Customer Reviews

Loved

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

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.

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.

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!!

This band is amazing. The music is very chill and sedate, if you're looking for something aggressive you might want to pursue other options. The melodies are a complete dream, Alison's voice is that of an angel. We saw them in Houston about two years ago and I actually got to meet Alison Shaw. She kissed my cheek and it may have slightly altered the color of my soul, I'm not sure. Anyway, she is amazing. This band is worth checking out.

For some odd reason back in 2004 this album was burned onto the shared drive of the Multi-national Corps-Iraq located in Baghdad. Morale so you can hear music while you are covering shift on your work station. I had seen The Cranes open for The Cure in 1990 and picked up on their name among the other detritus in the shared drive. And my first listen--Amazing. "Beautiful Friend" and "Shining Road" stand out but overall the album is an outstanding effort of pop/goth/dark artistry. I spent probably 20 nights in a row listening to this album. When they finally wiped the hard drive I was crushed. But losing 12 bucks for this great album was a small price to eventually pay. Buy it. And go see the Cranes next time you are in Europe.

Some of the songs are fantastic - those with the beautiful loose-guitar sounds and ethereal imagery "come this far", "loved" grab me and transport me somewhere else, wonderful. I'll agree that Alison Shaw's voice is an acquired taste, but I just love it.

This is one of those albums that is just about perfect... each track fits right where it belongs.

I've read some reviews from those who gave this a single star, and I think what they were looking for was goth music. This is not goth. It is shoegazing, perhaps trip-hop. Not goth. (It would be like giving the Terminator film one star because it is not a good comedy.)

Blissful, moody, timeless and thoughtful. And something that is otherwise lacking from much of what is packaged as music today: original.

I've had this album since it came out, and still listen to it frequently.

For those looking for a goth album, I'd suggest buying a goth album instead.

To the person who wrote: "The singer uses an otherwise o.k. voice to try too hard to 'appear' a particular way." Alison Shaw does not fake her voice. Her child-like voice is her actual voice and I think it's beautiful. I feel their music ties together very well. And while Loved was not their best album, it is still a very good album. But if you feel that this album is too dark, give Future Songs a listen.

This seems to be one of those bands that doesn't have a middle ground among listeners, either you love them or hate them. I am firmly in the love them catagory. I do not like pop but she has an ethereal quality to her voice that I find irresistable. It is somewhat remenicent of Harriet Wheelers although it is not as good. All in all this is a pretty good album in my humble opinion and well worth a listen. I simply do not understand the loathing that some of the reviewers had for it.

Let me start by saying The Cranes are my all time favorite band, and this is one of their best. ("Wings of Joy" gets the crown, let "forever" and this one duke it out) While this maintains their delicate balance of beauty, sorrow, strife, and cathartic redemption; for the first time they do it in songs, rather than pieces of music. It's somewhat "dancy" and much less narrative as a whole album, but Allison is in top form as a wailing sultry waif. there are moments of sublime austere beauty, that on previous albums were mostly mixed with horror. There's still palpable moments of angst, which seems more personal to the performers and somewhat less for the listeners. It seems in earlier albums the emotion's evoked originated from within the listener where here it's more from empathy to the performance. It's a subtle thing, but here it may be possible to just listen to the album, rather than be totally absorbed by it....Good Luck...but it is possible... It's a beautiful thing