Customer Reviews

Hips & Makers

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

When listening to Kristin Hersh, particularly this solo effort, I am reminded of much of Iceland's contemporary fiction. It is introspective, but detached, quiet, complex, disturbing, but beautiful. Almost like wandering the halls of an insane asylum and hearing mad rantings of its inhabitants... or hearing ghosts in your head. (You might read Einar Mar Gudmundsson's Angels of the Universe to know what I mean). This is a gorgeous, scorchingly raw (emotionally speaking) album with quiet, acoustic songs of the highest quality. I can safely say that there are few singer/songwriters who equal Kristin Hersh's prolific gift. Highlights include "Your Ghost", "Beestung", "Velvet Days", "The Letter" (which is almost like ripping a page directly from one of the Icelandic books!), and "The Cuckoo". This is a critical, sparkling album.

After one of the most original and confrontative of debut albums, the Throwing Muses' 1986 album on 4AD, the band settled into a pattern of brilliant, indypop that, had they not made the template, might be said to follow it too closely. Hersh's first solo album broke that template and, though, I recall, it was dismissed by many at the time as being too understated, it should have always been seen as a breakthrough in the confessional mode of songwriting, and one as remarkable as Joni Mitchell's Blue or Leonard Cohen's New Skin for The Old Ceremony. What Hersh alone achieved, though, and with both debut albums, was to meld words and music not simply with conversation, as did Mitchell and Cohen, but with thought. Listening to these albums means listening to Hersh's thoughts : sometimes scary, often tender, all too easily hurt by what it means to be human. We listen to her thoughts; we hear our own.

I found this album used at a shop around town when I was 16. I had heard the song "Your Ghost" and liked it quite a bit. So, I got it, listened to "Your Ghost" and never got much further than that. I just thought "Eh." That was that. Then, I was weeding out some of my CDs a few months later to find some to sell so I could make some cash. I was going through, listening to everything I hadn't listened to in months. I put this in and this time it just CLICKED. Every song just seemed so full of emotion, even without paying attention to the lyrics. I put the disc on repeat for the rest of the day. I still listen to it regularly.

Hersh's voice is like a hoarse whisper at times, at others, it's a pain-filled wail. It's hard to describe it. Everything is so simple and it's got some of the best lyrics I've ever seen. Personal favorites include "A Loon" and "Houdini Blues." I highly recommend this album to everyone. Just don't wait a few months to listen to it like I did. Listen to it on repeat and let it sink in.

Yes I got heard Your Ghost first 'cause Michael Stipe was in it'. But that's where my commercialism ends. I've grown to love every song on the album and love this far better than any REM CD I've heard. From accoustic rock songs to twisted happy songs to some of the most disturbing songs I have ever heard this album totally makes me shiver.

What strikes you most about this CD is that it's so haunting and even tho some songs at first glance sound quite happy when you look at it in contrast with the rest of the album they sound really twisted and creepy in a subtle way.

My fave song on this album is The Letter. A song which is actually composed like a letter. I let a friend of mine listen to it and he found it way too depressing for him. And this while he's totally adicted to Nirvana(and we all know what Kurt did).

Don't listen to this CD if you can't take deep emotions but if you do this will be etched in your soul forever.

*don't kill the god of sadness just don't let her get you down...*

It never really mattered how loud the likes of L7 and Babes In Toyland could scream . All it would take from Kristin Hersh is to flash her eyes and deliver a line like " i think i need some poison / to keep me tame ..." and they would ( and should ) all start running to hide themselfs . Her band's music had always been a strange , intense rock experience you just had to try again .

Considering all that the early 90's must had been a really really happy period for her . She just looks so beautiful and calm wandering in toyrooms and chatting with ballerinas in the video-clip of " Beestung " , the second cd-single of her debut as a solo artist " Hips And Makers " . The release of the album itself was a tender dark folk suprise . Although some tracks feel more like well-crafted ideas going nowhere , when Hersh finds her focus like on " Me And My Charms " and " Your Ghost " she truly touches greatness . The lyrics are poetic ( " when i kiss the angel / i have a taste of you " ) and her perfomances as haunting as always . A great piece of music indeed .

I could not live without this album. I have listened to it more often than anything else in my collection 10 times over. Kristin Hersh is the most talented and creative artist I know, and this is her best work by far. She is incredibly versatile, bold, and unafraid to cross musical boundaries. Excellent!

Taking a leave of absence from the Throwing Muses, Kristen Hersh made her solo debut with this album. "Hips and Makers" opens with "Your Ghost", an eerie, beautiful duet with REM's Michael Stipe. From there, Kristen pulls her listeners through a collection of introspective poetry set to music. Kristen's lilting, direct voice leaves no emotions hidden as she strums her acoustic guitar and sings of her life; or is it her dreams? With an unembellished combination of guitar, strings, and an occasional piano, Kristen seems to strip her songs down to the bare essentials of music. The most notable songs are "Your Ghost", "Me and My Charms", and "The Letter". Though the album maintains a quiet, slow pace, it is far from sleeping. This is sincere, inspired music - not for the faint-hearted.

This is a must have just on the strength of "Ghost" and "Me and My Charms." As songwriters go, Kristen is in the elite. She has taken the craft to a new level and it just keeps getting better.

If you have not heard the duet between Hristin Hersh and Michael Stipe, then you still have one more song to listen to before you die. The way these two performers mix is totaly unbelievable. Definetly find a way to listen to this toon. You won't be disapointed.

...Anyway, in my view _Hips And Makers_ is most notable for its startling variety, accomplished with mostly acoustic guitar, accompanied by an occasional piano or cello or tambourine. Charming, mysterious, harrowing, quirky... Kristin represents a broader scope of her songwriting ability here than in most of her albums in Throwing Muses. It is saddening to realize that even the most prodigious brilliance must always remain opaque to a poor, blighted segment of the population, but no matter what, we'll always have Kristin Hersh. I have to explain, you wouldn't understand...