Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
top stuff, 12 Mar 2003
This is one of the best albums I've heard for a very long time. Think Bonnie Prince Billy/Palace crossed with Neil Young's "After The Gold Rush". If that's the sort of thing that rocks your boat then this is the one for you. The songs are as good (if not better) as anything Jason Molina has written before, but the use of a full band firing on all cylinders is what separates this from a lot of alt-country, impressive considering the particularly strong scene at the moment.
The two songs with guest vocalists work really well, especially "Old Black Hen". These comparative rock-outs don't diminish any of the intimacy though, so long term fans don't be put off (but if you're a long term fan I guess, like me, you're going to buy this anyway, already knowing it will be a jem).
Truly top stuff!
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
talk about the blues..., 19 Jun 2007
Jason Molina is surely the king of despair. When his aching, surely no more than a second from failing voice moans the lyric 'You might be holding the last light I'll see before the darkness finally gets ahold of me' on Hold On Magnolia, you can feel an apocalypse a-comin', a real one too, the type where the world just keeps on keepin' on, and it's a kind of hell. But there's something about these songs that won't let despair or loss be the end of things. The tunes are riddled with crackling riffs and wry humour, like the bad-luck lullaby of Old Black Hen, or on the album's masterpiece Just Be Simple where Molina cracks 'Everything you hated me for, honey, there was so much more, I just didn't get busted'. These songs are immensely atmospheric works, some of the lyrics quite densely poetic, some just downright honest.
This album seems to have marked a hitting of stride for Jason Molina. Feels like he dug on the mighty rockin' groove he hit on this record so much he ran with it, changed his band name from Songs:Ohia to Magnolia Electric Company, and recorded two more albums with a full band, What Comes After The Blues and Fading Trails, with songs that are by turns hauntingly beautiful and stirringly rocking.
This record is a fine balance between Molina's earlier, more spectral incarnations, and the full furious 1970's-style country rock of the later LP's, including the fine live record Trials and Errors.
If you dig on Neil Young, both electric and acoustic, or just like honest, pretty, passionate rock and roll, there's no better place to check in than right here.
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7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the best I've heard in years, 4 Aug 2003
Few albums I have bought in recent years have captivated me as completely as this wonderful release. The above reviews say everything you need to know about this record musically. I can not, however, understate the impact Jason Molina's lyrics and vocals have on you. Without understanding exactly what he is trying to say, you get the distinct feeling that he is saying something very important indeed. Buy it, bring yourself down and then realise that there is still hope, somewhere. Spectacular.
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~ Magnolia Electric Co.
~ Magnolia Electric Co.
~ Magnolia Electric Co.
~ Songs: Ohia
~ Songs: Ohia
