Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Some beautiful songs, 10 May 2007
Sometimes a moment makes a song. The bit in 'Paint's Peeling' when you realise Rilo Kiley have created the whole of the preceding two minutes twenty-eight seconds to build up to this, when the guitars crash into 'hey, how could you love me this way?' and everything explodes into a monumental wall of sound that takes you by surprise because nothing thus far has suggested they could make this kind of noise. The split second when 'The Good That Won't Come Out' morphs into a Bright Eyes song, with pounding drums, glockenspiels and bells and reverberating cymbals, and how the track is over far too soon after that transformation. The point in 'A Better Son/Daughter' when Jenny Lewis suddenly launches into 'and sometimes when you're on, you're really f**king on', and her voice almost cracks under the weight of the words 'you'll fight and you'll make it through' when you know she's only singing for herself, like you do when you sing along. It's beautiful. Actually, the whole thing is beautiful, from the breathtaking frankness, crushing and amazing at the same time, of opening a song with the line 'sometimes in the morning I am petrified and can't move', to the military drums that underpin every word, whether Lewis sounds softly content or on the verge of choking with angry tears.
The album isn't all perfect moments, of course. When guitarist Blake Sennett takes over vocal duties, the tracks sound like hastily-written filler, and the accusations of overt tweeness levelled at the band occasionally feel justified (see 'Capturing Moods'). But Rilo Kiley are much, much more than friends of Conor Oberst, or just another Saddle Creek band. They sound passionate about surviving, and manage to blend that idealistic enthusiasm and verve with the reality of bitterness and disappointment, singing of the literal execution of all things, revelling in 'loving things just because, like the sick and the dying'. Sometimes a few special moments make it worth sifting through the ordinary, and this (mostly) gorgeous album is proof of that.
|
|
|
14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
There Are No Bad Words For This Album Today, 23 Aug 2004
I first heard of Rilo Kiley through the "Saddle Creek 50" compilation (which I urge you to also listen to).On it was "With Arms Outstretched" which hit me as a beautiful song and also "Jenny, You're Barely Alive" which shocked me as a woman like Jenny Lewis has such a beautiful voice but can deliver the most snarling lyrics with complete honesty. I immediately sought out their albums and was suitably pleased and impressed. Every song is excellent and Blake and Jenny have a definite knack for writing catchy pop hooks over angular, edgy guitars and melodious keyboards. The songs that stand out for me are the opening track "The Good That Won't Come Out", "My Slumbering Heart" (with it's chorus to die for) and the album closer "Spectacular Views". These three songs really show the contrast that the album contains. My only criticism lies with the 'special' track, "That's How I Choose To Remember It", which appears in snippets after various other tracks. Because it is only an excerpt it really cuts the album up and stops the flow of the songs. Apart from that, this is one album that is never far from my CD player!
|
|
|
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An amazing album by a brilliant, underrated band., 2 Mar 2004
I heard the song 'The execution of all things' on a cd which came free with a magazine, it was the only song on the cd that stuck out.
So, i bought the songs single and loved the two b-sides that came with the song, finally i bought the album and was blown away. The songs on it are all amazing and i love Jenny Lewis' voice, paints peeling, a better son/daughter, with arms outstreched are all some of my favourites, but every song has it's own place.
The lyrics for each are all incredibly deep and clever, the tunes are equally as amazing.All in all this album is one of the best in my ever-growing collection, it is VASTLY underrated. Buy it now and open your eyes.
Hail to whatever you found in the sunlight that surrounds you.
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
~ Rilo Kiley
~ Rilo Kiley
~ Rilo Kiley
~ Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins
~ Jenny Lewis
With an Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificate, you can get them what they want (even if you don't know what that is). 
Amazon Home