Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Raw & Pure, January 5, 2005
When you find yourself skipping every second track on a cd, or changing the radio station at an unreal pace, you know you properly appreciate music, and you know what you are looking for. Lover/Fighter is a cd for those who enjoy pure, raw, meaningful music. "No reason to cry out your eyes" is the only song off this album that I had ever heard played on air, or seen on mtv, and although it was a fast favourite, I never really explored the artist. After downloading further songs, I was compelled to buy the cd as it appeared to have 3 quality songs on it, which in this day and age is scarce to say the least. After popping the cd in my car player, I listened to it through, and I was amazed by the fact that I felt no urge to skip any tracks, or search for my "favourites". Lover/Fighter is solid through and through, and it leads you through the emotions, from mellow tracks like "wonderful and sad", the rock-ish "smoke baby" to the simple solitude of a song like "autumn's here". This is a must have for your collection, one of the few cds i don't regret purchasing.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Diamond In The Rough, August 5, 2005
In typical fashion, excellent music flies right under the media radar. This may be blamed, I Think, on a poor choice for the first single (Anger as Beauty), one of the, if not the, poorest songs here. That aside, Hawksley makes some excellent tunes on this CD, and the whole album flows very well.
That Hawksley is a self-proclaimed hopeless romantic is on display everywhere.
I can't find much negative to say about this album. "We Will Still Need a Song" makes you wonder about who will be sitting next to you when you're 85 and sitting on a rocking chair outside on a nice sunny day in September. However, there is still definitely a note of sadness to this song. Sadness is a consistent theme on this album even when the beat and sound is upbeat. The one song this doesn't apply to is "Anger as Beauty" which just gets in the way of an excellent flow.
The five best songs are all one after the other, starting with "Tonight Romanticize the Automobile" and ending with "Addicted." "Tonight" is just a solid showcase of the talents here: guitar is on full display, and so are Hawksley's gravelly vocals. "Future Language of Slaves" is a haunting piece of vocal work with very subtle instrumentation that adds to it. The highlight is undoubtedly "Slaves... slaves..." A positively excellent song when listened to far from a large city at night, perhaps at the cottage.
"Smoke Baby" is a masterful fusion of the rest of the album's sound with a more urban vibe. However, it doesn't pick up the pace too much, which is good, because otherwise it would definitely jar the rest of the album, as the tracks surrounding it are so delicate (and that's meant in the best possible way).
If you listen to "Autumn's Here" 50 times over a year and never *once* have your eyes even get moist, there is something wrong with you. I can't add anything more to this.
Now on my version of the CD , there is a song separating "Autumn's Here" and "Addicted." They might have flipped the last two songs on this version. In any case, "Addicted" is just a wicked jam tune. It does drag a bit, but since it does finish the album (or does for me), I didn't mind. IT gives you time to get up and press play as soon as the CD finishes or to pick another CD. You won't want to though.
An excellent album, and I can't think of any vocalist that could pull off half the songs on this album other than Hawksley.
4.5 < Hawksley Workman, Lover/Fighter < 5.0
An Excellent CD!
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This is an amazing CD, August 6, 2004
This is actually one of the best cd's i've listened to in a long time. The songs are meaningful and beautiful. The parodies he uses in his music and the symbolism is pure genuis. The only song I question is a bonus track and thats only because he swears too much for me. My personal favorites are "Even an Ugly Man", "Future Language of Slaves", and "Smoke Baby", but truly the entire album is great.
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~ Hawksley Workman
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~ Hawksley Workman
~ Hawksley Workman
by Hawksley Workman 
