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The Afghan Whigs - Black Love Audio CD

A fair review of the The Afghan Whigs "Black Love" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all The Afghan Whigs reviews here, or go back to the The Afghan Whigs tabs.

The Afghan Whigs Band: The Afghan Whigs
Title: Black Love
Rating:
Release Date: 1996-03-12
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Crime Scene, Pt. 1 2: My Enemy 3: Double Day 4: Blame, Etc. 5: Step into the Light 6: Going to Town 7: Honky's Ladder 8: Night by Candlelight 9: Bulletproof 10: Summer's Kiss 11: Faded

Perfect album, dark and sweet
It's an amazing album, complete in itself, and the music and lyrics are second to none. When I first owned Black Love, it stayed in my CD player, no lie, for 4 weeks straight.
The most attractive thing about the album is its cohesiveness, its need to be listened to from beginning to end. Any of the songs, taken alone, are great, but not perfect. Black Love is more than the sum of its parts, though. All put together, it's an almost definitive exploration of desperate and dysfunctional romance. As far as I know, no other modern band is as single-minded about writing love songs, or rather, black bad love songs. Compared to other Afghan Whigs albums, this one is much like Rolling Stones 'Some Girls' in its completeness and quality.
The music is characteristic of Afghan Whigs: guitar driven, but never whining or crying, and the vocals forceful shouts one song and sad whispers the next. The melodies complement the lyrics.
The lyrics are intense and poetic. They could easily stand alone as a piece of literature. The words are careful and precise without losing any of the visceral punch. I don't know what kind of hell Greg Dulli, the writer and frontman, had to go through to inspire him to write these songs, but I'm glad he did.
.


Best Album of the 90's
I am always completely shocked and surprised when I see other Afghan Whigs fans rank this lower than their other albums like Gentleman and Congregation. I know my review title is a bold statement, but I believe this album stands above all the music I purchased or experienced in the 90's. I see this as the clear pinnacle of their career. 1965 is also a very good album, but I will take this album end to end over it every time.

When I first bought this album, I must admit I didn't enjoy it on the first listen. But on each later listening, the underlying melancholy, emotion, and conceptual flow through the songs began to create a stonger and stronger attachment to the album. It is that kind of connection, along with albums that get better with each listen, that lifts an album to be one of my favorites. Of the 50+ alt-rock genre albums I purchased in the 90's (plus many many more listened to, but not purchased), this is now at the top of my list, and is still a must play in my collection.

Part of me is disappointed that this is not more critically acclaimed amongst other great albums of all time, but then I come to my senses and realize I get to really enjoy this relatively hidden gem with a select few.


Hate to do it
Going for some kind of a concept album, on Black Love, for the first and only time in his carrer, Dulli's reach exceeds his grasp. I want to like this record, but I don't really. The result sounds swollen, pretentious, not quite genuine. I like to think that Dulli realized this, and intentionally stripped back some of the posing, to make the rootsier, less ambitious, and just flat better record with 1965. Still, there is some good material here; taken in small doses, everything sounds pretty good--"Going to Town" and "Honkey's Ladder" rock something fierce--and although "Faded" is a little overblown, well, maybe more than a little, it somehow still manages to move me. This is the kind of record that would look good on a storyboard, from the creeping opening of "Crime Scene Part One," to "Double Day," so filled with foreboading, "It was a Saturday, I came home early/ drunk with love and other things" to the elegiac midpoint "Step Into the Light," the chaotic end of the second act, the two above mentioned rockers, ("Honkey's Ladder opens with "got you where I want you, motherf***er don't you try to move") and moving toward conlusion and bittersweet resolution on "Faded. " The trouble is, that as it actually plays out, it sounds a little too structured, calculated, and neat, the spotenatiety is lacking. On their own, in concert say, many of these songs would, I suspect, hold up very well indeed. All in all, a theoretical acheivement. .


Timeless
I still own the first copy of this CD I bought that March day in 1996. In the midst of a time when popular music was becoming boring again a band known only to the true music junkies put out a CD that though went largly unsold at release, changed many lives forever for those of us who bought it. And I still listen to it constantly. This is not just a great CD for the Whigs but also a Masterpiece in itself. I remember being very frustrated for a few months that all music wasn't this genuine and well thought out. If you like this CD you should check out the others but no promises on their congruity with the sound and mood of this album. The other Whigs albums are great and I have always loved this band but Black Love is a crime-ridden, dark noir opus. Please give it a listen.


thought i reviewed this already?
This disk will always play my soul, road trips from Pa to San D. Hello World!!Super strong vocals really meaningful lyrics swooning guitars trekking bass and the best for last, amazing drummer! I bought this CD in the spring of 96 with stone roses 2nd coming. Countless nights through the desert winds and the rising suns of countless time, Mr. Dulli an the boyz aim to please "a real treasure. " The samples do no justice if you like good rockin music just get it. Christ, its been out 13 f*&%ing years!!!!!!!!!.


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