Customer Reviews

Goldie's Last Day

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

 

 

Goldie's Last Day features PFR before they began to take themselves too seriously. The tracks all sound like typical PFR songs -tight vocal harmonies, clever chord arrangements, and nice work from long-time producer Jimmy Lee Sloas; the big difference between this album and later albums from PFR is the lightness of the lyrical matter. The title track is about a dog for goodness sakes!

The band often proved their ability to pen a generic radio hit (ie: The Love I Know from the album "Great Lengths" or Line of Love from "Them") and this album has what is probably the best of the band's three big hits in the song "That Kind of Love." Still the band is at their best when they lighten up and the best tracks on this album are Shine, Spinnin' Round, Wait For the Sun, and the title track.

Contrary to other reviews, I recommend this album over the other -still solid- PFR releases.

"Goldie's Last Day" is PFR's sophomore effort. The album shows not so much an evolution of PFR's sound as much as its refinement. While their debut album was appreciable and praise-worthy for its innovative rock sound, it felt somewhat jumbled and disconnected; as if PFR were trying too many sounds for one album. They honed in on their strengths and dropped the 80's atmosphere (which makes it feel a little less dated than the first album) that lingered over some of the tracks. This shows a more focused and fun PFR.

"Goldie's Last Day" has more interesting themes than its predecessor. Struggles with doubt, isolation and hope pervade a good portion of the album, and there is one very strange and eclectic-sounding song about the death of a pet (Goldie, a dog) that is surprisingly heartfelt and interesting to listen to. They also employ more complex imagery to convey themes and are more reflective. "By Myself" is a good example.

There is more a rock-sound on this album and a killer guitar solo on the song "Walk Away From Love." One uncharacteristically acoustic favorite is "That Kind Of Love." It has a very earthy, almost elfish sound and comes as a kind of light-hearted precursor to the band Jars of Clay's debut album. The weaknesses are simply a few sub-par songs that sound like they weren't worked on for very long and a few songs that sound a little too goofy (e.g. "Spinnin' Round"). Highlights on the album include "Walk Away From Love," "By Myself," "That Kind of Love" and "Goldie's Last Day."

Love PFR...and highly recommend all of their stuff. Great sound, great songs, great message.

PFR respresented a style of Christian rock that hit its height during Christian rock's hayday. Their beatle-esque harmony styles come through on this CD and they hit their stride with catchy, smart lyrics. "By Myself" is a mesmerizing song with an intriguing story to tell. Musically they are golden here - with perhaps the exception of "Goldy's Last Day" which gets old fast. Besides the title, however, these guys are good here. Yes, the early nineties will live on.

I had heard "Them" and "Disappear" and wanted to see what PfR was like in the beginning, so I got "Goldie's Last Day". I was disappointed. Now, don't get me wrong, the album has some good songs on it, but it doesn't match up at all to any more recent albums they've done. It has a very, very strong early 90's rock sound and is produced poorly so it sounds very cheezy at times. However, some of the genius songwriting comes through it all at times, such as "By Myself". I would suggest only buying this album if you're a diehard fan and really just need the album to be complete, or if the album is on sale for like 5 dollars or less (I got a tape of it for 3 dollars). If you want to start listening to PfR and are looking for a good "first album", try out "Them" and then "Disappear". "Them" is better when it comes to the music but "Disappear" is produced alot better (like a million times better), although both are alot better and more mature than "Goldie's Last Day".