Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
We Can't Trust the Doctors....but we can trust Blanche, February 15, 2005
The first album out for this Detroit-based band is one of the best albums I heard in 2004. Its haunting melodies and somber tone are offset by a wonderful sense of humor. Dan Miller, the groups primary singer/songwriter, has a way with lyrics that cause those tearful eyes to twinkle. On songs like The Hopeless Waltz, Miller sings of hope as though it is a villain, and croons "Hopefully, I'll never hope again." The album is full of clever lyrics, interesting guitar licks, and fascinating vocals by Miller, who sounds a lot like Hank Williams Sr at times, is backed up by the soothing vocals of his wife, Tracee, and all backed by beautiful instrumentation. Pedal steel player Feeny and banjo artist Patch Boyle add a distinctly "country" vibe, while bass player Tracee and drummer Lisa Jannon keep the rhythm in check.
All in all this is a wonderful album for anyone who is interested in the diversity that can be obtained when not limiting yourself to a label of rock and roll or country.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Blanche is amazing., February 22, 2005
As it's pretty much been said before, the band's haunting melodies and passioned chants are soul-striking to say the least. The rhythm, the tone, and the style of Blanche's music is in and from a direction that i've rarely traveled musically. This album is phenomenal. I recommend it to anyway who wants to be moved by music.
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9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Don't You Know It's Bad Luck To Be Superstitious?, December 17, 2005
If I had to categorize this album, I'd call it Country Goth. It mixes strains of Hank Williams and Buddy Holly with the despairing wail of Marilyn Manson. The stronger songs on this disk are sonically compelling even as they force you to bathe in dread and marinate in morbidity. Even at the end, when the group takes on the old hillbilly spiritual "Wayfaring Stranger," their sound bespeaks a godless world in which death is the best we can hope for. Where this album succeeds, it succeeds spectacularly.
That said, I still can't bring myself to recommend this CD to newbies.
This album has some real treasures on it. Tracks like "Who's To Say," "Another Lost Summer," and "Someday" make hopelessness seem like a valid choice. The biblically stark instrumentation, reminiscent at times of Bob Dylan's "John Wesley Harding" album, is gorgeous and effectively carries the theme from the songs, of a narrator who has given up on human contact.
But other songs, like "Hopeless Waltz" and "Do You Trust Me," feel self-indulgent. The whole middle of the album is at almost exactly the same tempo, lapsing into vacant mood music. The two longest songs on the disk, "So Long Cruel World" and "Jack On Fire," aren't supported by the lyrics or the music and feel like they're doubling back on themselves. This is music for marching in place and it doesn't bear up to repeated listening.
There is enough on this CD to persuade me that, with time and seasoning, Blanche may be one of the major forward-thinking voices in alternative country. Several individual tracks are worth listening to, and even a few well-chosen chords feel like zygotes of great songs that will come later. For the time being, though, this album feels like the band members are trying on shoes that are too big for them and hoping they'll grow. I look forward to hearing what this band does in the future, but in the present it just doesn't work like it should.
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