Sweet Life

Varnaline | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 25, 1998)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Zero Hour/Ada
• ASIN: B000009OTR
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #64,178 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Gulf Of Mexico

2. Northern Lights

3. Now You're Dirt

4. All About Love

5. While You Were Sleeping

6. Saviours

7. This Is The River

8. Underneath The Mountain

9. Fuck & Fight

10. Mare Imbrium

11. Tonite

12. Sweet Life

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Over three albums the trio Varnaline has recalled everyone from Hüsker Dü and Son Volt to Neil Young, with and without the monolithic Crazy Horse. With Sweet Life, though, singer, songwriter, and guitarist Anders Parker and his mates hit their stride with not only their most fully realized effort but also one of the most striking rock releases of 1998. A gorgeous sprawl of downbeat, acoustic-tinged rock, Sweet Life constantly pierces the skin. (Mark Lanegan fans, take note.) The stammering "Now You're Dirt" seethes with the emotion drawn from a son trying to make amends with his dead father; "Northern Lights" lilts with pedal steel and wondrous, stargazing imagery; and the album-closing title track swells with a fusion of chamber music and splashy, bone-crushing rhythms. The sweet life, that song might suggest, is both a state of catharsis and hauntedness. Ditto for this collection. --Neal Weiss

Product Description

VARNALINE Sweet Lie (1998 UK 12-track CD album released on Zero Hour Records includes Gulf Of Mexico Northern Lights & Now Youre Dirt picture sleeve ZERCD4130)

See all Editorial Reviews

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Varnaline, rhymes with Gasoline, September 2, 1998

By 

daniel sumrall (St. Paul,MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sweet Life (Audio CD)

What can you call this? New college radio rock? Neo-Southern rock? NeilYoungian? I don't know, but I do know that for all their comparisons to Neil Young (Harvest especially) and Son Volt, Varnaline manage to escape the dirge music created by most of the groups they're compared to. Their music, essentially the Anders Parkers project, dwells on the meaning/effects of place and deals with relations between people. Fairly simple topics, yet usually impossible to deliever in a fashion that'll keep most listeners interest. But Varnaline do keep your interest and they draw you into the world of each song. "Gulf of Mexico" is oddly hypnotic, "Northern Lights" is presented in such a fashion you'd think your best friend was telling you a story about the night before, and "Saviours" is so very surreal that you find yourself nodding along with the metaphors in complete agreement. The songs "All about Love", "Fuck & Fight" and "Tonite" provide sombre rock tunes that willing keep you company while you drink. The albums closer and title track "Sweet Life" mixes beauty and chaos into a stew that I deem near perfect. Varnaline is a great band, a band that provides music to travel and drink to, which for many people are important strengths.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best album ever.......period., September 14, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Sweet Life (Audio CD)

This is the one album I always come back to when I am tired of everything and everyone. It is a beautiful piece of art and it has made me cry more than once. In a good way, though.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars unjustly underrated rockers, May 22, 2000

By 

Michael Toland (Austin, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sweet Life (Audio CD)

Why Varnaline has yet to find at least minor success is beyond me. Anders Parker's songs are excellent, the sound (a nice mix of acoustic 12-string and electric guitars, nimble rhythm section, augmented by just the right amount of strings and keys) is lush without being at all wimpy, they can rock out or play sensitively as needed, and this album, their fourth, just gets better with every listen. Recommended.