Customer Reviews

Curtains

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Okay, Isabella Rosselinni Sings a duet on this album. And thats not even it's pinacle! This disk is pure bliss no matter what track you started from. It's like putting Barry White, James Bond, The London Symphony, and a case of Stoli in a blender, and running it till it's smoother than Tom Waits eating pudding in a '79 jaguar.

This album would easily make it into my all-time top-ten record and is Tindersticks perhaps finest moment.
Some say that singer Stuart A Staples voice is one to eigher love or hate but I have troubles understanding how anyone can do other than love it. The songs, instrumentation, production, moods are all exellent but it is Staples voice that gives this record that special feeling.
Anyone into melancholic, moodfull, dreamy, bittersweet or passionate music should give tindersticks a try immediately. Among similar artist Nick Cave, Lee Hazlewood and 70's soul singers as Curtis Mayfield can be mentioned.
There are no weak songs on this album but absolute highlights are:"Bathtime", "Let's Pretend", "Rented Rooms", "Dancing" and "Are you trying to fall in love again".

Their first album was magnificent, but The Tindersticks have still managed to get better and better with every album since. Curtains is their third (not counting a collection of 'oddities' and a soundtrack), and is quite simply perfect. Every song is a masterpiece, perfectly hitting every emotion the band strives for. And for once these emotions are deep. Beautiful stuff. The only problem is that once you've heard this, the only other albums that seem half decent are other Tindersticks albums! PS I strongly urge you to also order the import of Tindersticks' new album, Simple Pleasure, which while containing one or two average tracks also features some of the best songs this tremendous band have ever done.

In my opinion, Curtains stands tall as the overall best CD issued by Tindersticks to date. In my review of that CD, I gave it a high recommendation. However, if you don't mind spending a few dollars more, then I recommend that you get this re-mastered edition instead as the bonus CD is certainly worth the extra money. Not only that, the remastering has vastly improved the sound quality of the original.
The highlights on Disc 1 are Another Night In, Rented Rooms, Don't Look Down, Let's Pretend, Buried Bones, (Tonight) Are You Trying To Fall In Love Again?, and Bathtime. Stuart Staples is at his apex as a singer on Curtains and the lyrics reflect the dark, brooding and cynical worldview fans have come to expect of Tindersticks.
Disc 2's best features are a gritty rendition of Bathtime, a Lee Hazlewood-esqe tale of forbidden love in Shadow, a pair of excellent instrumentals with Paco's Theme and Mannlow, two excellent alternative versions of the jaded Rented Rooms (one of which really swings), Make Believe, the sexy duet A Marriage Made In Heaven, and the regretful For Those...In short, the entire disc is worthwhile.
If you are a serious Tindersticks fan, but on a tight budget, then you might want to buy this through one of amazon's partners. I got mine that way at roughly half the list price and was entirely pleased with the speed with which my order was filled. The remastered edition of Curtains finds Tindersticks at the pinnacle of perfection, so don't miss out on this!

THIS ALBUM IS ABSOLUTELY A CLASSIC , NO DOUBT ONE OF THE BEST OF ALL TIME.WHEN I FIRST HEARD THIS ALBUM IT DID NOT HAD THAT HUGE EFFECT ON ME BUT I GAVE IT SOME MORE TIME AND THEN IT HAPPENED! I COULD NOT LISTEN TO OTHER ALBUMS BECAUSE THIS WAS THE ONE.HIS VOICE , THE STRINGS, THE BASSLINES AND MOOD. CURTAINS HAS THE POWER TO MAKE LAY IN BED ALL NIGHT AND JUST THINK OF THE ONE YOU LOVE BUT DONT REACH.

Tindersticks is a very underrated group and Curtains is their best work till now. It is a perfect marriage between harmony (supported by violins and good orchestration) and subtle disharmony (slight changes in the chords and the preference for 3/4 ritms). This combination makes a very exciting mix. The first track (another night in) is absolutely one of the best pop songs in history and my personal favourite. O.k., track #5 is a bit harder to swollow, but this keeps you awake.

In the last couple of years, I have acquired and imbibed nearly everything that Tindersticks has recorded. I really enjoyed the first two, each of which had many strong points and only a few weak ones, and then I heard Curtains. Man, what a CD!
On Curtains, Tindersticks continues to mine a cynical, world-weary vein and in doing so, has really struck paydirt. The writing is tremendous as is Stuart Staples' delivery. My favorites are Another Night In, the jaded Rented Rooms, the dramatic Don't Look Down, the beautifully orchestrated Let's Pretend with its shades of Calexico and Arthur Lee, the romantic duet Buried Bones, the soulful (Tonight) Are You Trying to Fall in Love Again?, the deep-groove dance number Bathtime, and the sexy duet A Marriage Made In Heaven.
This CD has become a personal favorite. If radio programmers had any sense of musical adventure, there are a wealth of gems on Curtains that would be perfect fodder for an edgy AOR playlist.
If you enjoy an intense, mature sound and lyrics that go far beyond the usual without being irrelevant or nonsensical, then Curtains just may be for you. I highly recommend it!

The sophisticated, ramshackle, and dubious meld in a decadent sensibility on this recording. Other membership reviews resonated in me, which in part, inspired this review. Stuart Staples vocals have an insidious effect upon the listener. We can create our own storyboard for a film in our minds listening to the cinematically charged strings or as one reviewer also articulated, lie in bed and listen for the lover you know is out there, but whom you will never ever meet. Curtains is music for the Nineteenth Century romantic with pre-rafaelite pomposity like a trip to the Tate on a rainy day. Then again- enough effetist pomposity. Hagh Haagh! Time to have a cigarette and a glass of wine and listen to Curtains.

The sophisticated, ramshackle, and dubious meld in a decadent sensibility on this recording. Other membership reviews resonated in me, which in part, inspired this review. Stuart Staples vocals have an insidious effect upon the listener. We can create our own storyboard for a film in our minds listening to the cinematically charged strings or as one reviewer also articulated, lie in bed and listen for the lover you know is out there, but whom you will never ever meet. Curtains is music for the Nineteenth Century romantic with pre-rafaelite pomposity like a trip to the Tate on a rainy day. Then again- enough effetist pomposity. Hagh Haagh! Time to have a cigarette and a glass of wine and listen to Curtains.

Para permanecer mucho tiempo callado, incluso minutos despues de terminar el ultimo sonido, la ultima nota de este imprescindible disco que nos situa y nos reubica en la serenidad y la seguridad de estar degustando lo bello.
Quienes tengan el aprecio por estos momentos de grandeza sosegada, de ralentizar el tiempo, pueden cometer uno de los aciertos mas grandes queriendo sentirlos.