Customer Reviews

Freak Show

5 star:		(44)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I was a fan of these lot before I became a Cobainist. I bought this album after hearing the song 'Freak', a ballad about, well, being a freak. When I first popped this song into my CD player (which took a good 6 months to get out), I was astonished. 'Slave', a song about being manipulated, has the best song beginning I have heard in years. Then it eventually finishes with a fast, punky ending.
The third track is called 'Abuse Me', which starts off mellow but gradually becomes grungy. The fourth is a 1 minute song called 'Lie to me' that sounds like a black sabbath song. Track five sounds like Nirvana's 'Milk It', and is called 'No Association'. The sixth is a mellow song done on the acoustic called 'Cemetery'. Seven is an upbeat song, and one of my personal favourites called 'The Door'.
There are much more songs on this album, but you will have to listen to this album to discover what they're like...

Wow. That will be your first thought after listening to this album. The first chords you hear will have you stuck to this CD for a long time. Freak Show contains almost metal songs (Learn to Hate) all the way to slower tunes (Abuse Me). Freak is probably the greatest silverchair song along with Anthem for the year 2000. Abuse Me, the first single, is an awesome song. The quick, rockin' tune of Lie to Me will catch you by surprise. This album is such a step up from Frogstomp it's amazing. It can't be put into words. Buy this CD right now.

I am a HUGE silverchair fan and absolutley LOVED this album! It was a mixture of the two albums, it had a lot of punk rock attitude plus more of a creative side, like Neon Ballroom. All tree band members and guests on the album did a brilliant job. Make sure you get it!

In response to the backstabbing ways of the music industry comes Silverchair's second CD. It's heavier, it's angrier, it's more personal than "Frogstomp", and you can tell that things are starting to come together on the technical end of their sound. Like true artists, the guys in Silverchair begin experimenting with different sounds on this album--"Cemetary" and "Petrol and Chlorine" weave in a few sitars, tablas, and orchestration, and both are favorite songs of mine. I could do without "Pop Song For Us Rejects", but I'm willing to overlook it in favor of the fantastic energy and aggression of "Lie To Me". An improvement over "Frogstomp" technically.

Despite the fact I prefer Frogstomp much more, this album is still quite good, and unfortunately, the last decent album Silverchair have made. Neon Ballroom is a total bust excluding the wonderful "Emotion Sickness", and Diorama rips off countless artists' music, especially on its first track off the album which rips John Lennon's "Imagine". Too bad I'm the only person who seemed to notice that. But back to Freak Show; the only downfall is its thrash songs. "No Association", "Slave", and "Learn to Hate" are all songs on the thrashier side, and they don't move me with their needless, undirected aggression. Most of Silverchair's best songs have an elements of anger to them (like all of the songs off Frogstomp like "Israel's Son", "Pure Massacre", and "Suicidal Dream"), but they were angry for a reason. Daniel Johns just seemed to put angry songs on Freak Show just for the hell of it. I know that Johns was going through his bout with anorexia during the period this album came out, but that doesn't explain who or what he was directing his anger at with the thrashier songs. That qualm aside, the rest of Freak Show shines for the most part. "The Door" is classic, catchy rock. "Cemetery", "Petrol & Chlorine", and "Abuse Me" are all softer songs that have a side of beauty to them. Freak and Roses are catchy, straight-up rock music. "The Closing" and "Nobody Came" are a somber and ominous way to end the album, which is fine by me. If you're going to get some Silverchair music, I suggest Frogstomp first, and Freak Show after that. The single version of "Anthem for the Year 2000" is worth getting too. Try to get "Emotion Sickness" from a friend who already has Neon Ballroom. Also, there's an excellent non-album Silverchair song called "Untitled", so get that from a friend too.

Despite all the harsh criticism Silverchair has received (ex. Nirvana In Pajamas, Silver High Chair), I decided to give this album (the first one I picked up from SC) and was quite surprised. "Abuse Me" displays a nice display of the soft/loud dynamic, and "Freak" is a catchy rock tune despite sketchy lyrics like "No more maybes, your baby's got rabies". More impressive were some of the songs not released as singles, like "Slave", "Learn To Hate", and "The Closing", all chronicles of singer Daniel Johns' depression. "Petrol & Chlorine" is a left-of-center slower-paced song with sitar, lyrically focusing on another depression related topic - suicide. A few tracks like "The Door" and "Cemetery" go nowhere interesting (the latter sounds like a re-write of the Smashing Pumpkins song "Disarm") and some of the lyrics are just plain silly, but considering that the band members were about 17-18 years of age when they recorded this, the album is quite impressive. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to hear some strong mid-'90s rock.

1. This is the best Silverchair ever still.
2. This is awesome.
3. This is heavier than "Frogstomp"
4. This is more rude than "Neon Ballroom"
5. This is less melodic than "Diarama" and "New Modern"
6. This is not inconsistent "Creed" or "Collective Soul"
7. This is edgy and angry and emotional.
8. This is singing entire breaths out well.
9. This is singing well and playing instruments well.
10. This is explosive guitar riffs awesome.
11. This is a must have for fans of hard rock in any way.

And...
12. (Yay For Aussie Rok).
13. Best of the type of music it is for an Australian-band's CD.
14. This is Silverchair (not ACDC, not Collective Soul, not....etc.)
15. "Freak" is ridiculous in its trashing/pulsating music.
16. "Cemetry"/"Door" are insane in their vocal-breathing long-sung words.
17. They brought the positives of record 1 together.
18. They had proper/better mixing, recording, editing, and just sound(>1).
19. >1
20. This is CD 2, though it is > CDs 3 and 4. I won't judge CD 5 yet.

This album shows Silverchair growing signifigantly, both musically and creatively. It's angry, pure, loud, but most of all, fun. The dinky windows 95 macromedia enhancement is really funny, too :D I enjoyed it.

yeah you can compare these guys to Nirvana after listening to enough of the album...but most of it is really well written and a nice addition to your collection if you want inspiration to create your own middle-of-the-way hard rock sound. pretty good rock album i must say, even after the nineties!

This band has obviosly had influences to the grunge movement. Deing that they were about 17 at this release you can hardly tell. This band is kinda like Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, and Nirvana all in one. They music sounds mature for people only 10 years older than me. And like most younger entertainers, they can easily be enjoyed by adults. Not just stupid kids who don't know what real entertainment is.