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Your Blues

 
Album Review: Your Blues

  • Artist: Destroyer
  • Rating: StarStarStarHalf Star
  • Release Date: March 09, 2004
  • Type: Lyrics are included with the album
  • Genre: Rock

Review

Recorded with the production duo JC/DC (aka David Carswell and John Collins) -- who aided in the creation of Destroyer's first three discs -- Dan Bejar ditches the band format he used for 2002's This Night with tremendous results. Fusing a dramatic vocal style akin to that of David Bowie in the 1970s with 1980s studio achievers like Microdisney and Prefab Sprout, Your Blues is regularly breathtaking. Launched with the strummed guitar of "Notorious Lightning," Behar soon expands on his vision with the bright, synth-conceived orchestration of "An Actor's Revenge" and the fabulous, adventurous pop of "The Music Lovers." Sure, the long a cappella intro on the title cut is hard to take, but Destroyer's records are never without a challenge or two. Still, Behar quickly redeems himself with the tongue-in-cheek "New Ways of Living," which pokes fun at mid-'80s pop drama queens with lyrical and musical finesse. The flute-laced "It's Gonna Take an Airplane" is the high point here, with lyrics like "Baby, you were born to be seen/And art's just the start," but late-model standouts like the Hunky Dory-inspired "What Road" and the haunting closer, "Certain Things You Ought to Know," all help make Your Blues 2004's early front-runner for art rock album of the year. ~ John D. Luerssen, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track TitleComposersPerformersTime
Notorious Lightning Destroyer (5:57)
It's Gonna Take an Airplane Destroyer (3:41)
An Actor's Revenge Destroyer (2:57)
The Music Lovers Destroyer (4:22)
From Oakland to Warsaw Destroyer (3:11)
Your Blues Destroyer (2:57)
News Ways of Living Destroyer (4:23)
Don't Become the Thing You Hated Destroyer (2:13)
Mad Foxes Destroyer (4:45)
The Fox and the Hound Destroyer (3:23)
What Road Destroyer (3:57)
Certain Things You Ought to Know Destroyer (4:25)

Credits

John Collins (Synthesizer), John Collins (Roland Synthesizer), David Carswell (Synthesizer), J.C. (Producer), David Carswell (Engineer), DC (Producer), Bejar (Producer), John Collins (Engineer), Jamie Sitar (Mastering), Sydney Vermont (Drawing), David Carswell (Roland Synthesizer)
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Wikipedia: Your Blues
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Your Blues
Studio album by Destroyer
Released 2004
Genre Indie rock
Label Merge
Professional reviews
Destroyer chronology
This Night
(2002)
Your Blues
(2004)
Notorious Lightning & Other Works
(2005)

Your Blues is an album by Destroyer, released in 2004.

It was a notable departure from the full-band format of Destroyer's previous few albums, largely featuring MIDI-simulated orchestration as its backing music.

It has been variously described by critics as "some kind of masterpiece, the work of a truly original and iconoclastic talent", "a bold step in a new direction, risking over-the-top theatricality, but with its feet planted firmly on solid ground", "seem[ing] like a work in progress" and "an acquired taste". [1]

While, with its Metacritic "Metascore" of 79 out of 100, it could be considered to be critically well-received, frontman Dan Bejar conceded that it may be viewed by some as a "half-baked exercise", and the MIDI instrumentation as "completely hokey and completely sabotag[ing] the legitimacy of the songs".[2]

Contents

Track listing

  1. "Notorious Lightning" – 5:57
  2. "It's Gonna Take an Airplane" – 3:41
  3. "An Actor's Revenge" – 2:57
  4. "The Music Lovers" – 4:22
  5. "From Oakland to Warsaw" – 3:11
  6. "Your Blues" – 2:57
  7. "New Ways of Living" – 4:23
  8. "Don't Become the Thing You Hated" – 2:13
  9. "Mad Foxes" – 4:45
  10. "The Fox and the Hound" – 3:23
  11. "What Road" – 3:57
  12. "Certain Things You Ought to Know" – 4:25

Personnel

References and notes

External links


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Album Review. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. Content provided by All Music Guide ®, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
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