The World Won't End

Pernice Brothers

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 5, 2001)
• Original Release Date: June 19, 2001
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Ashmont Records
• ASIN: B00005B53P
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #125,973 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com's Best of 2001
The second record by the Pernice Brothers, Joe Pernice's bright-eyed neo-country troupe, is an album that tackles themes of magnificent love, desperate frustration, and spirit-mangling depression. The World Won't End is far from an extended misery tract, though; well-versed in the canon of Bacharach, Wilson, and Big Star, Pernice has always reveled in loosing the most difficult of emotions into a rolling meadow of summertime pop. These 11 tracks are wrapped up in a gorgeous whirl of pedal steel, violin, and cello that is elegant, cathartic, and--best of all--really nice to listen to when the sun's out. "Our Time Has Passed" mulls painfully over the nostalgic memories of a dead love affair: "There's a box I still can't open / There's a name that hurts to say / I fall in love with the way I'm shaking/ In a crowd I think I see your face." "Working Girl (Sunlight Shines)," meanwhile, is a brief but beautifully observed vignette of a young temp stuck in a dead-end job, left "contemplating suicide or a graduate degree." Throughout, though, Pernice's sympathetic vocals, full of hope and purity, turn such empty impasses into a celebration of humanity. The message of The World Won't End? Simply that life goes on. --Louis Pattison

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Gorgeous, classic pop rock, February 14, 2002

By	M. E Mattson (Uva Ursi) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I'm not sure how Joe Pernice channeled the Zombies or Big Star, but I don't care either. The first three or four songs are sweeping guitar pop symphonies outrageous in their poppy pathos. Pernice, indeed, sounds quite a bit like the smooth, seductive Colin Bluntstone throughout these songs--a fact I never noticed during his days on Scud Mountain. The fifth song will cause Wilco to tear their hair out and hire Jeff Lynne. Though his lyrics are lachrymose and morbid, they are so admittedly ("this fascination with the moribund"), and there's a great sense of fun in that. The only missteps here are one or two ballads (Shaken Baby is one), with gross jazzy chords tipping the mood into maudlin. Pernice can write this stuff in his sleep and it bogged down his Scud Mountain stuff, too.

Thom Monihan's production is stellar, crisp and full throughout: Pernice's distinct vocals swoon atop layers of guitar, piano, organ, and strings. Extremely tasty. This record was a real surprise.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I must confess..., June 13, 2001

By A Customer

...Joe Pernice has probably had pictures taken of me so his security detail can be on the lookout for me. I always walk up to him at his shows and blather about his incredible ability to communicate all of the varying feelings of sadness and hopelessness. What makes his ability special is that he does this while maintaining a top shelf sense of humor and sunny sense of melody. It's understandable that he would think I'm nutty by all of my gushing and stammering.

The new record is chock full of gems. It's musically different than "Overcome By Happiness"; deeper and amazingly catchy without being obvious. While some records cram the best two or three up top, the Pernice crew makes it back-heavy. "Shaken Baby", "Flaming Wreck", and "The Ballad of Bjorn Bjorg" are my favorites and are near the end amongst a record full of good songs. I challenge anyone to get the melody and harmonies out of their head after hearing "Shaken Baby." The forlorn "hello, hello" at the crescendo in "Flaming Wreck" is so beautiful and intense. And "The Ballad of Bjorn Bjorg" is a cleverly constructed metaphor detailing Bjorn Borg losing it at his peak and dropping out of sight. Joe applies the idea to a failed relationship with devastating effect on your heart.

The language in the lyrics has gotten simpler but not any less sublime. "Working Girls" shows the desperate interior of a woman stuck in a 9-5 job with stunning simplicity: "She summered every winter through a calendar from paradise A cheap dress-up temp job, and a tan by cold fluorescent light 'Anticipation' playing from a radio, it mocks her life."

I urge you to add this cd to your collection if serious songcraft is your bag. It doesn't get much better than this. But if it does, I believe Joe Pernice will be the one to best it.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 11 Timeless Melodies, June 27, 2001

By	Ian Creamer (Dublin,Ireland) - See all my reviews

The Pernice Brothers have released 11 new tracks of pure melody,glorious harmonies and gentle guitar rock.It's hard to find even one weak track on this c.d. and yet there are a number of strong stand out tracks that if they were given the proper exposure in the media would make this one of the biggest albums of the year.I still think this will rank in one of my top ten c.d.'s of the year so far.

The Pernice Brothers sound very much like The Byrds,Fountains Of Wayne or Teenage Fanclub.Lots of guitars give this a modern alt-rock sound and on other occasions they can have a country/rock feel.The vocals are wondrous,especially the multi-layered harmonies which really are the best I've heard from any one c.d. in a long time.It ain't all about guitars either-plenty of keyboards and piano and several people to give a helping hand on percussion.Strings also add to give a more lush sound from time to time.All the songs have that 4 minute structure of verse,sub-chorus,chorus feel to them.They don't rely on instrumental solo's to break the songs.Usually these breaks are built around vocal variations.Lyrically it's got a fairly up-beat feel to it,yet they manage to sound quite chirpy and cheerful even when the songs are about loss.The stand out tracks for me (and there are quite a few) are "Bryte Side" and "Flaming Wreck".

This c.d. is a wonderful 40 minuted of musical pleasure and this c.d. could go on given the right exposure to be a sountrack for the summer.Definitely worth investigating.