Queen of the Meadow

Elysian Fields

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 14, 2000)
• Original Release Date: November 14, 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Jet Set Records
• ASIN: B0000508Z3
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #154,885 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Track Listings

1. Black Acres

2. Bayonne

3. Bend Your Mind

4. Tides of the Moon

5. Hearts Are Open Graves

6. Rope of Weeds

7. Dream Within a Dream

8. Barely Recognize You

9. Fright Night

10. Queen of the Meadow

11. Cities Will Fall

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Night cracked like a skull...", February 6, 2004

By	Jolene Barber "nepenthesea" (Colorado City, Texas United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is the coolest band! Love the lyrics. Like dark, sexy jazz, almost. Jennifer Charles has the sexiest voice EVER. Yes, there are a few songs I tend to skip, but the rest make up for it. "Black Acres" and "Barely Recognize You" are the best, along with "Cities Will Fall", an apocalyptic love song. Gorgeous! The lyrics are dark, even graphic; images of convulsing moons, collapsing cities, and consuming burial grounds will leave "a trail like Dillinger" in your head. I can't wait to hear Bleed Your Cedar.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I love this CD!, March 13, 2003

By A Customer

I haven't fallen in love with a band like this since I discovered Mogwai! The moment I heard Queen of the Meadow I went out and bought it -- and then I bought La Mer Enfortunata, which isn't an EF album but was made by the band's two main contributors, Jennifer Charles and Oren Bloedow -- and then I went out and tracked down Bleed Your Cedar. Wow! I rarely even write reviews, I'm just writing this because I love it so much. Really!

This music is very svelte -- kind of jazz meets alternative meets symbolist poetry meets pre-Raphaelite painting. Baudelaire would have loved this. Jennifer Charles has the sexiest, smoothest, velvetiest voice I ever heard. The music is intelligent, eclectic, at times bordering on genius. There's nothing like it.

Some people seem to prefer Bleed Your Cedar, but I think Queen of the Meadow is the better album. Cedar still shows derivative traces of pop and rock, IMHO. Queen is more understated musically, but I think it's a more complete or evolved statement of the band's aesthetic. There are one or two clunkers on the album -- like Fright Night -- but those are easy to forget alongside Black Acres (definitely the best track on the album), Dream Within a Dream (the Poe poem set to luscious jazz lounge music), and Cities Will Fall.

The best way I can describe my feelings about this album is like this: most music I listen to while doing other things -- working, eating, driving, etc. This album I love so much that I don't profane it by giving it half my attention. I only listen to it at night, alone, when I can give my whole attention to it. It's that good -- that pleasureful -- that great.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best yet from this awesome young band, November 14, 2000

By	paw (California) - See all my reviews

elysian fields rocks! etherial grooves with intelligent lyrics...the band takes the best from the NYC avant-garde rock and jazz scenes to create an original, sensuous sound. This album is clearly their best yet!