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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This is the best Lambchop album, 1 Dec 2008
Mainly because it's the most heartfelt and least self-consciously quirky. I thought Damaged was the most boring thing ever; I didn't even get through the whole of it, so I was not at all optimistic about its successor. How many Lambchop albums could really be considered classic? Only Nixon and Is A Woman. This album may lack the same kind of stand-outs as those two albums, but I found myself impossibly moved by these tracks. I listened to a promo copy, I don't know if the actual album has a lyric booklet, and I don't know what half the words are, but it's the moods of the pieces more than anything . . . a powerful melancholy that Wagner has only occasionally tapped before (specifically on the Is A Woman album). This album is NOT BORING. Don't believe the other review that says that. Damaged was boring, because it felt like nothing was really at stake, like Wagner was going through the motions to some degree. Others will no doubt scoff at the idea that this is Lambchop's best album, but it's the one that affected me most, and that's how I measure how good an album is. Particular mention goes to 'Slipped Dissolved And Loosed','Of Raymond' and 'Popeye'. Don't miss the experience of this album, because it is special and unique.
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12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"I am free from all decisions / I am free from all despair...", 28 Sep 2008
I'm a complete Lambchop neophyte, but I happened to hear this album - it was given away free in the German edition of Rolling Stone - and I loved it.
The painting on the front by artist Michael Peed, Kurt Wagner's former grad school mentor, sets the scene for the album: violence (through the window, you can see LA police officers beating a man in a racist attack) is comically and critically contrasted with an intimacy which is centre stage (a man fondles his lover's breast on a dishevelled bed, blissfully unaware of the tumult outside). There is something more fiery being held back in the music, too, kindling on the coals in the background, but never quite bursting into flames.
In his restrained baritone - such a refreshing counter to the loud and glossy unsubtleties of mainstream music - Kurt Wagner's lyrics are barely audible (on one track he sings, "I'm such a bad enunciator / Understanding [me?] is hard") but have their trademark thoughtfulness: "We'll I'm not too acquainted with the topography of your mind", he sings on Slipped, Dissolved and Loosed, "I need a detailed description / a representation of some kind".
The drip-drop melancholy of this brilliant album has charmed me over!
Standouts (IMO): A Hold of You, I Believe In You, Of Raymond, Slipped Dissolved and Loosed
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5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Genius, 13 Oct 2008
Im a huge fan of Kurts beatiful band. Stumbling upon them back in the NIXON days... That they are branded Alt country it will shock any new ears that OHIO drifts along with subtle understated grace. As usual it takes a few spins for the tresures to shine through But like all Lambchops albums give it a little time and the rewards are worth there "wait" in gold.. This gem of an album will have pride of place on my player...... until the band bring out another..!!
Album of the year in my world
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