Very Mary Beth

The Black Watch (Rock) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 1, 2003)
• Original Release Date: May 1, 2003
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Stonegarden Records
• ASIN: B0000AOKOS
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #445,801 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. All These Shivers

2. Mary Beth

3. There Must Be Something Wrong

4. Beautiful

5. Bitter Getting Better

6. Floating

7. That's Just How It Went This Time Around

8. Kick

9. Kensington Gardens

10. The Girl Of My Dreams

11. The Tug Attraction

12. Magic Shoes

Editorial Reviews

Each song creates a different mood- from yearning to hopefulness, dark to light. The sound has been compared to indie rock legends The Cure and seminal band My Bloody Valentine. John Fredrick’s lyrics are characteristically stimulating and candid, a la Nick Drake.

Very Mary Beth begins with a dreamy ballad and then takes the listener on an emotional journey, ending with a happy, jangly love song. Because of the departure of Fredrick’s musical and romantic partner Jacoby, some tracks, like "Bitter Getting Better," and "Kick," demonstrate the bleaker side of The Black Watch.

Conversely, there are some very optimistic songs such as "Mary Beth," "The Girl of My Dreams," and "Beautiful" that brighten the record and add a whimsical twist. Altogether, the instrumentation and tone of Very Mary Beth create an album in which to lose oneself.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars !, August 13, 2003

By 

Christian Bonner (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Very Mary Beth (Audio CD)

A brilliant album which actually outshines last year's watershed "Jiggery Pokery". "VMB" is definitely the most varied Black Watch album ever - gorgeous, loping ballads like the opener "All these shivers" and "That's just how it went this time around" (a very very haunting song, by the way) share time with more standard (but excellent!) B.W. fare such as the "Mary Beth" and the rocking, ridiculously catchy "Kick". The album's defining moment, however, is "Kensington Gardens". For this song alone, J.A. Fredrick could be mentioned in the same breath as Andy Partridge, or John Lennon, or any other great songwriter you'd care to name. Yep folks, it's that damn good. Sorry if I'm sounding pretentious, but it's the truth. And there are 7 additional songs on this album that are nearly equal to
the above five - I just don't have enough adjectives to describe them all. BUY THIS.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Why 4 stars instead of 5, August 26, 2003

By 

B. Yin "bernardyin" (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Very Mary Beth (Audio CD)

This recording is GREAT. Real music and REAL ROCK AND ROLL is supposed to have some grit, rawness, ups and downs and slight imperfections. All that said, it's not like this was recorded on a micro-cassette recorder. Lots of great sonics herein. There's no such thing as a "5" except in symphony orchestras. This CD has grown on me beautifully. This is true altrenative indie music sans the short-change on songwriting.