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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Short, Sweet...And Elusive,
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Home Again, Home Again (Audio CD)
The on-and-off availability of the physical incarnation of this EP, as opposed to its downloadable equivalent, has been a subplot unto itself. It is the sort of thing that can induce frustration in those who are stubbornly traditional in their music-buying habits. A June 26, 2007, release for the CD was listed; as that date approached, the item's listing status abruptly changed to "currently unavailable," although a few third-party gougers on this site offered sealed copies at rarity prices (upwards of $50 in some cases). The wise consumer who adopted the watchful waiting policy was rewarded when HOME AGAIN, HOME AGAIN became available -- really, this time -- two months later for $6.99. This was more or less a fair price for a disc that, at 18:35, is about a third as long as the full-length Hem albums, and even recycles a track from one of them. Now I see that the EP is once again unavailable from Amazon proper. By the time you read this review, the situation may have corrected itself again. During all of this teasing and withdrawing, I have never seen a copy in any store, even in stores that carry the group's other releases.
Availability headaches aside, this is worth picking up at a reasonable price. If you "do" downloads (I tend not to), there is no strong reason to get the CD instead. The only packaging is an inlay card with the cover illustration above and a band photograph on the back, and a track list with songwriting credits. There is no booklet with printed lyrics or information about the recording dates/personnel. The impetus for the release was the exposure of two Hem songs, the new "The Part Where You Let Go" and the familiar "Half Acre," in acclaimed television commercials for Liberty Mutual. Those are the outer songs in the running order, and the version of "Half Acre" reused here is the RABBIT SONGS one, not the live one (with drums) from the EP shared with Autumn Defense. Bracketed within are four new tracks that maintain the group's established standards of songwriting and production in the service of a style that is a kind of Americana nexus of folk, pop, country, and parlor balladry. "Half Asleep" and "While My Hand Was Letting Go" would have fit very well on EVENINGLAND; indeed, the melody and the arrangement of "Half Asleep" (with its prominent clarinet and tinkling celeste) reminded me of more than one song thereon -- a little of "Lucky," a bit of "A-Hunting We Will Go." "The Meeting Place" and "Home Again" come closer to FUNNEL CLOUD territory; the former is either a glittering fragment of perfection or a promising song cut much too short, depending on one's perspective (musically, it is not a million miles from "Almost Home"). "Home Again" is another attempt in the vein of the polished, driven orchestral pop with which the group has latterly experimented in such tracks as "The Pills Stopped Working" and "Too Late To Turn Back Now." The sum is a modest but engaging addition to the discography of an act that is surprisingly difficult to pin down. They often do the same basic things (how one feels about one of their collections is likely to determine how s/he feels about the rest), but with subtle calibrations of hue, mood, and texture that ward off an impression of monotony; and the Hem sound is full of identifiable influences and antecedents from the past century and beyond, but it has been shaped and refined into something that sounds like no one else's. Theirs is a singular and most beguiling pastiche.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wow, what a gorgeous sound!,
By
This review is from: Home Again, Home Again (Audio CD)
I was watching TV a little over a month ago when I heard this amazing song (the part where you let go) in a state farm commercial of all places. I was head over heels crazy for this beautiful song, and had to track it down. An exhaustive google search finally brought me to HEM's myspace page. This music is incredible, I highly recommend this album as well as Funnel Clouds and Rabbit Songs.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful, complex yet simple,
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Home Again, Home Again (Audio CD)
I have not been disappointed in any of Hem's albums I've ordered since tracking them down from a Liberty Mutual commercial. I do wish they had waited to release a full album with these songs, but I'm also glad I have them sooner rather than later.
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