 "What can I do? I fall down dead. She'll never see the tears I cry." | 2008-07-21 |
| - Reviewed By twallrich |
Growing up in the Minneapolis bar and music scene in the 1980s, I thought the only good thing that could come out of Wisconsin was Interstate 94. How wrong I was.
The Violent Femmes hit the Prince-saturated live music scene here like a plate of steaming-hot cheese nachos and a Pabst Blue Ribbon. Gordon Gano came from a place and a time where if your girlfriend dumped you, you could get drunk, get high, have a neurotic fit, and not hurt anybody but yourself. Actually, their music is the soundtrack for that kind of activity.
Other reviews complain that the Femmes could never top this album. Then, again, I think few bands could. Remember, the Femmes have put up four genuine rock and roll anthems like "Add it Up", "Blister in the sun", "Gone Daddy Gone", and "American Music".
Let's not criticize the perfection of the first album in light of the imperfections of the following works.
This is a must-buy collection of indigenous American folk-punk. I am pleased to see from all the reviews that it has found it's rightful place in American music history. Even if it did come from Wisconsin. |
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| "An 80's Classic" | 2007-12-21 |
| - Reviewed By mdbenitez |
| I don't know of anyone who grew up in the 80's and hasn't heard this CD - it's a classic, pure and simple. |
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| "Good Feeling" | 2007-12-03 |
| - Reviewed By bradleyhi68 |
Once again, another great record that I was turned on to in the mid 80's by a great college radio station. Easily the best of their records this quirky little oddity was one of the best albums of the 80's and is a classic example of what alternative used to mean - under produced and unique. The tacked on CD songs don't add much - Good Feeling is where this record really ends and rightly so. Listening to this record in the years since high school always briefly takes me back to that place but the catchy greatness of this album imprints it in the present as well. I have no other way of defining the qualities of a great recording.
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| "What makes this album great. . ." | 2007-12-01 |
| - Reviewed By gerdes_john2 |
. . .is the fact that these guys are amazing songwriters and instrumentalists. At a glance, I didn't see anyone talking about that here so I felt compelled to bring it up.
To some, the tone of this album is a turn-off. But it's just not overproduced. What I love about it is that you can HEAR the instruments as if the band was in the room with you. There are no dramatic arrangements to cloud the water. It is pure music, served without garnish for your enjoyment.
This collection of songs will remain in the High Canon of American music for generations to come. |
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| "Greatness" | 2007-10-27 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2Z4MXKAFQOUS3 |
| I bought this during the summer, you know, just to try out. I've heard mixed reviews about them, and that is usually good news. I chose this CD randomly from the other CDs in the "Violent Femmes" stack at the shoppe. I listened to it once, just sitting in my frends room with him. just chilling. after the last track, we didn't know what to do, so we played the CD again, this time not doing anything but listening, no distractions. After the second time, we decided these guys were amazing, and we preseded to listen to it for a third time. no kidding. of course we did other stuff after 3 times of listening, but while we were doing the other stuff, we could only talk about the CD. I burned him a copy at the end of the day, and lisneded to it in the car going back home. Great CD! |
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| "Honestly, if you don't know..." | 2007-07-13 |
| - Reviewed By User: A3SK0TI51Z7GO8 |
I'm pretty sure that there isn't a soul in this world that doesn't love at least the vast majority of this classic release.
I could go on and on about how great every song on this cd is, but then you'd get bored and stop reading... So I'll pick three.
First, the obvious, "Add It Up". This is probably my favorite punk song of all time... and it's accoustic. Not so unheard of now (but fairly uncommon), but completely novel, back then.
Next, "Prove My Love". A great example of a pop-punk song that not only doesn't suck (like most radio punk today), but is so awesome it could make the dead get up and dance.
Finally, "Promise". Interesting, how all my favorites here are punk songs. What really drives the Femmes, for me, is their insane, driving, punch you in the face rhythms. This song is the definition of what makes this record great.
Honestly, if you don't know how great this album is, your life will be shallow and void of knowledge of how great punk can be, when it's done right. |
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| "I love this" | 2007-05-14 |
| - Reviewed By User: A29C82ZQKV0G6R |
| This cd takes me right back to being 16 years old when I first heard it. I like almost every song on it. I recommend this if you like Blister in the Sun you will love the other tracks on here. |
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| "Love there CD" | 2007-05-12 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2P4TNG5D0MB7O |
| I haven't heard there music since I was in high school back in 1987-1988. Got the CD and love it!!!!!!! |
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| "Embedded in my soul" | 2007-04-17 |
| - Reviewed By danfox88 |
| Driving around Fort Wayne, Indiana circa 1986 with the windows down, blasting this thing from my car's cassette deck (yes, kiddos, once upon a time cassettes were the chosen medium for music), singing along as obnoxiously as we possibly could, yelling the lyrics at passing cars just to be annoying, worshiping Gordon Gano for his completely idiosyncratic whiny vocals and his Velvet Underground/Lou Reed obsession (see especially: "Good Feeling"), admiring the incredibly honest, childish, bratty, hilarious lyrics through this album, memorizing the "countdown" on the classic song "Kiss Off", and absolutely believing that this album was written for US. This album eventually became a teenage "rite of passage" much like "Nevermind the Bollocks Here's the Sex Pistols," but it was pretty cool to be in the target audience right at the time that this puppy was unleashed upon the world. Viva la Femmes! |
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| "Music doesn't get any better than this!!!" | 2007-04-03 |
| - Reviewed By fre_chan |
| I was such a nerd in the 80's. I copied all of my LPs into cassettes so when the cassetts got warped (due to too much play time, I could make another copy). This LP was one of the first to get warped. This was my all time favorite (next to late 70's Blondie) and I just found it again when my mom sent another package of my stuff from her house. Now, I need to get the CD. It's just too bad that they don't play all of their songs on the radio. |
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