more on juliana. after finding the links to my earlier post i stayed at allmusic reading the review for made in china and found myself surprised, happily so, that the reviewer actually liked the album and gave it a 4,5 of 5.
i love the album, really love it - it's raw and honest and exactly what i expected and hoped she would sound like when she didn't have record company-people breathing down her neck. however, when it came out it seemed like the reviewers hated it. (maybe not as severely as i remembered, but still.) pitchfork sure did, gave it 5 of 10 and a review that makes me wonder if said person ever really listened to juliana hatfield at all. i guess i stopped reading the reviews after the first load of we-hate-it.
so i was kind of surprised to read lines such as "[made in china] is terrifically rewarding", cos that's exactly how i feel! it's not very produced (as in not overly produced like so much other music), it doesn't apologize for being ragged and it balances the honest lyrics extremely well so it never becomes pathetic or embarrassing (which i guess some critics disagree with me about).
i wouldn't trust anyone other than juliana to make this kind of record. yet at the same time it feels as if your best friend made it, and it's the best thing you've ever heard and you're so proud of her you could burst!
(i know you're curious; you can listen to it on amazon.com.)
2 comments:
I completely agree. Made in China is about as raw and honest as an album gets. I know that not everyone finds Juliana's sound as palatable as I do, but reading so many negative reviews of her work just reminds me that a lot of people just don't "get" her. I'd like to think that it's due to some kind of personality/taste deficiency, but that's probably making things too easy.
-joe.-
joe. sometimes i really like too easy. :)
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