Overcome By Happiness

Pernice Brothers | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 19, 1998)
• Original Release Date: May 19, 1998
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sub Pop
• ASIN: B000006OJH
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #202,122 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Crestfallen

2. Overcome by Happiness

3. Sick of You

4. Clear Spot

5. Dimmest Star

6. Monkey Suit

7. Chicken Wire

8. Wait to Stop

9. All I Know

10. Shoes and Clothes

11. Wherein Obscurely

12. Ferris Wheel

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not enough superlatives to describe it, July 8, 2001

By 

pm444 "pm444" (Okemos, MI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Overcome By Happiness (Audio CD)

I bought this two years ago and it's never far from my CD player. There's something about the lyrics and the hook-filled music that will not let go of you once you've heard it. The Amazon.com review compares Joe Pernice to Elliot Smith, and there are some strong similarities, but unfortunately, Pernice has not yet attained the sort of public recognition that Smith has. Both write sad lyrics about lost love, rejection, and other depressing topics, both deliver them in unique voices that are not exactly beautiful but fit the songs well, and both compose music that is achingly beautiful.

There is not a bad song on this CD, but there are a few that are my all-time favorites: "Crestfallen" deals with the painful realization at the end of a love affair that things were not as one thought while the affair was still on: ("it's a long way down, when you find out that it never happened at all"). "Wait to Stop" has the line "I want to be with you so bad I feel like I'm dying, or I've died", and then at the end, repetition of the line "I'm waiting for the wait to stop" which goes on and on. "Wherein Obscurely" has the line "there were so many times I had to wake you from crying; so many times I could not make you cry", sung so hauntingly that it's enough to make you want to cry yourself, even after hearing it hundreds of times.

So, you get the idea. These aren't sappy love songs at all, but searingly painful confessions made even more powerful by the incredibly beautiful music to which they are set. There are other CDs with Joe Pernice, the Pernice Bros., and the Scud Mountain Boys, and all are very good, but this is my favorite.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Only one extra track?, June 14, 2000

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Overcome By Happiness (Audio CD)

This is a great album but there's no decent reason for anyone but total fanatics to buy this "extra tracks" import. There are two significant differences between this version and the domestic version. This one has one extra track ("Jimmy Coma") that is good but not great and that really does not fit in with the mood or style of the rest of the album. The other difference is that this import version features the lyrics. Are these two additions worth the rather significantly higher price? For this fan of the P-Brothers: No.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Plenty to like here., July 15, 2001

By 

Stephen Doig (New Zealand) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Overcome By Happiness (Audio CD)

On recommendation from reputable UK music magazine Uncut I gave 'Overcome By Happiness' a spin, and true to form it deserves it's glowing reviews. The Pernice Brothers are justly considered to be right up there with the likes of Lambchop, Flaming Lips, and Willard Grant Conspiracy in the resurgence of American Rock/Alt.Country, however their sound veers closer towards string-laden pop. What Pernice Brothers do well, and they do it very well, are adding lovely symphonic touches and melodic inflections which lift a good song into an airborne one. When the strings flood in two-thirds of the way through the title track and Joe Pernice sings ".. you, don't feel the waves crashing out of your eyes" the musical tsunami hits. Similarly, the repeated refrain in 'Wait to Stop', the fragile piano arrangement in 'All I Know' and opener 'Crestfallen' all achieve spine-tingling bliss. Though not every track reaches such heights, these few songs are still fine in themselves and the album nothing if not a wholly enjoyable listening experience.