Customer Reviews

Overcome By Happiness

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

What this really reminds me of is an album released a couple of years ago called "A Life Full of Farewells" by an Australian band, The Apartments. Though Joe Pernice and the rest of the world would never have heard it, and Joe seems to still have a hold on some innocence long lost to Apartments songwriter Peter Walsh. Like that album, this is classic, baroque chamber pop, with irresistible melodies that follow you round, and haunt your days (and nights).

This is by far the best album out today. Melodies and harmonizing that just make you melt (or hum to yourself). This album is so good even my boss asked who they were after I played the CD.And hes 55. Best of the decade!

I wanted to write this before I bought the new record because I can't comprehend how Joe Pernice could possibly release another record as beautiful as this.

It's one of those records which makes you happy to be heart broken, how I would love to sing the line "Its better now you're gone", to any number of people, but Joe thought of it first.

Crestfallen, Clearspot and the titletrack are melodic masterpieces and Joe Pernice, who I have yet to see play, has a delicate and wistful voice throughout, relying on a well crafted lyric instead to make the point.

Reading all the other reviews of this record, there is one thing that leaves me feeling unfulfilled, and that is the fact that in the last 6 years a great band from Scotland has done this with their last three records. Do yourself a favour, and after you have bought the new Pernice Brothers album, buy yourselves a record by Teenage Fanclub.

I actually bought this CD because cyberpunk author William Gibson mentioned it in an interview...then a few weeks later I ended a long-term relationship, and suddenly the CD became a vital part of my life. Buy this as well as Pernice's latest project, Chappaquiddick Skyline...even after your heart has healed, the music remains beautiful and haunting.

So said a friend of mine upon returning this album after I loaned it to him. The Scuds LPs were beautifully undersung (literally) and tragically undersung (commercially). Now Joe and company, with little media fanfare, unleash this masterpiece and my jaw has hit the floor. I understand the import has xtra tracks. Anybody heard these? Why oh why is the world capable of ignoring a brutal, brillant, and substantial work of art while tripe fills the charts? Ask Vincent Van Gogh or Edgar Allan Poe I reckon. Joe. I will do my best to help you get your due before you die. --Jim Neill

I feel like an evangelist about this record: I am telling everyone who will listen for even a second that this is the best record of the year. A marvelous debut. Such gorgeousity.

This is one of the best albums I've heard in some time. It has great melodies, hooks galore, intelligent lyrics, creative arrangements and the ability to stay with you long after it's over.

The songwriting brings to mind all sorts of influences - there is Brian Wilson, certainly, but it also reminds me of Big Star's Third Album, Paul Westerberg and American Music Club. The arrangements (by co-producer Michael Deming) are spare yet bring out the inate beauty in each song. The melodies will keep you coming back to the album but the lyrics are what really add a sense of depth to the songs.

Joe Pernice writes about coping with the expectations of life and the beauty of small things combined with the difficulty of melding those simple pleasures into a deeper happiness. They are pensive, reflective and bittersweet, covering topics that range from dealing with the expectations of society ("Monkey Suit"), the disappointments of living, the obstacles inherent in re! lationships, suicide (the haunting "Chicken Wire") and the universal hope for love ("Wait to Stop"). Joe's vocals are tinged with the acceptance of the elusiveness of happiness but the hope that there is a possibility of achieving it.

This is a captivating and astute album full of insights about life itself. If there is any justice, this music will the attain the level it deserves. If you're looking for terrific songwriting, try this one out. You won't be sorry.