Loved

Cranes | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 11, 1994)
• Original Release Date: October 11, 1994
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Arista
• ASIN: B000002VOK
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #226,167 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

James and Alison Shaw, the brother-sister songwriting team from Portsmouth, England that's best known as CRANES, are not without pretensions: They originally planned to make Loved a double album with half devoted to a musical interpretation of The Flies, the expressionist play by tortured French novelist Jean Paul Sartre. That plan was shelved (they had to settle for cover art by French painter Edgar Degas), and instead, their third album delivers 11 oddly seductive pop songs that mix brutally powerful drumming, a Cocteau Twins-like wall of shimmering guitars, and the lovable little-girl-on- helium vocals of Alison Shaw. --Jim DeRogatis

Product Description

2009 digitally remastered and expanded edition of this album, an unsung classic of contemporary British music, featuring seven bonus tracks. Originally released in 1994,on Dedicated Records, Cranes continued their pioneering form with this self produced offering. Led by the charismatic Alison Shaw, the band forged a niche for themselves, with a fan base that still exists to this day. The bonus tracks are taken from singles that accompanied the original release. These are now all gathered together for the first time. The booklet includes the band's UK discography from their most productive period when signed to the Dedicated label. 18 tracks. Cherry Red. --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Like a small child at the bottom of a deep well, February 11, 2002

By 

Aaron Weber "Secretly Ironic Dot Com" (Boston, MA, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Loved (Audio CD)

People certainly seem to love or hate this band. The vocals sound like the cries of a small child at the bottom of a deep well, and large portions of the music are indeed melodramatic, depressing, and in many cases jarringly dissonant. I'm particularly fond of the mournful, almost bluesy slide guitar on "Beautiful Friend."

However, this isn't just a disc for mopey goth kids. It's got some beautiful moments of pop sensibility mixed in with its dark tones, and that mixture, along with the disturbingly childlike voice, bring me back to this band again and again.

I enjoyed this album a great deal more than other Cranes albums-- the later ones were a little too bright and poppy, and the earlier ones a little too dismal and repetitive. This album, however, can go on repeat play for hours or days filled with both sunshine and sadness.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect see-saw of sinister and sweet, May 9, 2005

By 

Beketaten "beketaten" (Pangea) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Loved (Audio CD)

I believe it goes without saying that the Cranes were, and still remain, one of the most under-recognized musical groups of the 90s.
While they banged and bashed out their roughness on their first three albums, there was a subtle yet present trend toward cerebral melancholy and gentleness.
"Loved" marked a turning point in their career, but this is not to say that this is a work without bite, but rather, the bite is all the more noticable for the showcasing of Allison Shaw's rapturously delicate voice filled with girlish whimsy, against a background of pulsing effects and acoustic guitar.
"Shining Road" the first, and most obvious single carries with it hopeful yet world-weary lyrics against glorious pulsations which manage to tug on the heart-strings while provoking a kind of industrial hopping dance effect.
Elsewhere, as in the terrified "Lillies" (whose lyrics appear in the liner notes), and the softness of the mournful "Beautiful Friend", the dichotomy achieves heights of its awareness in the listener, and by the time "Paris And Rome" and "In The Night" have swept past, a peaceful and pensive suspension add eagerness to the final remixes.
As of when I write this, "Loved" is my favourite of the Cranes' albums, and is highly reccomended as a starting point to their career, which is also handy, since it is one of the only two Cranes full-length albums available in the US.
Do make the purchase and enjoy.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absoute Bliss!!!!, May 17, 2001

By 

Steve Haynes (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Loved (Audio CD)

One of the best unheard albums of the mid 90s! The music intertwines sweeping orchestral scores with mad industrial noise, wrapped with Alison Shaw's very unique vocals, creating a sound in a class by itself. So, if you're looking for a vanilla "alternative" band to listen to sing along at frat parties - then Cranes are not for you. But if want something completely different from anything else out there today, definitey give this band a try.

The album is co-produced Flood (who's track record includes such artists as U2, NIN, Pumpkins, Depeche, and Curve).

Enough said!!