Customer Reviews

Made in China

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

It's a real shame when an artist gets unfairly lumped in with a 'movement' or a 'scene', because there's a good chance that their commercial shelf life is going to be cut short the minute that journalists run out of nice things to say about their particular fad. In the case of Juliana Hatfield, the press came up with some silly notion that women hadn't made rock music until the early 1990's and exploited every woman with a distortion pedal who mentioned their libido in any form at all. Back in 1993, she was in every magazine's sidebar when they wrote their inevitable "1993 - Year Of The Woman" article, next to PJ Harvey, Bjork and Liz Phair. And sure, those are all decent artists in their own right, (or at least they were at the time... right Liz?), but besides their recording contracts and genitalia, they couldn't have been further removed from each other. When the mainstream press did give her a proper article they were preoccupied with Juliana's unusually high voice, her virginity and her relationship with Evan Dando... everything but the fact that she was one of the best musicians and songwriters to eek out of the nineties alternative rock boom.

From her early days in the Blake Babies until her recent sojurn with the Some Girls side project, Juliana has concurrently exceeded and confounded the expectations of her loyal fan base. When we expected another jangly pop hit like 1993's megasuccessful "My Sister", we got the dark heaviness of the Only Everything album. On the same day in 2000 we got the gorgeous, laid-back and mostly acoustic Beautiful Creature... as well as the mangled and deafening Total System Failure record. When Atlantic refused to release her 1997 album God's Foot for no discernible reason, Juliana went on an unsuccessful hunger strike. When the critics hailed her as the Next Big Thing, she refused to 'smile for the camera', because she felt she hadn't 'earned it'. She's unpredictable for sure, but she can also bust out with some of the most innovative guitarwork since J Mascis.

Most critics (and some stubborn fans) don't want to look past her major label heyday, but it'd behoove any fan of well crafted pop/rock to do so. If you want some slicker-than-turtlewax pop sheen, you gotta check out In Exile Deo. Want some loud, first-take rock with seriously bipolar lyrics? Man, come over and I'll play you Bed from 1998 and follw it up with last year's insidious Made In China. You won't leave my house the same, I assure you.

If it exists in the rock spectrum, you can bet that Juliana Hatfield has tried it and likely improved upon the formula. So why is she so consistently overlooked? As far as I can tell, the cardinal sin of commercial success is following your heart and writing to please yourself, in which case Juliana will continue to be passed over for artists that will show cleavage and flirt with reporters. You'd think that sticking to your guns, being yourself and having an impeccable resume of records under your belt would be enough to set the world on fire. Nope, the world at large will have to settle for hearing "My Sister" and and the jangly hit "Spin The Bottle" on every 'old school weekend' that Modern Rock stations like to do when they are out of ideas. The rest of us will just have to settle for Juliana Hatfield being our little secret.

Damn.

Juliana Hatfield can't seem to catch a break-- after having a major label refuse to release what she considers her masterpiece (the still unreleased "God's Foot") and an indepedent label evidentally dictate direction to her, she's decided to release her latest, "Made in China", on her own label.

It's said that artists mellow with age. In this case, it's not true. "Made in China" is powerful, aggressive, stripped down. It lacks the keyboards and pop arrangements that appear on many of her previous records, instead going with a direct guitar assault. Throughout the album, she's largely backed by Cape Cod band The Unbusted, although three songs find her unaccompanied other than guitar and one ("Oh") features her playing all the instruments herself.

At it's best, it's sarcastic and powerful, relying on pulsing rhythms and loud guitars (the stunning "Stay Awake", "Going Blonde"). The album also excels at a wistful sort of sound-- Hatfield has given up the balladry she's excelled at on previous records in favor of a sort of crunchy alternative ballad sound ("Hole in the Sky"). And while it may be stripped back, one of the better songs on here features a somewhat more detailed arrangement and a great hook ("Digital Penetration").

If there's a complaint to be made, its that there's largely a lack of variety on the record-- it's got a very low-fi sound to it, and it can grate now and again ("What Do I Care"). And as a rule, the album is pretty dense, dark, and uninviting. Still, it's a good effort, even if it's not going to win any new fans.

Crtics think its fair , true fans love it. It is not watered down commercial pop. It's raw, loud, aggresive and some of
her best Work.
Rolling stone said two stars. Forget them. This
coming from the same source that called [ Weezer-Pinkerton]
the worst album of '96. So I don't pay much attention to
them. Their reason was for this album, Juliana is not trying hard enough on this album. Making it sound sloppy and
incomplete. Somewhat true. According to her website, Juliana says,

"I did make this record very fast and very cheaply... I sold most of my records more than ten years ago and since then everything I do is measured against that. Fed up, discouraged, sick-of-it-all ("I don't want to stay awake" ["Stay Awake"].....People can buy this record or not. I don't care. In Exile Deo", my last album, was a fairly clean, tailored, buttoned-up, adult affair, influenced somewhat by the record company who wanted a product they could sell. But I could have told them I am not very marketable. I don't fit in anywhere. I am a sensitive singer-songwriter, a hard rocker, a pop diva, and a dadaist. I am none of these things. "Made in China" fell together faster and looser and louder than "Exile".

Not too happy. Some of these songs do feel like rough
demos,"Hole in the sky, send money." They are still great. With
a little more time, " hole in the sly" could have been really
good, I think. No matter. The rest of the album: "what do I care, Stay awake, On video," are three really catchy, good songs, sounding somewhat radio friendly. "Oh" is not a favorite along with " A doe and two fawns". They are simply O.K. songs. Same with "Going blonde" it's only about a minute,not bad.I've got more used to " Digital penetration",and " Rats in the attic". Those songs grow on you. " New waif" good opener. Finally, " My pet lion" is a rocky favorite.
The bridge part or whatever at about 1:40 is awesome.
That is her flesh on the front cover and looking good.
Juliana's pissed off, but this is just great.

Another good record here from Juliana Hatfield which features a straight-forward rock sound which is a little grimier than past releases. Some of the songs have a 70's rock feel to them, not unlike the Rolling Stones or perhaps the Pretenders. There's still a few lighter pop gems on here such as the lovely "Hole in The Sky", but my favorite tracks are the dirtier rocked out songs like "Oh", "New Waif", and "Stay Awake". Juliana tries her hand at drums on "Oh" and also plays all the other instruments. Juliana's guitars sound amazing on the record as do her vocals. Most people probably won't get this record as they probably still see Juliana as "that hot alternative chick from the 90's that had that one hit single." F*ck the people.

I agree with Sean Ross: jh is a genius! It hurts to read the letter on her website which deals with her not being recognized for her amazing talent by being the superstar she should be. That Sheryl Crow is selling out stadiums while jh plays the Cafe du Nord for $12 a ticket just illustrates how screwed up the music industry is. One reason: Juliana Hatfield isn't afraid to write, "How can anyone with a conscience feel at home in this world?"

Anybody who loves jh's great rockers like "Dame with a Rod," "OK, OK," and "Rider" will love this album, whose mood is probably somewhere between "Total System Failure" and "Only Everything." "What do I care," "Stay Awake," and "Oh," especially rock, as does "MY Pet Lion," on which I hear a Neil Young influence.

I CAN'T WAIT to see her play these tunes live!

Juliana Hatfield is a very interesting artist that is just fascinating to watch evolve. 2004's In Exile Deo was a 4-star record that finally helped her recover from some of the prior records that were less impressive (Bed, Total System Failure).

But Made In China is the complete opposite of In Exile. Here Juliana totally revamps her sound and really this doesn't sound like any of her other work. I have only had this album for a few weeks and I like it better than her 90s masterpiece "Become What You Are". But then again maybe I'm a bit biased because I love the lo-fi sound.

It's nice to see an artist who changes styles and experiments and I know I'll be more than happy to see what Hatfield comes up with in the future.

Juliana Hatfield has had a long prolific musical journey, since the late 80's she's delivered about 15 albums either solo or with the Blake Babies or her new band Some Girls. While last year's 'In Exile Deo' was a beautiful neatly wrapped pop-rock album, 'Made in China' is it's dirty little sister. Hatfield keeps it fast, loose and raw. Songs like "What Do I Care?" and "My Pet Lion" roar through building quickly and burning out fast while "Rats in the Attic" and "A Doe and Two Fawns" slowly resonate. The more creative control Hatfield gets the stronger her music gets, it finally sounds like she's just having a great time rocking out. I say rock on.

I'll keep it short and sweet. She's a god damn genius.

While this album doesn't reach the maturity and beauty of records such as Beautiful Creature nor does it flaunt the naivety of masterpieces such as Hey Babe nor does it reach the pop mastery of her recent Some Girls effort, it delicately floats among the three creating a brief, unwavering expression of true music. Made from base emotions and raw vocals and instruments, this is quite a unique Juliana record indeed.

Has Juliana become a bit too jaded for her own good? Maybe, but who cares, there are some truly catchy songs on here, such as Stay Awake. All these angry, grungy, alternative mainstream chick rockers you are hearing now on top 20 countdowns across the world, were invariably influenced by this wonderful songwriter. For anyone else, I might dismiss her often childish lyrics and emotions, but she has proven that she is real the deal, endearing us with her honest feelings more than pushing us away.

But these aren't the reasons I'm telling you to listen to this album, it's because she is still the Juliana we know and love, just a little older and perhaps a little more bitter. She is still the one making us hum her songs at work, on the bus, whereever we may be. She is ornery pop music taken directly and unedited from the heart. I would have loved a few more "quiet" songs, but I'm sure she'll take care of that on her next album -- think Juliana's Pony but way better, all the songs have a harder edge than her last few albums.

With each new listen, Made in China becomes that much better, revealing a definite evolution of her one-of-a-kind sound. If this is your first time with her, then go back and listen to the beginning (Blake Babies on up) and you can experience an artist that is rewarding and refreshing to listen to.

The wait for a new Juliana Hatfield album is often more painful that the wait for a CD release should. Thankfully as ever it was worth it. This is amazing, as a fan reference point I'd say it sounds like the lyrical bite of Bed combined with the heavy guitar riffage of Total System Failure.
The wierd thing being that no matter how much distortion and feeback it's layered in the tunes still shine through, On Video is a bouncy little guitar tune I'd rather here blaring from the radio than Ashley, Kelly, Lohan, et al. No offence, I'm quite fond of some of them but the abscence of Juliana from radio, television and most magazines hurts my head sometimes. Maybe her tendency to break up the cheery tunes with jagged noise and cussing from time to time puts people off, I don't know.
Everytime I read something on her website where she's sounding more and more disillusioned with the record bix grind I fear she'll give up one day. However, for the time being we have another fantastic Juliana Hatfield record to gorge on.
Here's to (hopefully) many more.