California

American Music Club | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 6, 1993)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Frontier Records
• ASIN: B00004VNTF
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #314,346 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars beauty and sadness, February 11, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: California (Audio CD)

This was the pinnacle of AMC's career, and perhaps Mark Eitzel's writing. Each great band has an album where they are on top form. Everything comes together.

Eitzel's songs can be rambling and abstract, self consciously arty and sometimes gruelling, but on this album each song is concise, melodious and framed by a fluid, shimmering but punchy production.

Beauty and subtlety abounds in the music, with Vudi's guitar reigned in from the noisy slabs of Engine. Here, on Blue and Grey shirt and Western Sky we have atmospheric and tuneful fills with the accent on 'less is more'. In reviews of the time, much was made of the use of pedal steel, but this was an inspired choice. How many alt-country bands now use pedal steel as a tool of atmosphere these days?

Great bands make albums that have no filler. California is a perfect cycle of love and melancholy. Side one (firefly thru Blue and Grey Shirt) especially is made up of five songs that simply could not be improved. The 7 or 8 seconds silence in the middle of laughingstock only serves to provide a perfect centre to this sequence. After the drunken rant of Bad Liquor, a slight optimism takes over, just to help the fatally broken-hearted atiny bit.

Eitzel's voice is rich in character. Pathetic, intimate, passionate, despairing, drunk, hopeful and resigned. He never again managed to match the form and songs to the texture of his singing.

California was too subtle to be a massive hit, but remains an undiscovered gem.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lost Classic, June 17, 2004

By 

William Stephen Dalrymple (Denny, Scotland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: California (Audio CD)

I can't really add any more to the previous review - it sums up this beautiful album perfectly.I bought the vinyl when it first came out , played it to death then was lucky enough to pick up a CD in a 2nd hand shop - i was a happy guy that day.Anyhoo , this is a lost classic that is crying out for a reissue , y'know with all that remastered stuff and extra tracks and sleevenotes etc.I live for the day when this timeless treasure gets it's due,like the Uncle Tupelo albums did.
Strikes me that this would be perfect for those lovely,discerning chaps at Rhino Records.Id put money on it being a fave at their HQ.
One of my all -time classic LP's.....
Love from Sunny (!)Scotland

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Classic, August 26, 2006

By 

William Stephen Dalrymple (Denny, Scotland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: California (Audio CD)

CALIFORNIA by American Music Club is one of the greatest albums ever released , an absolute masterpiece from start to finish. It is however a total disgrace that it has never been reissued and that one of the worlds great works of art must languish in the "deleted" file , criminal.
Still , lots of used copies around and if you see one , buy it.
Sad and beautiful , it will resonate forever.
"i hate to see you look that way
all the beauty has left your face
such an easy thing to throw away
but its impossible to replace...."