' Fan Dance, Learn to Sing Like a Star is mesmerising as a result. Her voice may be an acquired taste, but despite her status as an alternative singer/songwriter, there are some beautiful rock melodies here, especially on the three great tracks that end the album: Vertigo, Wild Vanilla and Thin Man. One critic described Strange Angels as acoustic Nirvana. Hersh doesn't need noise to convey fury or frustration, she can do it ever so softly, sneaking up behind you and insinuating her unique poetry straight into your brain with just a few instruments. Beautiful stuff.
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