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20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The best of the best., January 4, 2004
Just about the most amazing album in my collection. I've got music from rap to country, from indie to pop, from alternative to new wave-- and everything in between. I have lots of folk albums in my collection too.... but this one... this one just tops them all. This is the album I can listen to when I can't decide what to listen to... when I can't figure out what kind of mood I'm in. This is the album I listen to when I need to be lifted up. Or when I need to sing at the top of my lungs in the car. Or when I need to revel in melancholy. THIS IS THE ALBUM. In my humble opionion, this album beats out every other IG album. If you buy only one IG album, make it this one. I think Rites of Passage is about more than death and rekindling, it's about GROWTH. It's about moving on, and acknowledging your past in order to move forward with your life. No one here has touched on the song "Nashville," which describes the pain felt when being shut out (ie being a lesbian, attending Vanderbilt University, which is quite the conservative school). Shut out of a community, shut out of a city... when your hopes clouded your vision, thinking your dreams could fill up the place and you could change peoples' views... I could probably write an essay on every song on this album, but the most important thing you know is-- you've gotta buy it. And LISTEN to it... it's infectious... and the melodies, the brilliant lyrics, will take you over. And wash over you,
and make you feel enlightened and refreshingly awakened from a long and restless slumber.
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17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The standard by which all others are measured., May 22, 2002
This is my favorite IG album, and if you are starting your collection, it is probably the first one you should pick up. Emily is at her best -- "Gallileo" & "Virginia Woolf" are stellar. It also includes one of Amy's masterpieces, the oft-debated "Chickenman" (one of the only IG songs to repeatedly show up both on fans' most liked and least liked Indigo Girls songs). Like it or hate it, Chickenman is not standard IG fair, but it has become a staple of their live show, and it has an absolutely infectious rhythm backbone.
Musically, there is no denying that this album is truly brilliant. But perhaps even more notably, the lyrical content of this album makes it also one of the most cohesive works in the Girls' catalog. The album seems to have a central focus on coping with death, life after death, and communication with the deceased. Heavy, dark topics, indeed, but the Girls manage to explore these topics in such a way that we are somehow left feeling good. Observe:
"Galileo" puts a clever slant on reincarnation by not only exmianing a soul's past lives, but also it's future lives: The song's take home message is that we should live the best we can and straighten things up in this life in order to not only "let the next life off the hook", but also to prevent it from being able to cast blame upon past lives for its own situation. Brilliant!
In "Virginia Woolf", Emily presents an alternate interpretation of immortality, allowing spirits to live forever by simply learning about their lives and carrying on their message. This song contains a brilliant metaphor -- communicating with deceased spirits "kind of like a telephone line through time".
In "Ghost", one of Emily's most beautiful arrangements, she laments the loss of a loved one, yet we feel she is almost content to be able to communicate with the passed spirit, even if it is only fleeting.
The sprightly "Airplane", as bright as the music is, hides perhaps the darkest lyrics on the album, in which Emily prepares for death, "making a deal" with God to clean up her act if He spares her. The Roches make an appearance on this song, and their signature "slightly off key" vocal hoarmonization is brilliantly placed in this song, somehow giving us the feel that the airplane is already in the process of crashing. It's almost eerie.
Finally, Amy's "Cedar Tree" deals very explicitly with the passing of a loved one. But it lifts up our spirits with a very sprightly Celtic jig, that is still not out of place in such a dark song.
In the end, after listening to this album, you'll feel like you've gone on a journey, visiting past lives, communicating with those who have passed, and exploring the afterlife. And you will feel strangely refreshed. An absolutely brilliant album.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great CD, August 18, 2002
By A Customer
I recently bought this CD and now I listen to it constantly. It's my first exposure to Indigo Girls and I love what I hear.Generally with a CD I settle into a pattern, listening to the songs I like and skipping the ones I don't. Not a problem with "Rites of Passage." Besides the better-known songs, like "Galileo" (the first IG song I ever heard), the haunting "Ghost" and "Love Will Come to You," and the rocking but thoughtful "Chickenman," there are other gems on the CD: "Joking," a rousing, defiant musing on friendship lost; "Romeo and Juliet," a bare-bones rendition of my favorite Dire Straits song; and "Let It Be Me," an uplifting call to shine the light of life in a dark and confused world.
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Amy Ray shares her favorite music with Amazon customers. See all artists' picks on our Music You Should Hear page.
is Indigo Girls' 
