Customer Reviews

Can Our Love

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Some Tindersticks fans claim that over the course of five albums, their sound has never altered. This is false, and undercuts a virtue that evolves even further on this latest release: their versatility. These guys have come a long way from the brilliantly affecting self-titled album of 1995. Two albums later, their predictably dour soundscapes acquiesced somewhat to lighter melodies like "Can We Start Again" and thumping bass lines that were hip enough to be sampled for the next Beastie Boys album, such as "Before You Close Your Eyes" on 1999's Simple Pleasures.

Can Our Love continues this evolution, though it begins with a reprisal of earlier days on the haunting "Dying Slowly," featuring the familiar, acoustic and strings atmosphere that carries Staples's voice in a cradle of pathos, and the brutal irony of Staples's expectedly magnificent songwriting is in high gear: "I've been with everyone and no one." Yet "People Keep Coming Around" is something no Tindersticks album has ever offered. Firstly, there is a roaring electric guitar solo. The Tindersticks aren't exactly Pink Floyd, but the sound is almost as ambitious as anything on The Wall, beginning with an instantly addictive bass line and hypnotic drum beat that delivers the song into an harmonious mess of tambourines, electric guitars, bass, drums, horns and the riveting chorus, "People keep comin' around you better watch yourself." This is clearly one of the Tindersticks' greatest songs, and by far their most musically ambitious.

"Tricklin'" is an unnecessary waste of time, featuring nothing but a droning organ and Staples repeating "tricklin' through my mind, it tickles . . ." The title track, however, resurrects the album into the promise that its first two tracks foreshadowed. The ethereal wail of the guitar accompanies one of Staples's most delicate and sincere vocal performances. "Sweet Release" brings this album's particular power into full focus with its captivating organ which bites into the song at just the right moments. The factor that differentiates this album from the previous four is that every song offers a new instrument for listeners to cling to and ride the song to its quiet conclusion. On the first track, it's the acoustic guitar, next is the bass beat, then the whining and subtle guitar of the title track, then the piercing organ on Sweet Release" or the dancing violins of the eerie "Chiletime." There is a different way of listening to each song so that all are invited into our bones, and each one tells you how to listen to it, as though the album came with hidden instructions. The next three songs are just as wonderful. Don't Ever Get Tired features such delicate and jangling guitar licks that it recalls the days of The Byrds and Bob Dylan's first rock records, though, unlike those artists, the Tindersticks have pattented a way of containing their energy within soundscapes that always seem ready to burst, but never quite do, and that is a refreshingly tasteful approach to recording that rarely surfaces.

With Can our Love, Tindersticks have managed to take their sound to a new level that surpasses the previous direction of Simple Pleasure. They've exchanged the orchestral, layered and somewhat lugubrious productions of their earlier albums for a more stripped down, soulful approach. "People keep coming around", "Sweet release" and "Chilite-time" are absolutely fantastic tracks. The track "Tricklin'" seems more of an 'experimental' song, and the short length of this release are the only detractions to an otherwise beautiful effort. Highly recommended.

This album was a revelation. I'd heard some of their older stuff, and found the CD surprisingly cheap; I don't think it was selling very well. After listening to it a few times, I thought a bunch of the songs were good. But for some reason, I kept playing it again and again, and the songs just kept getting better and better. And I never got tired of it. Every time I'm driving at night - especially if I have a long time to go on the highway - I put this in and can slip into it for an hour. It's sort of a darker, slower brother to Exile on Main Street, which is another album I've never gotten tired of, and always stays in the car for when I'm driving and it's a sunny day.

What both albums have in common is a groove. Maybe a better comparison is In a Silent Way, the Miles Davis album, which shares the atmosphere of Can Our Love and has the same driving pulse. Both bands also have the same talent of developing a simple chord progression and winding melodies in and out of it - with voices, strings, or horns - so that a song that's essentially just the same repeated pattern always seems headed somewhere, and arrives. And they both have SOUL.

For those of you ask, won't soul music change, now that our souls have turned strange? - the answer is yes. The lyrics aren't about the usual kind of heartbreak, but about a more modern kind of sickness: the inability to communicate, to connect, even when you want to; overcoming hardness and the desire to be free of people instead of being tied to them.

Many people use the word 'romantic despair' to describe the Tindersticks, and this is actually my least favorite aspect of their music, because too often - especially on the earlier records - it seemed like something of a fashionable pose. My two least favorite songs on the record - Dying Slowly and No Man in the World - both suffer from a hint of this self-indulgent melancholy. The chorus of Dying Slowly - "this dying slowly, seemed better than shooting myself" - is by far the worst line on the album, because it doesn't ring true, and the portentous spoken word narration on No Man in the World is only just redeemed by the beautiful chorus and orchestration of the rest of the song.

But the rest of the album is just fantastic. Every song is a masterpiece, and there isn't a word that seems fake, or a false step in the singing or arrangements. Simple Pleasure got much better reviews, for some reason, but I think there are more strong songs on this album, and the female chorus on Simple Pleasure didn't fit as well with Staples's voice as the dueling male voices on this album. They felt like an intrusion, because this is above all a band: this album doesn't sound like each of the tracks was laid down separately - it feels like a great jazz band, going into the studio and playing together, with each musician playing off the ideas of the others.

Over the past several years, I have become a huge fan of Tindersticks. Not only have I gradually acquired all of their music that is known to me, but I have seriously and intently listened many times to every one of their CDs. My journey to fanhood began with Can Our Love... based on an amazon recommendation I got after reviewing Total Lee!, a Lee Hazlewood tribute CD on which Stuart Staples contributes his distinctive voice to one of the songs.
Now that I've heard and digested it all, it turns out that Can Our Love... was not a particularly apt recommendation for a Tindersticks neophyte. Don't get me wrong, its OK, but it is my least favorite of all Tindersticks output. For one thing, there is a bit too much disco flavor for my taste even though one of the two best songs on the CD is the epitome of disco. Another reason is that although I like music to have soul, there is a feeling of too much "going Motown" in the music. The final reason is that it is far shorter than other Tindersticks CDs.
What did I like? The opening cut is fairly decent as is the title cut, but the songs that carry this CD are the entrancing disco piece People Keep Comin' Around and the very intense, violin-driven song that closes the CD, Chilitetime. And as always, Stuart Staples' voice is mesmerizing.
If you are new to the music of Tindersticks, I would recommend that you start with one of the first three CDs in place of Can Our Love... unless disco and soul are your first musical loves.
Any of those are much better at showcasing the diversity of Tindersticks' talent. Once you know those CDs inside and out, then would be time to savor the rest of their music one CD at a time.

I can't deny I was anxious to hear Tindersicks' "Can Our Love...", mostly because I was aware the band was trying to innovate their own sound. The first song I heard was "People Keep Comin' Around" from a download from Beggars Banquet official site, and I was a little disappointed, but I couldn't say exactly why. Perhaps it was because Staples' voice didn't struck me like before or perhaps I was so much accostumed with their beautiful older records that I kept wondering why did the band decide to venture into something completely different. I was wrong about many things. Luckily I bought "Can Our Love..." before I even read its reviews, or else I would still be considering purchasing the album.
The first track, "Dying Slowly", is almost pure Tindersticks in the sense I was accostumed to their music. But Staples' voice is slightly different here: it's a bit more mature, perhaps more disillusioned, self-centered and sadder as he sings: "I've seen it all and it's all done; I've been with everyone and no one". But don't expect the sweet melodies you've heard before. There's something more violent and urgent, a strange feeling of emptiness never experienced before in Tindersticks' music.
I already knew the influences behind this departure. Bobby Womack, Lee Hazlewood, Curtis Mayfield were responsible, as were many other soul artists from the seventies. And it's curious how Tindersticks manage to incorporate these influences into their music, and it seems it's done effortlesly. If you consider the past complexities of their songs, "Can Our Love..." may sound frugal, but time will help you discover the strange beauty behind this record.

"Can Our Love..." is a truly remarkable album. Stuart Staples and company possess one of the best knacks for sweeping melodic composition of any band on the scene today.

'Dying Slowly' is a superb first track. It sets the tone for the entire album, although this is not to say that the album is one-dimensional by any means whatsoever. 'People Keep Coming Around' is a brilliant song as well, and in following 'Dying Slowly' it shows early on that Tindersticks have a great understanding of sequencing. This talent is most evident in bands who have recorded more than a couple of albums as this band has done.

There are many layers to the soundscapes which Tindersticks seem to weave with so much ease. In no track is this more clear than 'Sweet Release.'

I don't just hand out five star ratings as many people seem to do on this site, so I will conclude by saying that my four star rating here is indicative of the fact that I consider this to not only be a great album but also that I certainly consider it to be one of the top albums of 2001.

Tindersticks are not for everybody. The music they swirl is most certainly melancholy, but not at all depressing. Lead singer, Stuart Staples has the most quivering, fragile, mumbling, vibrating baritone you are ever likely to hear. His voice sounds like it is about to crack at any moment and that sound, even though it will be beautiful, will break your heart. And it will sink right into the music, which sounds a lot like something Burt Bacharach might come up with, if he were less distant.

I remember getting into the Tindersticks years ago, back in 1994, when there was a lull in Nick Cave releases, and Stuart Staples was a common antidote for such occasions (back before we had a more subdued Nick Cave). And I remember liking them, but eventually getting tired of them. This album, Can Our Love... changes those determinations. It is clear that both the Tindersticks and myself have matured enough over the resulting seven years.

I think it's really a perfect album. It's the kind you can play on a rainy day, and cook pasta so that the windows steam up, and let it play over and over. Every now and then, repeat songs #4 and #8 (Can Our Love... and Chilitetime) because they are worth repeating.

I was pleasantly surprised to hear the sound of Tinderstick's Can Our Love. I did enjoy the jazz tinged folk of Tindersticks 2, the other I own. But 2 is a slow burn, an album you listen to over and over and wait for the subtleties to grow you. Frankly I was in no hurry to buy another album by this band.

That changed when I heard "People Keep Commin' Round." The track has a 1970s R&B groove and dances along brilliantly with a Fender Rhodes hook. Shut your eyes and you could almost hear it on 1977 AM radio.

Can Our Love overall has a subtle R&B tinge. Subtle is a word that applies to this band if one word does. On the title track, you get the same pace you would on 2, but a quiet wha wha guitar is added.

Little shifts are added to the music on Can Our Love, so gentle you barely hear them. Listen to the organ that backs a lot of the tracks here. More so than on two, but you would never pick this up unless you really listened to both albums.

But a bunch of tiny shifts can make a big one, which is why Can Our Love is such a great album. The R&B shadings are all over this, but, unless you pay acute attention, it is only after listening to this in the shadow of 2 do they become pronounced.


With Tindersticks, as I am coming to realize, two or more can never be bad.

I love this album. From the very funny cover photo to the groove of 'people keep coming around'. It's surprisingly upbeat but still has those moments where Stuart Staples sounds close to tears. His singing is top notch here. So much emotion and still the words are forced out as if every syllable is a heart wrenching struggle.

It develops the bare bones sound of 'Simple Pleasures' one step further adding more polish. If the likes of 'Curtains' sounded like a glorious band reaching the end of their ideas. This album sounds like they have decades of life left in them.

Marvellous stuff.

From Pulp to the Divine Comedy to Nick Cave, an excess of musicians has long followed in the footsteps of '60s cult hero Scott Walker. With their preoccupation with existentialism and French composer Jacques Brel, and with singers whose incorporeal baritones mournfully convey the varied sensations one encounters during a dark night of the soul, these artists are a gloomy lot, and over time their records can be wearying. As if to dig themselves out of their own artistic grave, on "Can Our Love ...," the members of Tindersticks infuse some rough and ready R&B into their customary somber sound to come up with the freshest record they've made since their 1995 self-titled release. Songs like "People Keep Comin' Around" and "Chilitetime" even feature a back beat - something the group has never fully employed before - and singer Stuart Staples sounds undeniably soulful.