Customer Reviews

God Bless the Blake Babies

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Thank god Freda had the cajones to reunite The Blake Babies! It has been a long 10 years without the trio and what an angel to treat us to a BRAND new album, and a mini-tour to boot! As if John Strohm's guitar playing to could improve, he is at his near best on this album. Juliana's voice, while much more mature now still evokes the angsty feeling that dwell within all of us. And FINALLY we get to hear Freda sing - full on!

I'd love to list some recommendations - but every song on here is a gem, from the poppy lead-off track (do I hear a single?!) "Disappear" to the bored and plaintive "Nothing Ever Happens to Me". John Strohm Shines on "Picture Perfect," and the covers of Madder Rose's "Baby Gets High" and Evan Dando & Ben Lee's "Brain Damage" (sung in duet by Juliana and Evan himself) are just a wonderful treat! Input from Evan Dando and Jake Smith (Mr. Freda Love Smith) round out the record - making this release truly a god-send!

PS - for those of you not able to catch the live show - not bragging here - but I can not recall being happier!

Funny how a simple one-off reunion album by the Allen Ginsberg-christened Blake Babies can blow away many other high-profile releases. No, they're not out to break new ground musically; John Strohm, Freda Love-Smith, and the irreplacable Juliana Hatfield just casually got back together for the first time since 1991 and quickly whipped up a good little record before going back to their own respective projects.

God Bless The Blake Babies is nothing but good alt-pop, and all three members share the lead vocals, the highlights being Hatfield's terrific 'Disappear', 'What Did I Do', and 'Until I Almost Died', Strohm's 'Picture Perfect' (featuring lovely, lilting backing vocals by Hatfield), and Love-Smith's pretty 'When I See His Face'. There are also two excellent covers, Madder Rose's sublime 'Baby Gets High', and 'Brain Damage', written by Evan Dando and Ben Lee (recorded as a duet between Dando and Hatfield).

There's nothing really new or original on God Bless The Blake Babies, just some very good tunes, with no disappointing moments, that shows that the same chemistry that made the Blake Babies one of the better alt-rock bands of the early nineties still remains. This is an understated beauty of a cd. Bless 'em indeed.

As near as I've been able to discover, The Blake Babies were a popular college/indie band back in the late 80s/early 90s. Personally, I had never heard of them until I put the headphones on at the Borders Listening Post and checked out this new album. I had heard of lead singer Juliana Hatfield as well as guest artist Evan Dando (The Lemonheads). If you like either of those artists, you will like The Blake Babies. This is a solid album that isn't easily classified. Most of the songs are acoustic based, but uptempo. I suppose I'd call it coffee-house rock; intelligent and well produced. Hatfield really sounds good, her willowy voice perfectly matched to the restrained folk/rock sound. A very enjoyable and upbeat album that is worth checking out.

god bless 'em, all right. I have been greatly enjoying this album since purchasing it a couple of months ago. Definately a more mature sound, with less of the Sunburn angst - but they still manage to capture the catchy nature of their old stuff. I especially like hearing Juliana again in a way that I haven't heard since her first solo album. Not that her new stuff isn't good, but it was kind of nice to hear the kind of stuff again that made me love the group in the beginning. I'm glad freda, john, and juliana made it back together to produce this winner - and i hope they can find time in the future to recreate this magic again...

Buy this CD! For Lemmonhead fans,Evan and Juliana sing the followup to "My Drug Buddy"..."Brain Damage"(written by Evan and Ben Lee). Juliana sings "Baby gets high" a Madder Rose cover.For Mysteries of Life fans, you got a song by Freda with Jake playing guitar. For Velo-deluxe fans you got "Picture Perfect", which sounds like "eleven" , only with better words and Juliana singing backup ahhhhhhhhhhhs. for Juliana Hatfield fans, you got some of the most beautiful songs she's ever written: "Disapper" and "Waiting for Heaven". you also get a hit single written by Freda and sung by Juliana "Nothing ever Happens" Wow. god Bless juliana, freda and john. thank you.

The Blake Babies' have been known in the college scene from late 80s/early 90s for jangle pop with a harder edge, creating 3 minute pop songs that were alwasy catchy and sweet. But a decade after their breakup, their reunion album is much better than Earwig or Sunburn. The sound of the album is much more focused and you can clearly see where each song links to the next whereas on their previous albums it was like a bunch of demos put together, although great didn't fit well together.

Although Juliana Hatfield is clearly the star with her relatble lyrics, its great to see others step out into the spotlight. Personally, Juliana's voice can get a bit nerving at times, even though I find her voice much less 'girlish' on this album than her early days. Nice to hear from John Storhm who leads two of the strongest tracks on the whole album while Freda Love's lead track is even better than I expected.

Lastly, alwasy great to hear from sometime Baby, Evan Dando whose voice has always matched perfectly with Juliana's.

Overall this is a great album where the reunion of a band leads to even greater workings than the work they put out in the first place.

"What I wouldn't do...to go back to '92." Don't we all wish it?

One of my favorite college-radio bands of the early 90's returns. Many "reunion" albums tend to fall flat on their face in their attempts to recreate the sounds that made the band so popular in the first place. However, the Blake Babies do a good job of re-creating and updating their music. Fans like me will miss the rough garage-band sounds that made the group so charming and likable, but the new release does sound more mature, and the band still manages to maintain their likable pop sound.

There does seem to be something missing...perhaps its the three or four albums the band could have made between "Rosy Jack World" & "God Bless..." The band has made a bit of a jump between those albums in the 8-year break, and I do miss listening to them grow. Following Juliana, John, & Freda's solo careers has been a real treat and pleasure, but I do miss the work they did together. Thankfully, this album did not become a Juliana solo-album...it looks like Freda was successfully able to actually put the Blake Babies together for a short time, instead of bringing together a trio of solo artists.

For sentimentality's sake, I really like this album...its certainly for fans of a long-lost era when music was fun and good and relatively uncommercialized. Its not the best album by Blake Babies, but at least its a new album, and the songs are still catchy and fun and where have you BEEN, Evan Dando?

Thank god Freda had the ...... to reunite The Blake Babies! It has been a long 10 years without the trio and what an angel to treat us to a BRAND new album, and a mini-tour to boot! As if John Strohm's guitar playing to could improve, he is at his near best on this album. Juliana's voice, while much more mature now still evokes the angsty feeling that dwell within all of us. And FINALLY we get to hear Freda sing - full on!

I'd love to list some recommendations - but every song on here is a gem, from the poppy lead-off track (do I hear a single?!) "Disappear" to the bored and plaintive "Nothing Ever Happens to Me". John Strohm Shines on "Picture Perfect," and the covers of Madder Rose's "Baby Gets High" and Evan Dando & Ben Lee's "Brain Damage" (sung in duet by Juliana and Evan himself) are just a wonderful treat! Input from Evan Dando and Jake Smith (Mr. Freda Love Smith) round out the record - making this release truly a god-send!

PS - for those of you not able to catch the live show - not bragging here - but I can not recall being happier!

The long awaited return of the Blake Babies was definitely worth the wait. This album is a prime example of excellent music that fortunately won't be airing on MTV. The Blake Babies split in the early 90's and each member now returns polished with even more to add to the indie-rock enigma. The vocals are astounding. Juliana Hatfield has risen far above the child-voiced angst she is known for. Her voice has deepened incredibly, giving her a beautiful sound and quite a range. John Stromm sounds great on the album and who knew Freda Love Smith could sing so well. The album simply rocks. The Blake Babies charm flows through each track yet the sound is much more professional and mainstream, yet remarkably unique. A must buy! If you've never heard of the Blake Babies, one listen is all it takes. For the Juliana Hatfield fan, this is Juliana at her best.

"God Bless the Blake Babies" is a lovely effort. Its songs are melifluous and pleasing. I am happy to have bought the album. But I must admit I was a huge Blake Babies fan circa "Earwig" and "Sunburn," and compared to those albums, I am disappointed. "God Bless . . ." is like a color reproduction of the Blake Babies. The essential elements that led me to like the early albums--interesting twists on lyrics; beautiful silky vocals; skillful instrumentation--are all there, but they lack a certain crisp edge and conviction. "God Bless . . ." is too mature for my taste. Give me a little more unrequited love, anguish and puerile anger. That's the Blake Babies stuff I _loved_.