Customer Reviews

Yoko

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Sadly, unless Miles Kurosky and the other members of Beulah decide to reform at some point, this is the last Beulah album that we are going to get. At least we have the consolation that the band left us with three exceedingly good albums. Critical opinion seems to divide over which of the three is their finest. If one prefers the horns and intricate use of strings and other instruments, one will tend to prefer WHEN YOUR HEARTSTRINGS BREAK and THE COAST IS NEVER CLEAR, probably with a nod towards the former. As much as I like those two albums, I prefer the slightly sparer sound of YOKO. Although I never find the arrangements on those two albums distracting or overwhelming (indeed, I find their arrangements to always be restrained and exceedingly apt, and definitely one of the highpoints of those two albums), I am at heart a minimalist and gravitate towards smaller line ups and fewer instruments. For me, less is always more. So on a purely personal level, YOKO is just naturally the kind of album that is more likely to appeal to me.

Interestingly, though they have cut way back on the horns and strings and back up vocalists and musicians, the album feels more plugged in than the previous two efforts. On several cuts like "Landslide Baby" or "My Side of the City" there is an intensity that one rarely finds on the earlier albums. Not that the lyrical delicacy that is one of the hallmarks of the band is missing. There are numerous lo-fi gems on the album, such as "You're Only King Once," which even reintroduces the strings and horns that typify the earlier discs. The album also highlights the country sounds that were sometimes to be found earlier discs, and a number of places some delightful country guitar licks are to be found, often in places where not expected, such as in the marvelously titled "Me and Jesus Don't Talk Anymore." But the big change in this album compared to the earlier ones is in the content of the lyrics. There is more heartache, more darkness, less playful joy, as if the previous two years had been bad ones in Kurosky's life. Many of the songs appear addressed to someone who has departed, and while songs never necessarily reflect actual events in the writer's life, they frequently do.

I wouldn't necessarily argue that this is Beulah's best album, but after repeated listenings I have to confess that it is the one I most enjoy.

It is a constant source of mystery to me why bands like Beulah don't make it while a host of mediocre performers and bands do. The most I've been able to conclude is that physical appearance is a huge consideration. I definitely like Garbage, but if Shirley Manson hadn't fronted it, would they have made it? Think of all the bands that stand out only because they are visually memorable, despite bland or even awful results in the studio. Billy Corgan understood this, and deliberately chose some of the members of Smashing Pumpkins for what they contributed to the band visually rather than musically (figuring he could carry the band musically himself). Beulah, while one of the finest bands to emerge in recent years, was a strikingly unexciting group of guys to look at. Not one member of the band looked like a rock star. I hate to think that the contemporary music industry can be reduced to such stupidities, but what if each member of the band had dyed their hair a different absurd color, and changed their name to that color, and called the band itself RESERVOIR DOGS? What if Miles Kurosky had become Mr. Pink and Bill Swan Mr. Purple? Of course it would have been a stupid conceit, but think of all the bands that manage to make it exploiting such conceits, while stellar bands like Beulah do not? Ultimately, the responsibility for such silliness must rest on the shoulders of the fans. If we wouldn't go see bands like my fictitious Reservoir Dogs, and completely backed bands by going to see (no, record purchasing won't do it, since virtually all bands make their money by live shows-the record companies make the money from record sales) great bands like Beulah, maybe we'd start to see all the crappy bands fade away, and the great ones stick around for a while.

At least Beulah's swan song was a good one. The Elephant 6 band recently played their farewell show in New York, but their farewell album "Yoko" came out a year before. Steeped in sadness and the feeling of breaking up, this album seems a fitting finale, if not the best they ever did.

A hostile edge enters with songs like rocker "My Side of the City," and the bitter "Landslide Baby" ("It's a lie, it's a cop-out and I know you know I know why/you won't try, cause you're scared and you're weak") while "Fooled with the Wrong Guy" is panoramic pop. "Me and Jesus Don't Talk Anymore" is a plaintive, almost schizo song that sweeps from fuzzy to melodic, but the finale is somehow the most touching part -- a gradual wind-down to just the bare basics of music.

Around the time "Yoko" was recorded, three band members divorced and vocalist Miles Kurosky broke up with his longtime girlfriend. So the sound is completely different from "The Coast is Never Clear" -- where that album was bright, this one is dark, pensive and shedding a tear or two in the middle of the night.

The sound is less 60s pop, and more an autumnal, Kurosky and Bill Swan provide some solid guitarwork, alternately sweet and spiky. Swan's brass accompaniment is also followed by some solid keyboard, bass and interesting drums. A lot of passion seems to be poured into the music, as if the band is experiencing a bit of a catharsis.

Those who hate emo, be warned -- Kurosky borders on emo at times in this album, as he bleeds his heart's blood all over the songs. "Try wasting all your days/on a man/a man like me," he warns his nameless lover, before pleading, "Smile, please smile/I just want you happy" and "I've got the biggest heart/you've ever torn apart."

Beulah's fourth album not only heralded the breakups of marriages and relationships, but later the band as well. But at least they left us a depressingly beautiful finale in "Yoko."

The best record by one of the most underappreciated and underrated indie bands of the last ten years. Perfect from start to finish, no filler to speak of. I'm sad to say it's the last Beulah record that will ever be made. At least they left us with this beautiful record. Thank you Beulah.

Simply put, this is the Beulah record for all the non-Beulah fans out there. I'll admit that I've never been much of a Beulah fan before this record, and I'll also admit that pop music isn't really my bag. I'm basically more of a Mogwai, Sigur Ros kind of guy. With that said, Beulah's last three records never really made much of an impression on me. Hence, I was totally thrown for a loop when my friend played me the beginning of "Hovering." Wow. This isn't the Beulah I remember. Reverb? Bowed guitar? Ambience? Space? When did this happen? Well, it doesn't stop there...the bookends are utter perfection. Track #1 sounds like Radiohead Britpop tune with angular and cutting guitars that still manage to float and soar. With track #10 you get shades of Pink Floyd and early Neil Young and hints at jazz over some of the most emotional and raw vocals I've heard in a long time. Absolutely mindblowing. While I'm not yet ready to call myself a pop lover, I do think I'm going to buy some of their older records and see if I've missed anything over the past few years. If they're as good as YOKO my top ten list for 2003 is going to be all about Beulah.

Yoko is a lofty and inspired album investigating the subject of the devastated heart constructing one of the most flawless, evocative recordings in recent recorded history. It's a hook filled beaut of an album with 10 outstanding tracks. While Dylan and others have explored the same subject, Beulah somehow make it sound fresh and new. A rare find in today's morass.

I love this band more than any other. Basically I've grown up with them all the way from Handsome Western States to Yoko. I've gone through college, fell in love, had my heart broken, got my first job, got fired from my first job, got drunk, woke up hungover, took roadtrips and sat staring at the wall...all to the mighty sounds of Beulah. That may mean very little to the potential Beulah consumer or fan but I'm afraid it's all I got. The music speaks for itself. It's beautiful and intricate. It's rockin' and mellow. It's classic but still totally fresh and inventive. Yes, it's one part Beach Boys, one part Pavement, one part Beatles, one part Wilco etc., but in the end it's all parts good. They've never let me down like other bands. They always surprise me and they always exceed my expectations. I can't wait for the next one.

It's raining as I'm writing this, and I've just realized that this is a wonderful rainy day album- particulary one with a rainbow after the showers. I wasn't that convinced after listening to the first four tracks. They're all pretty good, but my expectations for this record were very high. After track 4, an average rock song entitled My Side of the City, I was starting to get a little disappointed. That all changed when the next song began. When Hovering creeped on in a discordant, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot manner, I was immediately enthralled. From Hovering on, this album radiates sorrowful glows of longing, love and compassion. Hovering jangles on in a discouraging slowrock fashion with a softly tinkling piano adding its tears to the brilliant and beautiful jumble of music and emotions. Me and Jesus Don't Talk Anymore sways back and forth from dissonant meandering and pop explosions, rendering another splendid hodgepodge of heartfelt lyrics and soaring melodies. Fooled with the Wrong Guy is another tough track to understand. It sounds so sad, but it makes me feel so good. This is one of my favorite songs on the cd. Your Mother Loves You Son rolls back into the rock spectrum with a biting snap and more wry, pungent lyrics and some phenomenal chords. You might forget to breathe when listening to the next track, Don't Forget to Breathe. It's just an incredibly captivating song the whole way through, a perfectly arranged number. I didn't think to highly of the seven and a half minute coda upon first listen, but Wipe Those Prints and Run wore off on me the more I listened. The best part of it is probably the last 40 seconds, when everything boils down to an old scratchy 45 sound with just Miles' lonely vocals and his blissful folk strumming. Let Yoko into your heart. It's something very special.

hey my friend got me hooked on this band and so i have all their major records and a few of their singles. their first album, handsome western states, is pretty good, and its their most like indie badass one. their next two are their best in my opinion. when your heartstrings break has a whole different feel than states, with some trumpet and stuff to give Beulah its own distinct sound. "Coast" was the next one and its pretty cool and has a kinda california feel to it. "yoko" is more depressing than the rest, because the band went through a lot of break ups with girlfriends and stuff while recording it. its still good, but get heartstrings and coast first, so that this doesnt turn you off of beulah.

The excitement has been mounting for weeks--it's finally here...the new Beulah album. I was so excited at what I heard when I put it into my stereo at home that I couldn't even wait to finish listening past the 3rd song before starting my review. Let me just say, it rocks. As all you Beulah fans out there probably already know, everything written about the album so far has crushed hopes for another 10 tracks of sunny melodies and beach boys comparisons---I have to admit I was a little worried that this album might be the band's desperate attempt to prove that they really are "deep" and that the music would get hopelessly lost in the process. Not so. As a long-standing Beulah fan, just the sound of Miles Kurosky's smooth crooning is enough to make a bad album good. Not to say that it's a bad album. Cause it's good. And didn't we all know notice the gloomy undertones to even the seemingly cheeriest Beulah tunes of previous albums? If you didn't notice, you weren't listening hard enough. It's always been there. So sure, it may be darker and gloomier than previous Beulah endeavors---but moody or not, take Yoko for what it is: a seriously top-notch album. We'll be reading about this one for a long time. That's about all I can say right now, cause I'm just about moved to tears by track 7.

I have to admit that I was one of many Beulah fans that didn't see this one coming. Never have I heard such growth from a band over the course of four records. Maybe I should've expected it though since all of Beulah's records sound so completely different from each other. I mean, I can't really reccomend "Handsome Western States." It has only so much charm, then it's just lo-fi Pavement wannabee indie guitar rock. However, everything after "When Your Hearstrings Break" is all gold baby. Well, on "Yoko" they've struck gold again. All the melodies are strong and inventive as usual, and all the odd instrumentation melds together wonderfully, but there is something more profound swirling about. I'm not talking about darkness or depth because that's always been there. Maybe it is maturity, I'm not really sure. However, there's just something more provocative and compelling about this record. Maybe it's the lyrics. Miles Kurosky really cuts his heart out on this one. It might be a bit emo for some, but it's grown up emo. A man coming to terms with his life. It's both heartbreaking and uplifting at the same time. To be fair, "Yoko" does take a while to get it's pop claws into to you, but once it does, it doesn't let go. Remember, it's taken the real Yoko close to 30 years to be accepted. I guarentee that this one will makes it's way into your heart a lot quicker if you give it the time that it deserves. You'll will not be disapointed.