Customer Reviews

Beautiful & the Damned

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

 

 

Yes, you read it right...Hilary Duff meets NIRVANA, I'm totally serious!! Like sharp-edged, grungy, noisy POWERPOP (Nirvana/Cheap Trick), done by 4 Australian girls who write AND PLAYED songs in a heavy sugary teenpop vein aka Hilary Duff...you could call it teengirlpop with a serious kick in the nutz!!!

The only band that comes close is defunct New York City girlband rubyblue...but LASH were much more raw and not at all polished...

I was first exposed to Lash from the Lindsay Lohan movie "Freaky Friday" ("Beauty Queen" is on the soundtrack, and so is Lindsay's/Christina Vidal's COVER of "Take Me Away", the song they perform in LL's garage right when her mom shuts the power off)...and my friend/reviewer "Metal Mike" Saunders, who is a HUGE fan, and he knows his teenpop!! From what I heard musically and from him, I was SERIOUSLY intrigued and decided to track down their only album (the band broke up)...and boy, am I glad I did!!! This is an overlooked rockin' gem that broke a LOT of rules and did it well!!!

All 10 songs are KILLER...they could appeal to Hilary Duff/TRL/teenpop fans, as well as modern rock/punk fans, powerpop aficianados and girlpop obsessors...there's not one dud in the bunch!!! These girls got the shaft!!! Not enough appreciators out there in the world!!!

Remember I said they break a lot of rules?? Well, Lash DO and DID!! In pop music, it seems you could only be one style (teenpop/powerpop/punk/girlpop), and not combine them without being ostracized...alas Lash took girlpop and noisy, sharp, RAW powerpop/punk and COMBINED these styles flawlessly and played them with verve and bundles of nervous energy on 10 GONZO-catchy tunes that won't leave your brain EVER!!!

Would teenpop fans accept Lash?? Perhaps. Would punk/modern rock fans accept Lash?? Highly doubtful as they never accept girlbands, except for Kittie who are not pop. Powerpop fans?? Maybe, as they might consider Lash too bubblegum despite their razorsharp edge...thing is, is it still bubblegum if it's sharp as a knife?? Discuss...like I said, Lash broke many rules and preconceived notions with their sound!! Girlband fans?? Definitely!!

I'll put my foot down and call Lash's lone album "The Beautiful And The Damned" one of the greatest albums of this decade, one of the best DEBUT albums ever made, and clearly, one of the most seminal albums ever released, they way they combined TRL teengirlpop and razorsharp powerpop/punk... Honestly?? I don't think there will ever be another band that would even DARE combine the two styles, let alone do it so well...

A masterpiece...Lash should be proud of their accomplishment, I'm serious!!

I actually first heard one of their songs on the the Female Snowboarding Video Feature "Hardly Angels."

It's definitely a good rocker album with some pretty melodic, poppy rock slow jibs.

If you're into Imports / Indie Punk / Indie Pop Rock, then this definitely hits the spot.

I bought this album in the bargain bin of a virgin megastore for $1. I figured it's got legs on the cover, why not. I tell you, it was the best dollar I ever spent on a cd. I don't know if I would spend the $22 import price on it, but if you're down with listening to kick ass poppy punk rock sung by girls that were probably the ones to beat your ass unconcious so they can get enough money out of your wallet to hit the CBGB's, then I highly recommend this album to all you mofos.

The songs here are a bit more sugary sweet and pop than what I had been lead to believe, based on some reviews.

I'm aware that the Riot-GRRRL movement has been dead for some time now and it was more of a 90's thing but I thought it would show some grungier influences in some areas. Still a good album, I figured some of the songs would be a bit harder and powerful in sound.

I also thought the lead vocalist on "Beauty Queen" would be the primary vocalist of the band, She's not. Boo-hoo! (This was very upsetting) I like how bare her voice is in that song.

She who provides the "Beauty Queen" vocals are superior. Where is she? and what have they done with her? What's her name? Is she still making music?

There's obviously two front vocalists in this band, And the "Beauty Queen" vocalist is a secondary lead. She does her share on another song titled "Caged My Soul", Which is perfect and more along the lines of what I had in mind when purchasing this album.

Whoever the lead vocalist is on "Take Me Away" and "Don't Ever Make Up My Mind", She's the primary vocalist throughtout this album. The one that sounds like mini mouse (go figure).

I have a feeling that "Take Me Away" and "Beauty Queen" are the same vocalist, She's just singing in a higher pitch and different style on "Take Me Away". Which could be the case on the rest of the album but I have a strong doubt about that. Not too sure.

That's the major issue I have with this record, Other than that I should make it through some other listening sessions.

This band reminds me a lot of a more pop Veruca Salt. If Veruca Salt were a tad younger and more polished this would be them.