Charm

Strange Boutique | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 1, 1995)
• ASIN: B00008ERGP
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #972,738 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Terpsichore

2. Quicksand Minds

3. We Treat the Blindness

4. Remedios the Beauty

5. A Certain Euphoria

6. A Happy Death

7. De Milo

8. The Flatterer

9. Drown

10. Black Sun

11. Feast Your Eyes [#]

12. Song from Under the Floorboards [#]

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning and Perfect!, December 30, 2002

By 

Michael R. Quinn "iridescence_" (Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Loved One (Audio CD)

This may be my favorite album in the world. I never seem to get tired of it and it lifts me to the highest heavens each time I hear it. Monica's vocals are amazing and are on full dazzling display in this one. The music is a perfect mixture of the raw and the refined. What can I say other than every song on this awesome disc approaches perfection! If I could keep only one CD out of the 500 or so I own I think this would be it!

4.0 out of 5 stars Bedazzled is the label, February 9, 2006

By 

Spooky Otaku "Spooky" (Plane 9 Inferno, Hell) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Charm (Audio CD)

A great album...but hardly one of the best of the 90's. Like The Loved One so much better. www.Mercyground.com actually has the original album for sale at a reasonable price. (August 2, 2006...for some reason my review of Charm is posted as a review of The Loved One...a phenomenal album, Monica Ricards best ever).

4.0 out of 5 stars Monica Richards, pre-Faith and The Muse; really interesting, March 24, 2002

By 

Scott Sweet "Music Freak" (Colorado Springs, CO) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Loved One (Audio CD)

If I'd heard Strange Boutique's music first, I never would've anticipated the sound of Faith and The Muse. It's neat to hear Monica's earlier incarnation. The music is a cross-section of 80s and early 90s college rock, with healthy doses of Mission U.K., Echo and The Bunnymen, U2, and The Cure. Monica used more low alto and soprano action than she does today in F&TM. Plus, you get a photo of Monica without her trademark headpiece. Sorta like "Batgirl - Behind the Mask."

The songs have an echoey, late night feel. Lots of guitar reverb, treated vocals/harmonies, and stream-of-consciousness lyrics that suit the music well. Dan Ingram's drumming suggests he'd heard a couple of Police albums.

Tracks like "Quicksand Minds," "Remedios The Beauty," and "A Certain Euphoria" are danceable without getting too loud or heavy. "A Happy Death" is the most Police-esque tune on the album. All the songs are mixed to keep our attention on Richards' singing, which is FINE with me.

Strange Boutique had a good, balanced sound with some of the post-punk tactics that influenced goth and darkwave through the 90s. Maybe it's selfish, but I'm OK with this band's demise since that allowed for Monica and William to become the butt-kickinest' husband-wife team in Celtic/goth-rock/darkwave.