Beheaded [Original recording reissued]

Bedhead | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 20, 2001)
• Original Release Date: 1996
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording reissued
• Label: Touch & Go Records
• ASIN: B000056O2U
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #243,012 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beheaded, May 30, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Beheaded (Audio CD)

The songs on "Beheaded" are more reflective of a suicidal, chronic-type depression than the manaic tendencies displayed on the previous Bedheader. While "What Fun Life Was" offered more of a loud/soft dynamic, "Beheaded" leaves one unsettled in the contemplation of the bleakness of the worldview being perpetuated. Repeated listens may even leave the listener with minor paralysis, unable to move for days, in a catatonic state.
"Beheaded," the opener, is the complicated dilemma of whether life is worth living in lieu of indie-rock stardom, while "Rest of the Day" is the contemplation of whether to get out of bed in the morning. The suicidal tendencies intensify on "Left Behind," before foraying into the more ennui-filled drug-influenced tracks like "Smoke," "Burned Out" and "Withdraw."
"Felo de se" displays the Gnostic trap of inescapable suicide and torture, while "Lares and Penates" and "Losing Memories" focus on more of a Romantic sensory appeal and remembering, all of which puts the focus back to the present-tense.
No questions are definitively answered on this record, but if you were to surmise, the answers would almost certainly be in the negative. The record cover features the simple Bedhead design, with the name of the record, "Beheaded," chisled on what appears to be slate, and what acutely resembles a tombstone. All of which seems to signal what lies therein. Not everyone is going to be into this record, but it does seem to be the sterling example of what this band is capable of. And that, I think, is a powerful thing.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rare Band, July 18, 2007

By 

June Martin Hose "Marty" (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Beheaded (Audio CD)

It's difficult for me to overstate how rare it is for a band like this to
exist...Having listened for years to several other "slowcore" bands, none of them ultimately compare in my mind to the specific magnificence of this here band...detailed song construction, never cheap lyrically/instrumentally, quiet but never silent, loud but never noisy...absolutely meaning-filled music at the deepest register

This album was the first I'd encountered from the band...I was in college and a friend of mine had it playing when I entered the dormroom...I entered just as "Left Behind" was beginning...That and frankly most all Bedhead songs hit me with undying resonance even now...Timeless stuff...I'm not sure I'll ever experience a band with this kind of profound consistency/consistent profundity again in this lifetime...Am grateful I'd walked in on this...

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Bedhead Record!, March 10, 2005

By 

Mr. R. A. Riggs "R_Riggs" (London, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Beheaded (Audio CD)

This album very quickly became one of my absolute all-time favourites. It is probably the slowest, most minimal Bedhead record, but in its own subtle way I think it's the best. The arrangements are sparse yet perfect - the songs are fantastic and every note is important. It is beautiful and sad, like Codeine's "The White Birch". I cannot think of anything more to say about it, other than it's great and you should buy it!