Smoke Ring For My Halo (Amazon Exclusive Version)

Kurt Vile | Format: MP3 Music

Product Details

• Original Release Date: March 7, 2011
• Label: Matador
• Copyright: 2010 Matador Records Limited
• Total Length: 47:59
• Genres:
  • Alternative Rock
• ASIN: B004MWL7L8
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,519 Paid in MP3 Albums (See Top 100 Paid in MP3 Albums)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't be fooled October 9, 2011

By amorfortuna2

Format:Audio CD

Kurt Vile sneaks up you. There is a precision to his sound. It's possible to say there is nothing new happening here, but that wouldn't be entirely true. His attitude is subtle, mysterious, mischievous. It may be an everyman attitude on the surface, but it's more introspective and ambiguous. Great lines throughout- in a mood I haven't really heard before. "I get sick of just about everyone and I hide in my baby's arms" "I might not ever get off the couch again." He is being a downer but he's charming about it, so it's hard not to like him anyway. In some cases, he fails to assert himself with a complete thought, then second guesses his non-assertion: "think I'll never leave my couch again cuz when I'm out, I'm on it in my mind/ then again, I guess it ain't always that way." Besides the playfully oppressive lyrics are the great melodies, and the rest of the band are very, very solid. I can listen to this album over and over especially while making eggs and coffee in the mornings.

25 of 33 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Proper Companion for Introspection April 8, 2011

By Mikie

Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase

For the sake of brevity, I'll get to the meat of the review immediately: I thoroughly enjoy this album. It's a beautiful, sadly uplifting, original work of art, which examines life, love, and loss from some satisfying and unique perspectives. This isn't music for a party; it is, however, great for chill moments, very personal and intimate, whether for listening solo, or as part of a couple.

Now, the vegetables: While the mega-giant, multinational, homogenizing, bottom-line-only record labels, and the recording industry, as a whole, continue to see revenues decline, and their rosters of hit-making artists shrink, a positive evolution has occurred. To wit: Thousands of artists, who would've been denied a recording deal just a few years ago, now have the opportunity to get their music heard; in many cases, these artists find a niche in which to flourish. I'm delighted that artists whose music would never have seen widespread availability before, now have the resources of hundreds of tiny indie labels. Kurt Vile is one of many beneficiaries of the indie label explosion.

I'd never bought a Kurt Vile album before this one. And, I strongly suspect, Vile and his band would have toiled in virtual anonimity twenty years back, until they each went their separate directions to raise a family and/or work a nine-to-five existence. What a loss for The Universe that would have been. Kurt Vile's voicings, lyrics, and music aren't for everyone, and some will be unable to recognize the lightning-in-a-bottle which is this recording; that's okay with Kurt, I'm sure. And Vile hasn't written his music for consumption by "everybody;" he wrote it as an expression of himself.

But if you're a little introspective-minded, and you can hear with an open mind, maybe you, too, will appreciate what he has to say, and how he says it, identifying and relating components of it to your own life. In my opinion, this is a gem of an album worthy of repeated listenings.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Classic October 20, 2011

By The Ox

Format:Audio CD

This really is a fantastic album and a stand out in this age of throw away Pitchfork artists whom value style and name dropping over substance and craft. A rare bird, Vile finds that perfect middle ground between classic Dinosaur Junior and Neil Young, adding his own twist.