Grant Lee Phillips

Nineteeneighties | Rounder
By SUE BELL  |  August 8, 2006
4.0 4.0 Stars
Bordered by twilight and tangled-branch silhouettes, former Grant Lee Buffalo singer-songwriter Grant-Lee Phillips captures the imagery, as well as the heart, of an era’s underground on this aptly titled collection of covers, creating a low-key, atmospheric setting for songs by the Pixies, R.E.M, Joy Division, and others. Ringing acoustic guitars bring an organic sensibility to New Order’s “Age of Consent”; slide guitar and South Pacific stylings offset the somewhat morbid lyrics of the Pixies’ “Wave of Mutilation.” A mid-tempo romp through “Boys Don’t Cry” is fit with charming toy piano. And as Phillips sings the Smiths’ “Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me” over softly textured organs and plucked mandolin, the doe-eyed “No hope, no harm — just another false alarm” takes on a refreshing, humble conviction.
Related: On the racks: June 27, 2006, Israeli upstarts, O, Canada!, More more >
  Topics: CD Reviews , Entertainment, Music, Pop and Rock Music,  More more >
| More

Most Popular
Blogs
 More: Phlog  |  Music  |  Film  |  Books  |  Politics  |  Media  |  Election '08  |  Free Speech  |  All Blogs
LATEST SLIDESHOWS

All Slideshows