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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Incredible re-emergence from grief.,
By A Customer
This review is from: Girl Bros (Audio CD)
Grief can be disabling, taking the best artists away from the spotlight to nurse their wounds. Or, the best of artists can transform their worst pains into something beautiful, worthwhile, lasting. Born out of the nameless sorrows Wendy Melvoin & Lisa Coleman encountered in the wake of Jonathan Melvoin's untimely death in 1996, Girl Bros. is a testament of faith: pained, fierce, and ultimately life-affirming. While the album was born as a way to give a voice to a family who could not grapple with an ultimately personal pain, these 12 tracks are much more than that. At turns serious and humorous, and often surprisingly upbeat, these tracks speak to anyone who has loved in the faith of loss. In other words, almost all of us. From the defiance of "Uh Huh, Don't Look Down," to the quirky psychdelic humor of the cover "I've Got No Strings," and back again, a gorgeously affecting album. One of my top three of 1998, and a must have for any serious collector of singer/songwriters.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
GIRL BROS RULE,
By dameshe (new york) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Girl Bros (Audio CD)
I'll never forget that night. The Purple Rain tour had made its way to New York, and I was without a ticket. How I cried and cried. For months I played the album religiously, and for as much as I loved Prince, Wendy was equally my idol. I even got a guitar that Christmas so that I could be like her. When the fates were cruel enough to deny me a ticket to see these people I loved with a passion uncontested, my teenage heart almost failed to beat. Unfortunately, I got no sympathy from my mother. I wasn't going, and that was that. But I survived. In 1986, Prince and the Revolution came back to New York, this time for the Parade tour. Again, my mother wasn't exactly open-minded about my going. I settled in for evening, deciding instead to listen to all of my Princely albums, close my eyes real tight, and pretend I was there...I called my friend Shandy to help alleviate my depression. She said she couldn't talk, but she did have something to tell me, but only if I promised that I wouldn't hate her. "What?" I so innocently asked...She uttered the words that rang with an echo in my 15 year old ears..."I'm going to the Prince concert, don't be mad, my mom tried really hard to get a ticket for you, but she couldn't, I'm sorry..." Stunned, I told her I wasn't mad, and wished her a great time. Then I promptly went to my bedroom, and again, cried, and cried.... Well, I would never get to see Wendy strum her fabulous guitar, or see Lisa hammer out those sexy piano riffs. In October of that year, Prince disbanded the Revolution, and they have never returned to his stage. (I'm hearing rumors that he is producing a new Prince and the Revolution and that he would like Wendy and Lisa to co-produce it. Now we may live to see this dawn, but I doubt it...) Wendy and Lisa went on to create 3 solo albums, each one more eclectic, and BRILLIANT than the last. Unfortunately the world seemed to not be ready for their world, because none of these records got the acclaim or exposure they deserved. What truly frustrates me is that a year or two after their dynamic opus EROICA emerged in 1991, a bevy of female performers exploded onto the scene and had huge successes, and what's worse, none of them were/are has prolific, and deep as my girls!!! And half of them sound like W&L wannabe's! Yet, the ladies prevailed. They went on to write and produce for Seal, Me'Shell NdegeOcello, and Susannah Melvoin's new hubby, Doyle Bramhall. Soon after that, they scored two movies for Babyface's film company, all while finding the time to work on their first new release in 8 years; the self titled GIRL BROS. Let me just start by saying that I, like the Prince of yore, am in LOVE with Lisa Coleman's voice. For the first 3 of their 4 projects, Wendy has done most of the lead singing, but on GIRL. BROS, Lisa takes the mic. Her voice is a kaleidoscope of contradictions: gentle, yet haunting, innocent and passionate, bitter, but oh so sweet. The most delicious of Lisa's offerings on this album would be the seductive "I'VE GOT A BIG BOWL OF CHERRIES". The song has the most beautiful piano playing I've ever experienced, and it evokes memories of the song "Sometimes It Snows in April" from The Revolutions PARADE album. At a recent concert, Lisa told the audience that she wrote the song for Wendy. Now, I don't wanna speculate on meaning, but I suppose it's a little deeper than what the title suggests. Basically Lisa tries to convey her thanks for having Wendy Melvoin to share her music and her life. I am thankful for both of them... Two other favorites are LET'S SAY, and I'VE GOT NO STRINGS. Lisa coyly invites you to run away with her on LET'S SAY, and god, if I had a few bucks, I'd go, if only to be nosy. This song totally rouses one to remember the fun, and frolic and fantasy W&L added to Prince's music back in the day. (PS, Prince without the ladies has been like a cake backed with no eggs...FLAT...just my 2cents). I'VE GOT NO STRINGS was actually a song from Pinochio (thanks for hipping me to that D, :P). W&L's funky rendition makes you wanna relax and chill after a hard day. Unless you're a COOOLD dude, you WILL be touched beyond words and possible moved to tears by the tributes to Wendy's brother Jonathan Melvoin, (the Smashing Pumpkins tour keyboardist who died of an overdose in 1996) entitled JONATHAN and I WILL. On I WILL, Wendy is strong and absolutely powerful as she sings to her brother, vowing to keep his memory alive until she is no longer on this earth herself. A few tracks later, on JONATHAN Lisa offers you the true image of best friends who went from precocious 5 year olds, to being one who is now dealing with the fact that the other "would not survive". Most memorable is when she tells him at the end that, "you always were an angel to me." The ladies produced this grand endeavor with Tchad Blake, (recently Grammy nominated for his work with Sheryl Crow) and without the backbone of a record label. This is a double-edged sword in a big way. Though it gave them complete artistic freedom, the album was as hard to find as a needle in the proverbial haystack. I've seen no videos or any promotion other than the shows that they have done around the country. So, If you haven't got it, getting it can be hard to do if you plan to pick it up in the stores, BUT, thank GOD for the internet. GIRL. BROS is available through Amazon.com, ...so click on that little button, get it NOW, and enjoy! Dameshe....
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Welcome Back Wendy and Lisa!,
By
This review is from: Girl Bros (Audio CD)
Two albums on Columbia, then gone. One album for Virgin, then gone. I didn't think I would ever spot another recording from Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman, and I was bummed about it. Imagine my sheer delight and excitement to see this unobtrusively packaged CD sitting in the Wendy and Lisa bin (which I happened to check on a whim) at my local record store.One of the things I have always appreciated Wendy and Lisa for is the familiarity of their sound. Their sense of musicality has been very distinct from the times they were working with Prince. I'll never forget the time I heard the track "Wild" from Seal's first album and thinking to myself, "That sounds like something Wendy and Lisa would do." It later turned out they DID perform on that track with him. I have always enjoyed Prince and his music since the Revolution broke up, but feel he has lacked a certain melodic quality since the three parted ways years ago. "Girl Brothers" (which may or may not be Wendy and Lisa's new band name, but has always been their publishing moniker) is like a warm cozy blanket. Tinged with sadness over the death of Wendy's brother Jonathan, but nonetheless filled with many catchy hooks and tight instrumentation. My personal favorite tracks are "Reaching One," "Love Trouble," "If I Were Brave" and the light techno updating of "I've Got No Strings." In addition, the simple instrumental piano section at the end of "I've Got a Big Bowl of Cherries" is hauntingly gorgeous. I only hope I don't have to wait another eight years for the next solo effort!
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