Become You

Indigo Girls | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 12, 2002)
• Original Release Date: 2002
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B00006310B
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (90 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #156,274 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best effort yet!, March 29, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Become You (Audio CD)

I have been an Indigo Girls fan almost right from the start and have loved every minute of it. I have found, though, over the years, that it's always taken me a hearing or two to really get into the album. Not true with Become You. This is the first album that I've fallen in love with on the first hearing. It is simply amazing.

Emily has done it again, pouring her heart and soul into songs that are lyrically and melodically beautiful and, at times, mournful and politically charged. Amy delivers her heartfelt political statements in seamless songs that show her ever increasing musical maturity and deepening philosophy of life, while never letting you forget it's really her behind the mic.

If you're a Girls fan and haven't purchased this CD yet, RUN!, don't walk to your nearest available merchant and demand a copy. You won't be disappointed.

30 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Indigo Girls lose some of their edge and emotion, May 1, 2002

By 

"nomadindiansaint" (ann arbor, MI United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Become You (Audio CD)

Let me start with this: the Indigo Girls have been a huge part of my growth as a young adult into an adult. "Swamp Ophelia" was one of my first CDs, and I loved it. I have all of their studio and live albums, several promo singles, and a few bootlegs. I've seen them in concert 10 times in the past few years.

I think this is one of their least satisfying efforts.

To be fair: there are some excellent songs here. Amy continues to impress me with her artistic growth and range of emotion. And Emily can still write ballads that tear at my heartstrings. My review here will focus on criticism.

But the truth is, this album is more of a rehashing of past successes than a true coming-home album.

I really liked Come On Now Social. Not at first, of course, but after a while, the complexity of the songs and their messages grew on me and rewarded me after repeat listening. And it's good to see excellent artists pushing themselves in new directions, even if they aren't always as successful as their original efforts. If it wasn't for experimental, risk-taking music, I don't know *what* we'd be listening to these days.

Despite her growth, Amy can't write new chord progressions. My favorite song on the album, "Become You," has a verse that sounds nearly identical to "Jonas & Ezekiel" from Rites. "Yield" recalls "Devotion" from the Retrospective. And there are more offenders. I guess that it's not really that important; after so many albums in the folk-rock genre, I-IV-V progressions are tempting. The chord progressions aren't the center of the music.

But my real qualm here is with how meek the material is. Emily's new tunes (especially Hope Alone and Collecting You) sound like 80's adult-contemporary hits. There's a thin line between touching emotion and mainstream, easy-listening cheese, and Emily crosses that line more than once on this album.

Moreover, Emily's metaphors are stretching a little thin these days. Take "Deconstruction" for example. When I heard it live last summer, I loved it. But after a listen or two, the imagery seems lackluster and contrived. "the trash truck making its way through the neighborhood ... we get to decide what we think is no good?" Please. It saddens me to hear lyrics such as these coming from the woman who wrote Ghost, Love Will Come to You, and Love's Recovery.

That's my two cents. Take it or leave it. Maybe it's because my musical tastes have changed that I don't like this album as much as I want to, but I'd prefer Swamp Ophelia with all its flaws to Become You any day.

19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Much more like the Indigo Girls we know and love..., March 12, 2002

By 

M. Rodriguez (Tampa, FL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Become You [Exclusive Amazon.com Version with Bonus Disc] [Limited Edition] (Audio CD)

Just finished listening to this album for the 2nd time complete and I've got to say that I was pretty surprised when I popped it in the CD player. After the last 2 ("Shaming..." and "Come On Now") I was expecting a lot of electric guitars, heavy drums, and full band "noise". Instead I found quite a few songs that are beautiful in both their melodic value and their lyrics, and an album that sounds a lot more "like the Indigo Girls". If I had to compare this to another of their albums, I would say it's probably closest in pace to Strange Fire or Nomads Indians and Saints; maybe even softer than that. A particularly good song that grabbed me is "Hope Alone"...an excellent song that speaks to anyone's who been in a long term relationship and is "settled" so to speak. There are a few faster paced songs on the disc where you've got some toe tapping (such as "Bitterroot") but for the most part, the type of album that you listen to for the lyrics and the beauty of the music.

Great acoustic guitar riffs and powerful, thoughtprovoking lyrics are the reasons that I got into the Indigo Girls' music in the first place, and THIS album definitely delivers in that respect. Although I love the Girls' "plugged in" stuff too, this was definitely a refreshing and nicely put together change. I would recommend it of course to any IG fan but to anyone who just loves good music period.