Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant album!, July 29, 2003
A brilliant debut by Lambchop. This band has amazing albums, and this is one of them. Surely some songs are a little weird, but there are some extremly beautiful gems here. If you like Lambchop, you must listen to their first album. If you don't like 'em, you've got a big problem ;-)
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Let the music do the talking - there is nothing like this, February 22, 2004
Without doubt a record that will never been fully appreciated, Lambchop's debut "I Hope You're Sitting Down" nonetheless stands as one of the most interesting albums of the 1990s. On first listen this record can appear to be nothing more than an easy-listening album from before the rock era, but in fact "I Hope You're Sitting Down" was/is completely different.
Despite feeling so sappy, the sound of "I Hope You're Sitting Down" possessed a rawness of production rarely seen since the late 1970s, which allows the many instruments to work together to produce a form of folk music quite different either from the traditonal folk of Europe or more contemporary types like Joan Baez and Joni Mitchell. The guitar lines of mainman Kurt Wagner and Bill Killebrew rarely come to the front, and the sound is dominated by strings and horns that push such songs as "Betweemus" and "Bon Soir, Bon Soir" into territory that is forbidding and desolate. The infamous suicide tale "Soaky In The Pooper" is even more extreme - it is remarkable to see such a desperate song dominated by such a soft string bass from Mike Doster, whilst other tracks like "The Pack-Up Song" feature Paul Niehaus' trombone as the lead instrument.
"Under The Same Moon" had an almost traditional guitar from Wagner. Indeed, the spontaneous, orchestrated character of the songs and the working class storytelling of Kurt Wagner's lyrics bear comparison with the Pogues' "Rum, Sodomy And The Lash". "I Will Drive Slowly" featured beautiful vocals from Deanna Varagona that sound like a lullaby and possess a melody so rare among "alternative" groups.
When Lambchop did move beyond simple acoustic music, the effect was psychedelic and even more surprising than on the slow songs that make up most of "I Hope You're Sitting Down". The drug-filled "So I Hear You're Moving" and the amazingly soulful acoutic "Bellmouth" stand as perhaps the true high points of this amazing album. "So I Hear You're Moving" was dominated by psychedelic guitars and dense alto saxophones that the production made sound funkier than anything called "funk" when Kurt Wagner sings "I've got drugs". "Bellmouth" was even more explosive - actually catchy in a way nothing else here is and so horn-filled it's not easy to believe this is "rock." "Because You Are The Very Air He Breathes" burned with dense, Red House Painters-style guitar that always managed to work within the needs of the song and making music in a most unusual manner.
There is nothing that sounds like this album's strange but irresistible combination of despairing, dark lyrics and soft, melodic but raw orchestral folk. A difficult work to get into, but its brilliance should prove difficult to deny.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Words fail me, July 6, 2009
Lambchop is simply amazing. I'll let the other reviews do the talking and just say this: Listening to Lambchop is like finding the perfect denim jacket at a thrift store - ragged, comfortable and solid - and then, when you wear it the first time, finding a hundred dollar bill in the pocket. And maybe some Dutch clown porn.
If you don't love Lambchop, you will be left behind after the apocalypse.
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