Customer Reviews

Golden Hum (Mcup)

5 star:		(69)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I don't watch Smallville, but I was changing channels one night and caught "Save Me" playing. I looked up the show on the net, who the band was and the rest is history. What a break.

I'm generally someone who only listens, for the most part, to bands from the 60's, 70's, ala Byrds, Dylan, Gene Clark.
So it was very cool to find a band/album that I can really get into in this day and age.

This is a great album. The more you listen to it, the more you will like it. While the singer does have a little of the Bono/Radiohead vibe in his voice, he and the band generate their own style which seems to be somewhat psychedelic, and straight ahead Rock n' Roll based, with obvious 60's, 70's influence.

Some of the best songs in my mind, and the ones that I can't stop playing over and over are "Glorious #1", "Out/In", "Save Me", "Over the Rails", "Smile" and "Impossibility". While the entire album is pretty darn good, these songs really grab at you in comparison. A great buy, go out and get it. Listen to the samples if you don't believe me. :}

Remy Zero has reached new heights with The Golden Hum. First reaching public consciousness with Villa Elaine and the single "Prophecy," Remy Zero has put together an album that may just propel them to the next level. While Villa Elaine had some great tracks, it felt very schizophrenic as the band tried to emulate a different band on each track of the album. After sounding like Radiohead on one track, Queen on another, with The Golden Hum, they've decided to just be Remy Zero and that may be the smartest move they've ever made. "Save Me," the first single and the theme song to the WB's series Smallville, has a more experimental feel than most of Villa Elaine. Singer Cinjun Tate's plea to, "Let your warm hands break right through and just save me," cries out to the listener as the drums and guitar just pound on the soul. "Perfect Memory," if released as a single, could be the track that propels Remy Zero into the same rarified air inhabited by U2 and R.E.M. It is a touching, gorgeous song about loss which could be a leading candidate for the song that high school seniors identify with their graduation. "I'm Not Afraid," perhaps the album's most touching track, is one of the most beautiful, introspective songs in recent memory. In "Bitter," Cinjun Tate repeats the line, "Just one more day when it's already been too long," like a mantra over a guitar hook that just grabs you. It's not just the lyrics that have an effect either. "Belong" has a country guitar twang that sticks with you for days, and "Out/In" is driven by its swirling guitar and string intro that makes you feel just like that plastic bag caught in an updraft in American Beauty. The Golden Hum is a giant leap forward for Remy Zero, and the only thing that changed from their previous work is that they've finally decided to be themselves. What a concept.

Remy Zero's third release The Golden Hum begins with an instrumental, an overture intended to set the tone for what's to come. Yet the instrumental is such limp doodling it belies the muscular, shape-shifting songs to follow. There are duds ("Out/In", particularly), but they're less detrimental than those on the fractured Villa Elaine. The Golden Hum is a metaphor for contentment - what crazy things we do to get it and how easily we overlook it when it's in our grasp. In "Glorious", a couple who "don't have to be lovers" are just happy to be in each other's presence. "Perfect Memory" is about how we bathe the pieces of past disappointments in the glow of nostalgia. "Belong", the simplest and best track here, is a mid-tempo shuffle that's both a lament for the end of the affair and an evocation of what we most seek in a partner: a sense of being home.

Welcome back rock and roll. Welcome back to Sonic bliss and the late night groove. From the rumble of the opening instrumental track, THE GOLDEN HUM commands attention. It is as real as it is relentless. The guitars hum and snap like downed powerlines and the vocals spiral in ways we haven't heard since Jane's Addiction. REMY ZERO doesn't hide their LA vibe and if you can get past the heart on the sleeve lyrics, THE GOLDEN HUM is arguably the best America has offered since Siamese Dream.

This is an amazing band that just keeps getting better as they move from one album to the next. While their previous albums were very good, this one is the first true heartfelt one that grabs hold of you at first listen. I'm one of those people who likes to go through things one at a time so i'll review these songs one at a time:

1. The Golden Hum: Get about 25 seconds into this song and it takes off. That tune is so great and as tension builds it, so does your love for this song.

2. Glorious #1: This is one great song with one great guitar hook and great lyrics. It would make a great single. Very possibly the defining song of the album.

3. Out/In: A very good song, but not one of the high points of the album. Interesting chorus makes this song very good.

4. Bitter: One opening guitar part that will just blow you away. A dark song that is hard yet affecting.

5. Perfect Memory: A wonderfully touching song that is certainly one of the album's many great moments. Touching lyrics of missing and longing truly stir up something inside you.

6. Save Me: The album's (barely) big hit, being the theme of the show "Smallville." This song sounds a lot like U2 I've noticed but is still original.

7. Belong: My personal favorite. A very sad, moving song about two people who were perfect together but then something happened. Wonderful lyrics. Wonderful chorus. Just wonderful.

8. Hollywood High & Over the Rails: Yet another great song with a great guitar part and great lyrics. Don't miss the part between it and the next song.

9. Smile: My least favorite on the album but still a good song. After the quiet prelude, the song takes off with a loud awakening.

10. I'm Not Afraid: A beautiful little piece of songwriting. The quietest song on the album is another high point.

11. Impossibility: This song starts off really fast-paced and wild, in a great sense, that is. Sample lyrics: "How could you see, impossibility, as far as I know I am your son." Skip forward to seven minutes into the song to here a completely different part that is just plain beautiful.

After all this, I have to wonder why this great band isn't very popular with customers. I have tried to promote it with friends and family and it seems to be working. Hopefully their name and their music will spread like wildfire through the record industry, making them as well-known as they deserve to be.

i had first heard "prophesy" off of remy'z villa elaine album about three years ago. when i bought the album, i couldnt get it outta my disc player for a month. the same goes for the golden hum, the album that i listen to and am floored by every single time. waste no time in buying this album, then go and see them live, cuz you'll be blown away. remy is an amazingly honest, sad, happy, beautiful, awesum band, and the golden hum should always be played, its the perfect cd for every type of day. if you like travis, muse, coldplay, or u2, you will LUV remy zero!
this album is filled with great songs, i cant even pick my fave, because each song just gets better than the other..
xoxo.

Remy Zero's album "The Golden Hum" is the album that you want to put on when you don't feel like fast-forwarding through songs. It reminds me of Bowie's "Changes" where when each song comes on, you just want to hear it all the way through. Listening to this album, you realize that this is a band that has the stamina and talent to go the distance; i.e. our "to be" children won't mind when we play this album in 10-20-30 years from now... they will just think that it is really "cool" and furthermore will be singing along. Their music is just timeless and you just cannot tire of it. There is just no other band that fills the "who is going to be the U2, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones of OUR era". I think that Remy Zero is the band in line for that. These guys don't just try to sell albums with a quick sell-out gimmick, Remy Zero plays from the heart on this album. In my opinion, this band will be the band that in the future we will want to hear sing the national anthem at a huge superbowl event, they are the band who we will turn the Grammys on to watch, they will be the band who will make us feel like our generation was not a wash of a memorable and truly classic rock band. To know and love this band now, will let you say in a few years to come, "Hey, I saw those guys when they were at The Filmore or The Viper Room" and be the envy of everyone.

This a great album. Remy Zero is a great band. Don't let the U2 and REM comparisons fool you...this band is much more than imitators of the legends. Moody and introspective, THE GOLDEN HUM has everything you could possibly want in an album--moving ballads, powerful rockers, and thoughtful lyrics. And Cinjun Tate is everything you could want in a leader singer--he's pale, pretentious, wears a lot of black, and has a voice that will move you to tears. In fact, it is Cinjun's powerful voice that stands out as the most appealing factor of Remy Zero's sound. And this is where a lot of the U2 and REM comparisons come from...the warmth in his voice is rivalled only by Michael Stipe and Bono. In addition, they write amazing songs. This album is eclectic without feeling inconsistent and there is not a single mediocre song on the record. "I'm Not Afraid" and "Perfect Memory," are absolutely beautiful, but "Impossibilty" is probably the best track. Their most sonically mature song to date, it is surely a taste of what is to come. I will concede that Remy Zero sound a lot like U2, but those critics that say they have nothing new to offer are sorely mistaken. When compared to bands like Matchbox 20 and Train that bombard the radio waves with their schlock-rock nonsense, Remy Zero truly do sound a lot like the greats, which is probably why their are constantly being compared. Eventually, people will start paying more attention and seeing them for what they are--an amazing rock band, a dying breed.

On their third release, you hear a seasoned band in command of their talent and a top-five release of 2001. Although their previous effort reminded me of Queen more than U2, this album is more U2 than Queen; their first single "Save Me" *is* old-school U2. Although a good tune, I would have chosen a different track.

Pay little attention to the review slamming this work because of its commercial appeal. It is too deep and challenging for mass consumption. Working with a producer as good as Mr. Puig, maturity and focus yields a more polished, but hardly a pop sound. I have liked all of their previous releases, but this one the most.

Highlights: "Glorious #1", "Bitter", and "Over The Rails & Hollywood High". One criticism: Can everyone agree that there should be no more "hidden" tracks...ever?

In the meantime, Remy Zero puts out album after album of nearly perfect songs. They hit just the right balance of EVERYTHING.

Sure, a song like "Bitter" can be compared to something by Radiohead (something out of "The Bends" era, anyway); the fluttering background vocals and jangly guitars are similar enough. And both bands get better with each listen. That's about as far as the comparison goes, though.

Remy Zero knows when to limit experimentation in favor of a complete song - and every song on "The Golden Hum" is just that. Complete. And naked. There's no false emotion here; you can't listen to the album and not be touched.

My personal favorites are "Perfect Memory," "Belong," and "Over The Rails & Hollywood High" - at the moment. But there are no "skippable" songs, or forgettable melodies.

For anyone who's got either "Remy Zero" or "Villa Elaine," I would describe "The Golden Hum" as a must-have: a little more laid back, but still a natural progression from the first two.

I hope Remy Zero one day gets the kind of recognition and acclaim bands like U2 and R.E.M. do: they certainly deserve it.