Blacklisted (Original Recording Remastered) [Original recording remastered]

Neko Case | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 6, 2007)
• Original Release Date: 2002
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Anti
• ASIN: B000W7Y2HS
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #30,857 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Things That Scare Me

2. Deep Red Bells

3. Outro with Bees

4. Lady Pilot

5. Tightly

6. Look for Me (I'll Be Around)

7. Stinging Velvet

8. Pretty Girls

9. I Missed the Point

10. Blacklisted

11. I Wish I Was the Moon

12. Runnin' Out of Fools

13. Ghost Wiring

Editorial Reviews

More subdued than its predecessor (FURNACE ROOM LULLABY), Neko Case's 2002 album, BLACKLISTED, is the singer/songwriter's first outing not co-billed to "Her Boyfriends." Backed by a cadre of intuitive musicians that includes multi-instrumentalist Joey Burns and drummer John Convertino (both of Calexico) and their Giant Sand peer Howe Gelb (on various keys), Case offers up a largely down-tempo set that's steeped in a dreamy, noir-like atmosphere. The haunting "Deep Red Bells" masterfully showcases the range of Case's resonant voice, while "Look for Me (I'll Be Around)" evokes the cinematic mood of a vintage black-&-white thriller as narrated from the perspective of the femme fatale. Even BLACKLISTED's most upbeat moments--the soaring "Lady Pilot" and the twangy "Stinging Velvet"--carry a palpable sense of melancholy, resulting in a record that's in line with Nick Cave's dark aesthetic. (In fact, Case would go on to open for Cave on tour, and the two would become label-mates on Anti- with subsequent releases.) Arguably Case's most focused and consistent album, BLACKLISTED is the perfect portal into her gorgeously half-lit world.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My favorite Neko release, February 28, 2009

By 

Guitar Man (Electric Ladyland) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Blacklisted (Original Recording Remastered) (Audio CD)

For my money, this is my favorite Neko Case release. The songs "Things That Scare Me", "Look For Me" and "Deep Red Bells" are some of my favorite Neko songs, and she usually plays them live (we've seen her live several times over the years...always great shows).

This remastered version would be the perfect disc to start your Neko Case collection with. Her voice is in top form here, and the backing musicians are top notch. You can't go wrong here. Just the beautifully haunting and dark songs "Things That Scare Me" and "Deep Red Bells" are worth the price of admission alone. Highly recommended.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Neko's Masterpiece, April 25, 2009

By 

BuzzGuy (Madison, WI, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Blacklisted (Original Recording Remastered) (Audio CD)

From the opening banjo-driven "Things That Scare Me" played over the verse of a child's fear of birds on wires, my ears perked up to all the possiblilites that country storytelling played on traditional instruments could still be. Even on lesser releases, Neko can always grab my attention on the lead track. "Deep Red Bells" follows, based on a true story of a serial killer of young girls. Her songwriting is superb here : "It looks a lot a lot like engine oil/and tastes like being poor and small/and popsicles in summer." The imagery is precise and perfect. She lets her enormous voice wrap around the chorus to insure this dark little story stays with us a long time.

The other tune that really grabbed me was "I Wish I Was The Moon". A very original idea that suddenly makes sense out of nonsense. "I'm so tired/I wish I was the moon tonight". What does it mean? Who cares? Somehow I found it instantly believable.

The idea of the story-song in popular music is not a new one. It simply hasn't been done this well in a long time. On "Blacklisted", Neko shows us that she has much more in common with the back-porch yearnings of Bobbie Gentry than the claptrap abstractions of singer/songwriter types such as Sarah Mclaughlin.

This is a smart, confident, precise exercise that holds up to many listens, songs about the things that go bump in the night, things that don't go away after childhood, as Neko obviously knows too well.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Neko Case - Blacklisted, August 1, 2009

By 

K. Bennett (Huntsville, AL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Blacklisted (Original Recording Remastered) (Audio CD)

Excellent material. It has her signature country/rock-a-billy/alternative (I really hate labels because often none really convey your intended meaning). Neko Case's music really evades a "genre" classification because it is so diverse. She goes from old-school country sounds (think early Reba, Johnny Cash, Hank Williams) to songs that remind me of Fiona Apple and then she moves on to a Sarah McLachlan sort of style. The word "eclectic" comes to mind, but that doesn't really do her art justice, either.

"Blacklisted" is a great collection of music. If you like her "Furnace Room Lullaby" and "Middle Cyclone" offerings, you'll surely enjoy this one.

Neko case has quickly become one of my all-time favorite artists. Thank goodness I was bored one night in April and caught my first episode of Letterman in two or three years. Neko Case was the guest musician, and I was captivated by her art.