Customer Reviews

Hello June Fool

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

 

 

Madder Rose is one of thoese rare bands that seems to be both mature and secure in their music and disinterested in rock stardom. Not that I blame them given the current state of rock, but Mary Lorson (vocals) and Billy Cote (guitar, vocals) have both the musical and songwriting skill to churn out radio-friendly albums that would no doubt get some air-time and some recognition.

Yet they seem to want to stick with their cult status, and continue to turn out record after record of beautiful, stark pop-rock. Maybe their unwilling to compromise their music. Maybe their happy playing clubs, entertaining their cadre of fans while occasionally making new ones. No matter the reason, from 1993's Bring it Down to 1999's new release Hello June Fool, Madder Rose plays what they love, and their skill has grown immensely over their 4 LP's and scattered EP/singles.

If you want great music without the hype or the pretention of made-for-radio hits, take a peek at Hello, June Fool. You wont be disappointed.

Best Tracks: #3 (Hotel) and #5 (Hello, June Fool)

Their best album yet, with radio friendliness and the summertime feel that when listened to again will come back to remind you of these times for the rest of your life. "Overflow" should be all over the radio and "Hotel" is a powerful statement of dark feelings. Artisic, soulful, and very well-crafted. Madder Rose individually and as a band are at their best.

The music of Madder Rose is as good as any of thier contempories. They were way ahead of their time. The music is as fresh today as when it was released.

An hour of high school petting and then going home. Such is the music of Madder Rose. With incredible self-restraint, this New York quartet creates richly textured songs with a controlled aggression lying just below the surface. The tension this creates is both tremendous and unnerving. As Mary Lorson's honey dulcet voice floats dreamily over Billy Cote's atmospheric melodies backed by a fuzzed-out yet controlled guitar, you expect that at any minute the cage door will open and the pent-up guitar will break into a ravenous frenzy... but it never does. The gentle, relaxed melodies are original and inviting while the music is a mixture of playful psychedelia and ethereal simplicity with Cote's distorted guitar pacing around the edges like a hungry animal.

With the exception of one song written exclusively by Lorson (with an annoyingly repetitive chorus), the songwriting on their latest release, Hello June Fool, is strong throughout. "Feels Like Summer" certainly does, transporting the listener to a lazy summer afternoon, laying in the sun-speckled shade of a tree, the temperature just right. "Overflow" has a subdued funk feel and tastefully placed wah-wah guitar that tugs at you, seductively promising release that never comes. "Hotel" is an ironic story of longing ("he took his life when he wanted to take yours") and "Train" has an incredible, and incredibly complicated, drum part that indeed sounds like a train. In "Goodbye June Fool", Lorson's rich voice contains just the right mixture of playfulness and sorrow to capture the feeling of paradise lost present in this song. The near-pop melodies and rich, textured feel of this music should appeal instantly to fans of The Breeders, The Choir, or Psychedelic Furs. However, anyone wanting to hear well-crafted music that appeals to both the heart and mind would do well to check out this latest release by Madder Rose, a band that knows who it is and where it is going.

It's easily one of the ten best records of the nineties. The others being O.k computer, odelay, californication, live through this, homework etc What's not to like, the melodies or singer Mary Lorson's voice ? In my humble opinion all songs are highlights with Goodbye June fool being the best.