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Hammers and Anvils
 
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Hammers and Anvils

Graeme Downes
3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews) | More about this product

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Songs from this album are available to purchase as MP3s. Click on "Buy MP3" or view the MP3 Album.

Samples
Song Title Time Price
listen  1. Mastercontrol 3:27$0.99 Buy Track
listen  2. Hammers and Anvils 2:28$0.99 Buy Track
listen  3. Cole Porter 2:40$0.99 Buy Track
listen  4. Alright By Me 2:59$0.99 Buy Track
listen  5. January Song 2:51$0.99 Buy Track
listen  6. Cattle, Cars and Chainsaws 4:00$0.99 Buy Track
listen  7. Day of the Dead 3:14$0.99 Buy Track
listen  8. Shoreleave 3:22$0.99 Buy Track
listen  9. Song For A Hollywood Road Movie 4:02$0.99 Buy Track
listen10. Gucci 2:59$0.99 Buy Track
listen11. Getting Out Of It 3:21$0.99 Buy Track
listen12. Sunday Kickaround 5:05$0.99 Buy Track
listen13. Rock'n'Roll Hero 2:55$0.99 Buy Track

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Product Details

  • Audio CD (August 28, 2001)
  • Original Release Date: August 28, 2001
  • Number of Discs: 1
  • Label: Matador Records
  • ASIN: B00005N8U3
  • In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
  • Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #386,795 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The dawn of the 21st century is the era of New Zealand comebacks; The Clean, Go-Betweens, and Robert Scott have all resurfaced. Now Graeme Downes, the founder of New Zealand's almost famous Verlaines (and guru of the rock degree at Otago University), is adding new twists to his own still-thriving legacy. You may think Downes, who plays all the instruments on his solo debut, has a multiple personality disorder given his alternating loyalties to piano-bar tunes, woodsy guitar jangle, orchestral passages, and urban guitar squeal--but it's his loose yet articulate craftsmanship, and his mastery of the relation between phrasing, hook, and lyric, that holds Hammers and Anvils together. For maximum impact, you'll return repeatedly to the opening and title track, a jarring, sparse guitar lament referencing the singer's own "dismemberment" and drunkenness, as he's "crawling in vomit and slime." Soon after, you'll appreciate the more subtle and sublime charms throughout. Hammers and Anvils is all over the map, but it will get you there. --Cyndi Elliott

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Customer Reviews

2 Reviews
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 (1)
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Average Customer Review
3.0 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Bounty, November 17, 2001
By WrtnWrd "Hankman" (Northridge, CA USA) - See all my reviews
Hammers and Anvils, the first solo release by ex-Verlaines leader Graeme Downes, is reminiscent of his band's best and another artist, Lou Reed, both alone and with The Velvet Underground. A monastic intensity clings to these 13 tracks. Hammers and Anvils opens with the title track: a complaint against love and the industry accompanied by stark solo guitars. It ends 40 minutes later on a vamp, "Mastercontrol", about hedonism's last stand. In between, Downes revs ("Alright by Me", "Cattle, Cars and Chainsaws") and ruminates (the gorgeous "Song for a Hollywood Road Movie") with equal compassion. His attentive, impressionistic lyrics avoid cliché. He delivers salient observations about disparate subjects - Cole Porter, Gucci, aimless Sunday afternoons, AIDS - which never feel fractious or incongruous. Casting his net wide, on Hammers and Anvils Graeme Downes captures a bounty.
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2 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Barely mediocre, sorry to say...., October 19, 2001
By Bridget (St. Louis, MO) - See all my reviews
Well, I ordered this CD fully hoping to love it... I read about it, and thought that the bits of lyrics I read sounded quite lovely. Well, I will still give him that - some of his lyrics are pretty profound and interesting, but the sound...it's just not very listener-friendly. Everything sounds jangled and unplanned, unpredictable (and not in a good way), uncoordinated. It sounds sloppy and lacks a solid sense of rhythm. None of the songs really even have attempts at hooks. His voice is lacking in quality, which would be ok if he made up for it with emotion, but he does not. I'm just struggling to find a "feel" for this album, because it just sounds more like musical noise aspiring to be something beautiful, and...well, failing. Sorry...would have loved to be more positive!
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