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Violent Femmes - Freak Magnet Audio CD

A fair review of the Violent Femmes "Freak Magnet" 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 Violent Femmes reviews here, or go back to the Violent Femmes tabs.

Violent Femmes Band: Violent Femmes
Title: Freak Magnet
Rating:
Release Date: 1980-01-01
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Hollywood Is High 2: Freak Magnet 3: Sleepwalkin' 4: All I Want 5: New Generation 6: In the Dark 7: Rejoice and Be Happy 8: Mosh Pit 9: Forbidden 10: When You Died 11: At Your Feet 12: I Danced 13: I'm Bad 14: Happiness Is 15: Story - Pierre Henry, Violent Femmes

The Violent Femmes still rock..
I'd have to say it was the best 3 dollars Ive ever spent! This is an awesome cd, sadly it is very underated. Okay so I bought this cd for 3 bucks. Their older stuff is still better, but thats a given. I do have beef with the VFs, whats up with them doing Sponge Bob Square Pants theme song? Hmm, I dont know. If you like acoustic/folk/punk then get this album, you wont be dissapointed.


talented musicians
This is a response to a review 5 or so earlier. . quote "VIOLENT FEMMES is a band most have not heard of, but should. Okay, so musically they're not really talented. "

I'm sorry, this guy dont know jack-s**t. The guys are incredibly talented. Brian Richie on accoustic bass blows all & sundry away on his bass both on the studio albums and particularly live. He is a master bass player really like no other. Not a stretch to say he's the Jimi Hendrix of Bass. He's simply brilliant.

He's developed a style of playing bass like a lead guiter. Lead guitar breaks, but on Bass. Then he has figured out a way to play all 4 strings and create rythym chords on the bass too. An incredible fused bass sound unheard of.
Gordon Gano is equally nearly adept on guitar (when he chooses to be) and has a unique and great sounding voice.
now i'm not sure what the playing is like on this album as i have never heard it, but just listen to thier first 2 albums and you'll see what i mean.


femmes marketing
Even the CD cover is cartoonish. This is the femmes grown older but trying to keep up with the younger guys. Actually, I guess this trend started with the "Machine" CD. I haven't listened to "Freak Magnet" for a long time but I do remember the beginning (the "A" side) as being mostly strong and then come quite a few average songs with a good one here and there. If you're a femmes' fan, you'll want it out of curiosity and for a few femmes' classics. However, they don't seem to be a band with a message or a mission anymore. They're just jamming femmes style.


Quite good for a "cult record"
Okay, so musically they're not really talented. VIOLENT FEMMES is a band most have not heard of, but should. That doesn't matter because you'll be cracking up! It's not full of jokes or anything, but the way everything relates to true life is just so ironic. The songs "When You Died" and "A Story" are so. . . well you'll just have to buy the album; listen to it when you think that YOUR life's bad!.


Femmes return with their wits about them.
I found this album, coming hot on the heels of the excellent live Viva Wisconsin to be an excellent effort. I'm surprised by the mixed nature of the preceding reviews. Any band that has produced as many good to great albums and as many brilliant songs as the Femmes is always going to be judged harshly against the exceptional quality of their earlier work. The Femmes first album is their blessing and curse. I am sure it is still being purchased in respectable quantities today, as new generations of fans first hear the timeless "Add it Up" or "Blister in the Sun. " It wasn't until the release of Why Do Birds Sing that the Femmes finally got noticed by the population at large for the work that they were doing. Since then, American Music has only added to their Albatross. No one sounds like the Femmes, and no one else produces songs with the same quirky, ominous, genre blending virtuosity. Freak Magnet is the Violent Femmes at middle age. Sleepwalking, the first single, is as concise and poignant statement about life as a "rock and roll star" as I have ever heard, all set to a propulsive folk-punk beat. In fact, this undercurrent of alienations continues throughout the album. This is Femmes straight ahead and full out, with all the constituent folk rock weirdness firmly in place. This is a band that has never lacked for a distinctive voice and vision and Freak Magnet definitely lives up to it. I for one am just happy to have new Femmes music, much less an album this good.


You can see a complete list of all Violent Femmes discography, or go back to the Violent Femmes tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.

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