Customer Reviews

Pop Beloved

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

 

 

This is another great album by the late Austin, TX band! It is unfortunate that almost all of the Reivers albums are out of print. Contrary to popular belief lead man Croslin did not go on to FORM the band Spoon. He produced some of their material and later filled in as bassist for a short period of time.

The Reivers were a smart, guitar oriented college rock band of the kind that were quite popular in the late 1980s and early 1990s before the grunge explosion came along. Like such bands as The Blake Babies and The Posies, The Reivers knew how to write smart pop rocks songs that had a little bite to them. The highlights on "Pop Beloved" include the "Breathin' Easy," "Chinatown" "Over and Over," "The Other Side" and a cover of the Vulgar Boatmen song "Katie." Like The Blake Babies, The Reivers featured both male and female lead vocals, shared by Cindy Toth and John Croslin. "Pop Beloved" has a couple of clunkers here and there, but overall, it's a fine example of a rock and roll style that has long since gone out of fashion.

Luckily, they went out in style. (Although, if they had released a bad last album maybe it wouldn't matter that they dissolved.) Pop Beloved stands with the strongest of their work. To my ears it sounds a little more world weary, a little more experienced than the old Reivers. "Over and Over" and "What You Wanna Do" are resigned in their outlook, yet "Chinatown" and "Other Side" offer respites from this resignation. As from the first album on, an instrumental or two appears. On Pop Beloved, it's the atmospheric, very un-pop title track . Despite this piece, the rest of the album is less abstract lyrically than much of their previous output. Interestingly, "Second Chance", the very last song on The Reivers last album is the only one in their career that credits all the band members in its composition. Also, quite an ironic title, eh? Unfortunately, there was no second chance...

I heard "Breathing Easy" on the radio and bought the CD. Little did I know that the CD would turn out to be my favorite ever. I am desperately looking for anything else ever recorded by this band. The only title I have seen is "Translate Slowly". PLEASE EMAIL ME at rails2trails@aol.com if you have any information!

I will howl into the abyss until my voice can no longer speak: this is one of the finest power pop albums ever made. Surely all of the Reivers albums are just as good, but this is perhaps the hardest of them to find, and well worth seeking out. I sold my copy several years ago, sure that it would be fairly easy to replace. Well just this week I found another copy, and I have been loving it ever so much. Every song brings back memories of the shows, and of listening to the cd when it was first issued. Among so many great songs, it is not easy to pick out a favorite. however, if pressed to do so, I would say that Dragonflies is my favorite of these. The sense of longing gained from the words and the vocal performances, well describing it is just not good enough, you've got to hear this! All four members of the group did an amazing job on their respective instruments. Then there was no more, for so very long. In the past two years there have been a very few reunion shows, and now I've heard that they are back together with a new name, Right Or Happy. I hope that they will have great success as Right Or Happy. Also, I hope they record and release some great new songs. The wait has been so...........

1991's "Pop Beloved" was released at what was the end of the jangle pop era, when most artists who performed the genre were either calling it quits or switching over to other forms of music (grunge, alternative, ect). "Pop Beloved" delivers the same harmonies from previous albums, but fails the recapture the sound of jangle pop. Shortly after this album, lead singer Croslin formed the group "Spoon".