Become What You Are

Juliana Hatfield | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 3, 1993)
• Original Release Date: 1993
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Mammoth / Pgd
• ASIN: B000004AT5
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #161,763 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #75 in Music > Indie Music > Alternative Rock > Singer Songwriters

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hey Britney, THIS is talent!, September 19, 2001

By 

"vinylgirl" (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Become What You Are (Audio CD)

Juliana Hatfield is a true talent in an age where all too many female singers are nothing but seemingly soulless, talentless beautiful shells. She has enough true emotion and grit in her songs to take on a hundred phony Christinas or Britneys - so it always makes me sad to go to a used CD store and see 5 or 6 copies of both `Become' and `Only Everything' on the shelf. What are these people missing? What's not to love?

If you're looking for true female talent and emotion, this CD is a fantastic starting point. As a huge fan of Juliana's work, both on her own and as part of the magnificent Blake Babies, this remains my favourite of her albums. I'm sure it has a lot to do with where I was in my life when I first discovered this album - a bored, daydreaming, moderately small-town high school girl, feeling unsure of myself, my surroundings, my future, as so many high school students do. "Feelin' Massachusetts" was my ultimate theme song for a good long while - I identified with it more than I did with any other song at the time. It addressed my longing for something new and interesting, my desperately wanting something "more."

Then came the other songs - each of which hit me with the force of a thousand lighting bolts. "My Sister" resonated each time I had another fight with my older brother (before we "grew out of it", of course.) "Spin the Bottle" was a reminder of every crush I endured, most of which now make me cringe. The entire album, from start to finish, seemed to emulate my life.

Years later, as a happily involved, employed 24-year-old living in the "big city", I still pull this album out and find something to relate to. Even if it's not painful crushes, small town blues or fights with my brother, there's always a time where I need music I can relate to. This album is always one of the first I pull out of my collection. And even if I'm feeling good about everything, I can still vividly recall the days when these songs made me feel that Juliana was reading my mind.

If you're looking for whiny love-gone-wrong songs, bad drum-machine beats or fancy choreography, go look up Britney Spears. But if you're looking for a strong, honest, vulnerable album - you've come to the right place.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the greats in '90s alternative., July 25, 2005

By 

Michael Stack (North Chelmsford, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Become What You Are (Audio CD)

Conventional wisdom states that the followup to an artist's debut is lacking when compared to the debut. Usually, that first album consists of songs they've been working on for years, whereas the followup is thrown together in a hurry. Of course, this isn't always the case, particularly with artists emerging from bands.

Case in point: Juliana Hatfield's "Become What You Are".

Performing with a trio of bassist Dean Fisher and drummer Todd Phillips, with herself handling the guitar duties, Hatfield's sophomore effor does something her debut did not. It lets go of the Blake Babies legacy. Sonically, its as indebted to the Pixies as the jangly pop of the Blake Babies-- loud, in-your-face, overdriven guitars and slicing basslines over which Hatfield confidently delivers her lyrics, giving her voice a resonance it lacked on "Hey Babe". But more to the point, it began the legitimization of Juliana Hatfield as a guitar hero-- it seems so long ago, but in 1994, women didn't appear in guitar magazines as anything more than a novelty, but Hatfield was too good to be denied.

This is apparent right from the start, opener "Supermodel" is a slab of punky alternative with a fantastic vocal and clever songwriting. In fact its pretty much this that makes the album what it is, moving from semi-environmentalist jangle pop ("For the Birds") to venomous meditations on homelessness and mental illness-- which in Hatfield's native Boston often go hand-in-hand (moody rumination and album standout "Mabel") to popularity contests (goofy pop song "Spin the Bottle") to Henry Rollins and over sexuality (breezy pop turned heavy alternative monster "President Garfield"). Along the way, there's a dark hit song ("My Sister"), a punk song about gun-toting women ("A Dame With a Rod", which features one of Hatfield's best early guitar solos and a moody closer ("I Got No Idols"). What's fairly incredible is the stunning level of quality on the album-- there's no filler, no stuff clearly pushed by the record company, just all really good material.

This album is really essential listening for any alternative fans, its one of the best of the genre and as many of her peers have received mainstream recognition, Hatfield remains unfairly in a cult status, and its downright depressing that this is out of print. Highly recommended.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Play me some music that lifts me to my feet", April 24, 2004

By 

mwreview "mwreview" (Northern California, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Become What You Are (Audio CD)

Become What You Are came out during my first year of junior college and it was one of my favorite CDs at the time. I think my mom got sick of me playing it over and over. Listening to it 11 years later, I figured I had outgrown the music. No way! It still sounds great! From pop sensations like "My Sister" and "Spin the Bottle" to rockers like "A Dame with a Rod" and "I Got No Idols" to slower tracks like "For the Birds" and "Mabel" it is a fun album from beginning to end. The lyrics are sophomoric at times, but the music is so catchy, you don't notice them and end up singing along to silly lines like "I want his power inside of me. And I'm not talking about a piece of meat, I'm saying something really deep." Every song here is great but "Mabel" is my favorite. The lyrics are actually intriguing on this track ("Check out that lady she's talking to herself, check out that lady, she's gonna go to hell") and it starts out with a slow, almost haunting sound and then rocks out at the end. "President Garfield" is also an interesting track although the lyrics become very weird at the end. Fun sidenote: "My Sister" gives reference to the Violent Femmes and the Del Fuegos, "before they had a record out. before they went gold." Become What You Are is a very enjoyable album and I recommend it to anyone who likes "alternative" rock.