Limbo

Throwing Muses

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 13, 1996)
• Original Release Date: August 13, 1996
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Rykodisc
• ASIN: B0000009QJ
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #20,744 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential recording
The Throwing Muses might've sounded at their inception like a fidgety, angle-heavy postpunk dream (cofounders Kristin Hersh and Tanya Donelly were mere teenagers!); as a trio in 1996 they sound particularly fierce. With Donelly long gone from the band, the former quartet has an oddly fatter sound, maybe thanks to their major-label experience in big-sounding studios with big-minded production. But with Limbo, Hersh, bassist Bernard Georges, and drummer David Narcizo not only founded their own label, Throwing Music, they settled into existence as a rock band that sounds as if they're on the verge of a spastic explosion. Musically, the three make grandly tense music, with Hersh alternating windy sing-song vocals and a forking, brusque delivery that reaches near-shouting levels in swift bursts. The Muses haven't sounded as frontally propelled in some time, here dashing into the loud bash of a song's chorus and there sticking to more regularly timed tempos and rhythms. There's little musical indication here that the band was on the verge of breakup, and Hersh's solo career seems a continuation of any of several Muses threads followed on Limbo (or on The Real Ramona or Hunkpapa, for that matter). --Andrew Bartlett

From the Label
LIMBO's fearlessly clean production style lays bare Hersh's singular songwriting gift, exposing the song bodies she still describes as "big, live things that have more to do with themselves than with my brain." Like UNIVERSITY, LIMBO was recorded by the band and engineer Trina Shoemaker at Daniel Lanois' New Orleans studio, Kingsway. On LIMBO, intermittent blasts of buzzy lead guitar and grace notes by cellist Martin McCarrack add depth to the mix without burying it. Straight-ahead beats and bass lines gracefully keep pace alongside rushes of masterful, mostly clean-toned guitar.

This is an album full of subtle shifts and sudden sharp turns. A seamless flow of time changes in "Tar Kissers" bends the song's spaghetti-western overtones into more sophisticated dimensions. The sexy/psychedelic title track, introduced by the jarring metallic clang of an electric cello, seduces with a trippy sense of danger. The tuneful pop of "Ruthie's Knocking" surges with harmonic Beatlesque crescendos, veiling the subtle threats within ("Don't look in the mirror/or he'll look back at you"). "Freeloader" gallops along like a swaggering cowboy ("I don't hear, I don't hear/ I'm a freethinker"), veering into flamenco-tinged bridges and a moody Spanish epilogue. "Tango" is a heady spin of menacing sexuality; "Serene," a gentle 3/4 strum touched off by an exquisitely melancholy string part, is as comfortable as a recurring dream. LIMBO's striking cover art features exclusive drawings by Gilbert Hernandez of "Love & Rockets" comics fame.

LIMBO is a strange place, alternately heavy and weightless, somewhere between heaven and hell. The sound of it is pure; it tells the truth. "I don't think the specifics of any truth matter very much," says Hersh. "The sound will resonate in that part of you that tells the truth."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Kristen Hersh should be a huge star . . ., October 25, 2004

By	Rich Latta (Albuquerque, NM - Land of Entitlement) - See all my reviews

. . . but the popular music world is full of shallow, plasticky dreck and the Muses will forever remain a relatively underground band for those with discriminating tastes in rock. And let it be known that LIMBO does indeed rock. The album has a brash attitude that I love and it comes through in Hersh's fantastically raw riffage as well as her unique voice.

The songs largely concern characters who are living a certain rough & tumble lifestyle - the "limbo" of the title - which can easily be interpreted as a druggie's way of life. Some characters are desperate, but many are recklessly carefree. There are other tunes dealing with relationships and lovers that are stunning and gorgeous.

I can see how some fans may prefer the Muses of old that they know and love, but I think their albums have generally gotten better and better over time (which says a lot since they were very good when they first started in their early teens). I love that early stuff, but later albums like RED HEAVEN rock harder and naturally have more confidence and maturity. LIMBO has got to be one of their best and may even be their masterpiece.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Support local music!!, October 16, 2002

By A Customer

I Have LONG been a fan of Throwing Muses, and through boredom online and searching sites, I started looking up things I already knew. I have owned this album (Among many others of theirs) for many years now and I still feel quite strongly about it. There are few groups out there (still in existence or not) who truly pull off the aggressve poeticism of the 80' post punk alternative movement; and Throwing Muses is one of them. BUT to say only that is to pigeon hole them into a genre, which is undeserved. Kristen Hersh is truly a gifted songwriter and guitar player, and along with the rest of the band (accomplished musicians as well!), created a amazing soundscape. If you like the rock, Give them a listen... And try to see them live if ever there is another chance!

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very Good, February 26, 2000

By	Mark W. Brinton (Bellevue, WA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I've been following pop music for awhile. I remember seeing the Beatles on Ed Sullivan. Somehow, the Muses totally escaped my notice until 1998. This is a group I just can't come to terms with. Simply put, their complete discography, considered as a whole, far,far exceeds the sum of its parts. To this day, I can't actually say that any one of their albums is "great". And yet, and yet... I tell you, these works put me in a fugue state for months. I ended buying and playing every single album over and over and over...It was the strangest thing. This, I think, was my favorite. It kind of all runs together, though. This is turning into a pretty incoherent review but, there you are. Muses music hits me way,way lower than the cerebrum.