Hips And Makers

Kristin Hersh

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 27, 2009)
• Original Release Date: February 1, 1994
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Reprise Records
• ASIN: B000002MMP
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #34,597 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential recording

In 1994, Kristin Hersh took a sabbatical from her beloved and beleaguered Throwing Muses to record her first solo album, Hips and Makers. Mostly acoustic, entirely personal, Hips' songs touch the core of Hersh's daily life, specifically as it involves her husband and family, topics she rarely explored with her band. Produced by ex-Patti Smith guitarist Lenny Kaye, Hips and Makers infuses the singer/songwriter tradition with a jolt of complexity and authority. Hersh still favors the taut, stream of consciousness lyrics she whittled down to the bone with the Muses, but she never veers into confessional "dear diary" territory, although she does allow peeks into a world where clotheslines, bee stings, and the occasional ghost aren't unusual. Musically more measured and clearly quieter than any Muses disc, Hips showcases Hersh's fluttery voice atop powerful acoustic guitar with flourishes from cello and piano. "Your Ghost," the album's moody and dazzling opener, features backup vocals by R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe and sets the tone for the album: like a family, it's happy on the surface, intriguing when explored. --Shawn Stewart

Product Description

Hips And Makers by HERSH, KRISTIN

This product is manufactured on demand using CD-R recordable media. Amazon.com's standard return policy will apply.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars IT'S THE BLAZE ACROSS MY NIGHTGOWN..., October 6, 2000

By	EriKa "E" (Iceland) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

When listening to Kristin Hersh, particularly this solo effort, I am reminded of much of Iceland's contemporary fiction. It is introspective, but detached, quiet, complex, disturbing, but beautiful. Almost like wandering the halls of an insane asylum and hearing mad rantings of its inhabitants... or hearing ghosts in your head. (You might read Einar Mar Gudmundsson's Angels of the Universe to know what I mean). This is a gorgeous, scorchingly raw (emotionally speaking) album with quiet, acoustic songs of the highest quality. I can safely say that there are few singer/songwriters who equal Kristin Hersh's prolific gift. Highlights include "Your Ghost", "Beestung", "Velvet Days", "The Letter" (which is almost like ripping a page directly from one of the Icelandic books!), and "The Cuckoo". This is a critical, sparkling album.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Second Coming, March 9, 2001

By	"waldglyde" (Sydney, New South Wales Australia) - See all my reviews

After one of the most original and confrontative of debut albums, the Throwing Muses' 1986 album on 4AD, the band settled into a pattern of brilliant, indypop that, had they not made the template, might be said to follow it too closely. Hersh's first solo album broke that template and, though, I recall, it was dismissed by many at the time as being too understated, it should have always been seen as a breakthrough in the confessional mode of songwriting, and one as remarkable as Joni Mitchell's Blue or Leonard Cohen's New Skin for The Old Ceremony. What Hersh alone achieved, though, and with both debut albums, was to meld words and music not simply with conversation, as did Mitchell and Cohen, but with thought. Listening to these albums means listening to Hersh's thoughts : sometimes scary, often tender, all too easily hurt by what it means to be human. We listen to her thoughts; we hear our own.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of my favorites, October 18, 2004

By	Ian Burman "Media genius" (Fargo, ND USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I found this album used at a shop around town when I was 16. I had heard the song "Your Ghost" and liked it quite a bit. So, I got it, listened to "Your Ghost" and never got much further than that. I just thought "Eh." That was that. Then, I was weeding out some of my CDs a few months later to find some to sell so I could make some cash. I was going through, listening to everything I hadn't listened to in months. I put this in and this time it just CLICKED. Every song just seemed so full of emotion, even without paying attention to the lyrics. I put the disc on repeat for the rest of the day. I still listen to it regularly.

Hersh's voice is like a hoarse whisper at times, at others, it's a pain-filled wail. It's hard to describe it. Everything is so simple and it's got some of the best lyrics I've ever seen. Personal favorites include "A Loon" and "Houdini Blues." I highly recommend this album to everyone. Just don't wait a few months to listen to it like I did. Listen to it on repeat and let it sink in.