Customer Reviews

Another World

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

i was worried that he may not be able to pull it off again; boy, was i ever wrong...! this music is just as stunning as the music on his previous releases. a mood is set within seconds of starting the cd: there's a dark serenity and a melancholy beauty in this music.
nothing has stopped me dead in my tracks like "shake that devil" since "hope there's someone" from his previous release. a full-length release from antony and the johnsons early next year is truly something to anticipate.

This effort by Antony et.al., as with their other work, provides a refreshing deviation from most of the stagnant crap that's out there today. A couple more tracks would have been nice.

Antony goes great one more time!! In spite other reviews, I give this album a five stars rate. I think, first of all, he doesn't repeats himself. And at the same time he keeps on the same line he has been working since "I'm A Bird Now", or maybe before, since "I Fell In Love With A Dead Boy". It is full of something I'll call "religious" or "mystical" taste. Makes sense since the this and the next LP "The Crying Light" is dedicated to the Japanese butoh artist Kazuo Ohno.

The song "Another World" introduces us to something near gospel, music and lyrics. A very deep and beautiful tune. "Crackagen" it is also a slow ballad. Both sad and joyful. Then comes "Shake That Devil", which for me seems to be one of Antony's greatest songs. Very mystical! This piece's lyrics takes us to a battle within evil forces in a medieval or renaissance way. A song about Fight and Resistance. "Sing For Me" goes back to some sounds from Antony's "I'm A Bird Now". Nice tune. Ends up with "Hope Mountain". Also remains me other tunes, but at the same time, connects with the first song of the album. Deep and sensitive.

Antony keeps his great taste for music and words. Changes, but in a good way. And if you get the LP record, you'll see a beautiful white vinyl, and a bonus coupon to download the 5 songs from the EP.

Played again now, against the heartbreaking holocaust unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico, "Another World" can be seen as a haunted goodbye to the fading beauty of our planet's natural world:

I need another place
Will there be peace?
I need another world
This one's nearly gone

Still have too many dreams
Never seen the light
I need another world
A place where I can go

I'm gonna miss the sea
I'm gonna miss the snow
I'm gonna miss the bees
I'll miss the things that grow
I'm gonna miss the trees
I'm gonna miss the sound
I'll miss the animals
I'm gonna miss you all

I need another place
Will there be peace?
I need another world
This one's nearly gone

I'm gonna miss the birds
Singing all this songs
Been kissing this so long

When a world teeming with natural life and abundance, a world not only unto itself but one that provides its bounty of goodness for humanity, is destroyed by greed, recklessness, power and opportunism, who speaks for it in its time of dying?
Framed as a plaint for what we are squandering on Earth, Antony sings in a quiet but firm moral voice, full of sadness, and the words "I need another world" are born of an understanding that you cannot turn back from the permanent. So, what we have left is a mourning prayer, and I have a dream of BP fat cats being forced to play this song, while shown images of sea life and bird life perishing in the oil poisoning Louisiana's coast and getting down on their knees, weeping and asking God's forgiveness.

Antony has such a soaring soulful voice vinyl really is the way to get the most enjoyment from it. It's like he's in your room!

ok, so the songs here dont touch antony's best (hope there's someone, i fell in love with a dead boy, twilight, if it be your will, fistful of love, frankenstein), but it is MUCH better than one star!!! my god, it's still antony! which basically means it's better than a majority of overproduced not-from-the-heart crap that gets shoved down music fans' throats. i wouldn't say i'm a full-fledged member of the antony cult (i'm not too crazy about the tracks he did with hercules and love affair, and the b-sides for you are my sister were sub-par) but this is still beautiful stuff.

Antony Hegarty returns with the `Another World' EP, which preps the way for his new album, `The Crying Light' in January 2009. On opening track, `Another World,' Antony sings a litany of things that he will miss when he finally shakes off this mortal coil. Backed by only a piano and backup singers, Antony's voice is in top plaintive form on this track. The cabaret like `Crackagen' is full of lush strings that accentuate the work performed on the keys.

"Shake That Devil" opens and recalls Nick Drake's "Black-Eyed Dog" in tone. In this song, Antony seems to be surrounded with deathly images coming to him, he sings of dark dogs, birds, and pigs and menace. A distorted guitar enters and Antony seems able to exorcise these demons. On `Sing For Me,' Antony intones for a lost love that could soothe him. The EP closes with the stately `Hope Mountain' and the piano playing sounds influenced by the Peanuts scores written by Vince Guaraldi.

This EP has done its job, and now I'm a bit more anxious for January to arrive.

I was blown away when I discovered I Am A Bird Now several years ago. Absolutely stunning. I then hunted down anything that Antony had done and found his other CD. Also a masterpiece. His voice is really an instrument and although his gender bending lyrics are out there, anybody who enjoys a good vocalist would have a hard time turring this artist away. I had great anticipation for the next Antony CD to come out. Well..............I received it yesterday. Have given it several listens. Very disappointing. While his voive is still striking, the composition of these tunes is flat, they lack depth, and are simply not very good.