Customer Reviews

Bivouac

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Bivouac would be on my desert island disc list even if the drummer were not my son. This album has as much energy, wit, verve, power and love and alienation and depression and insight as any I've ever heard except, perhaps, Jawbreaker's other efforts. What a band ought to be and this record is about that as well. Honesty, honest.

I bought this out of Blake's hand at a random show my friend recommended in 1992. To this day it might be the best $7 I've ever spent as far as the number of hours of pleasure I got out of it.

From the opening track "Shield Your Eyes" containing the primal growl in Blake's voice, the fast chord based guitar that is a Jawbreaker staple, well above average drum work by Adam that almost but not quite overshadows Chris' bass work (catch the odd key change near the end of "Shield...") this is track by track one of the finest punk albums. Sure Blake later wrote a song claiming not to be punk, but you can't tell from this one. "Face Down" and "Like a Secret" are also great tracks. "Chesterfield King" probably the best drum work. The title track which became the closing song of nearly every Jawbreaker set closes the disc in a classic, imploding, punk-feedback, aural assault.

What's now considered Emoticor (emo) probably never would have reached the radio status of today without Jawbreaker getting signed to Geffen. Unfortanately, this also caused a great band's end.

This is on my imaginary "10 on a desert island list."

Jawbreaker. One of the greatest bands there will ever be. They grew on me, not like a wart, but like a super powerful emotion taking over my heartstrings and tugging every chance they got. Every time I hear this band I love them more. Music that tears through your eardrums and wakes up your soul. Lyrics so beautiful and true. It's so great to be able to find these albums on-line too because they are pretty hard to find. You don't know what you got 'till it's gone.

Not even loyal Jawbreaker fans will comment on this album? Well, I've always been a fan and this album rocks. If you like JB, you must have it for your collection. (I know that's not really a review, but oh well.)

Lef10

No point in arguing which Jawbreaker album is the best, but this one makes its case well. One of the hardest rocking albums of all time, and at the same time kind of a sprawling symphony. The songs are very intense, the music is fascinating, the playing great. If you're new to the band I recommend starting with 24HRT, if not I'm not telling you anything you don't know.

i was there for this. jawbreaker got myself and my punk friends through our teen years. "bivouac" is flat out one of the best albums of all-time for any genre. the sincerity just drips out of the speakers. jawbreaker weren't just a band, they were an underground cultural movement. if you had the chance to see them live, you were witness to something powerful, something magical. this album is "emo" i suppose, but at it's heart it is punk rock, it is life growled out in spades by the throaty call of blake schwarzenbach. these songs are so sincere and so powerful, each one flows beautifully into the next, creating a sonic tapestry of an emotional nerve left open and raw for the world to see. every song is a gem. i would argue "chesterfield king" is the best love song ever recorded. i've listened to this off and on for the last 13 years and it hold up almost better in 2004 than it did in 1991. if you missed the jawbreaker revoulution the first time around, do yourself a favor and buy this.

I bought this album at a flea market in South Africa in the 90s... I can't even recall why I bought it. I am sitting here tonight, in the south of England, twenty years later, listening to Bivouac, and amazed at how true, how beautiful and genuine a work of art this is. Needless to say, I now own everything that Jawbreaker have ever released and recently had the good fortune of meeting Blake when he played a show in a tiny pub in Brighton with The Forgetters.
Bivouac is a classic; a celebration of raw emotion, isolation and struggle against all that is of no substance.

I listened to this album too many times to count when I was in high school. Jawbreaker, and this album in particular, helped get me through my adolescent angst days. One of the highlights of those days, I still remember vividly, was a Jawbreaker concert in a small college coffeehouse in North Carolina. That must have been around 1993 or so. The energy, intensity, and emotional sincerity blew me away.

Fast forward 17 years... Times changed, Jawbreaker (and punk rock in general) faded from my memory.

Then a few months ago, for a reason I can't quite describe, I decided to pick this record up again. All I can say is, wow. It sounds just as good, maybe even better, than it did 17 years ago. Especially when I look back at the directions that popular music took. This band was slept on, while much lesser bands like Green Day (who I also listened to, and enjoyed, back in the early 90's) took off.

Jawbreaker... One of the all-time greatest, and most underappreciated, bands. Perhaps even the greatest of all time. And this album is their best.

I will admit for many people this is an album that takes a little time to get used to, but once you do you will see the sheer genius of this musical and lyrical masterpiece. Criminally underrated, overlooked band and album that influenced more bands than you can count at the record store. Bivouac is raw, intense, gut wrenching, heartbreaking and honest and I do not use those words lightly. Buy it or else!!

This is a great cd from start to finish and has to be my favourite album by the band along with Dear you!. The album kicks off with one of Jawbreakers first ever songs they recorded previously which is shield your eyes and is a great opener. My fav tracks are sleep, parabola and Bivouac with chesterfield king been another ok track. Well just buy it if you've got the cash you wont be dissapointed unless your an apathy ridden sea clam... hate to pass judgment though....