Stevie mentioned in C. Love review
 

I found this review of Courtney's new CD on her official website...and it has a little stevie mention in it..

NME - February 4, 2004

She's back - at long last

About 18 months ago, Courtney Love spent an evening DJing at Alan McGee's club Death Disco. This being Courtney, the DJing was the least memorable part of the event. One highlight involved Courtney lying on her back as two acolytes dragged her around the dancefloor by the feet in an attempt to remove her cowboy boots. Amid the mayhem, a friend of NME's asked her about her new material, then being recorded. "Will it be a hit?" he enquired. "It's going to be Number One, sweetie," came the magnificent reply.

Now, after umpteen delays, America's Sweetheart is here. Wrapped in a gorgeous sleeve (showing that Courtney still has great taste even when everything else is going to pot), it's her second attempt at making a proper commercial blockbuster after the airbrushed magnificence of Hole's final album, 1998's Celebrity Skin.

However, at first it sounds slight and rather ragged. "Mono" has a great line ("Well they say that rock is dead/And they're probably right") but is basically a retread of Celebrity Skin's awesome title track. "I'll Do Anything" with its war cry "Give me whiteboy skin/Give me big black men" conflates "Smells Like Teen Spirit," Blur's "Song 2" and even Elastica's "Connection" into something exhilarating but inescapably derivative.

A few plays later, however, and America's Sweetheart reels you in. Although you could never call Courtney Love's atonal rasp beautiful, it's never less than compelling. Songs which are like sandpaper on the ears first time round (like howlathon "The Plague") reveal a certain scary beauty, while the blowsier side of Courtney's repertoire ("Hold On To Me," "Never Gonna Be The Same") becomes more convincing. Compared to her soft rock icon, Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac, Courtney hollers like a workman, but there's something heroic about her inevitably doomed attempts at emulation.

This being Courtney, there's also an emotional rawness to America's Sweetheart which you'll either love or be repelled by. Though the production covers everything in a superficial gloss, when Courtney sings about how she's got pills for every eventuality, or that "all the drugs in the world" won't shut her up, you know she's singing from bitter experience. What is missing are the chilling lyrical imprecations she used to do so well -- such as "someday you will ache like I ache" on "Doll Parts."

Nevertheless, Courtney clearly still means it, maan. "Number One, sweetie?" We doubt it. But when it comes to stars with one foot in Beverly Hills and the other in some Camden gutter, part Lucrezia Borgia and part Judy-Garland-meets-Janis-Joplin, there is still only one Courtney Love.

ALEX NEEDHAM
Compared to her soft rock icon, Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac, Courtney hollers like a workman, but there's something heroic about her inevitably doomed attempts at emulation.

As I have said before, this album is SWILL. I wanted to like it, and though she may emulate Stevie - there is more talent in one fringe off a retired GDW shawl than Ms. Love has in her entire body. If this effort makes the top twenty for more than a week, I will eat my Calvin Klein underwear.

BTW - Courtney lost her daughter for an hour and a half at the Grammys last sunday. Could it be the Oxycontin ? What a waste.

I didnt know Courtney was at the Grammys till I heard that story...and I like you wanted to like this album a lot...I bought it..and I only like 2 songs


Chris

I'm leary of this album - I love Hole, and this CD is getting very good reviews (surprisingly) but she's just such a mess right now, I don't see how it could be that good. I think I'll wait til it shows up on half.com for $5.

Paula

Well I have given it more of a listen, and I kind of like it now...it just takes a few listens...I remember reading an interview with Courtney from 1997 and she said she had written a song for Stevie to record...wonder what ever happened to that?

Chris

Okay, I admit, I have listened to the damned thing more and I like two songs now. Over half of it still bugs, but it's not quite as horrific as the first impression. Seeing her perform this week and it'll be a guaranteed train wreck !

She used it to roll up some heroine, snort some coke, who knows - who cares :cool: :laugh:

I am going to see the maniac tonight. If only I had a helicopter to take me the 10 miles to the Sunset Strip. It will be a tremendous hassle to get over there for the past midnight show. But I cannot resist the world class train wreck that is no doubt going to take place.

Courtney's new CD only debuted at #53 on the charts...now thats a flop...lol

Chris

I won't go into too much detail about the show. It was loud and crazy and the crowd was completely nuts. It lasted about an hour.

Big surprise - it wasn't really a trainwreck. The band, all women, was really tight, and Courtney did a decent job with her guitar playing and howled as you might expect. She did forget some words, changed some words, and there were some strange musical interludes. But, all in all, it was pretty good. The band, especially the drummer, was excellent.

Songwise, they opened with "Mono", and from the new record played "Sunset Strip", "But Julian...", "All The Drugs", and "Hold Onto Me"...maybe a few others. The best performance was probably "Malibu", though they really tore up "Miss World" too.

I just remembered - they played a cover of til tuesday's "Voices Carry", which was pretty random.

Pleasant surprise, and a few good celebrity sightings too.

That is one of my all-time favorite songs!
Did Courtney do it justice?

til tuesday ROCKS. Aimee Mann ROCKS. They both totally rock. :laugh:

Well, it was a Courtney slamaroo version. I didn't even really recognize it until the chorus. But, I thought it was a respectable interpretation. Very fast, very distorted guitars. They did film the entire show, so it might pop up somewhere.

I was so into til tuesday...especially the record with the autumnal scene on the friont...Welcome Home ? Man, I am old. I can't remember the name, but I wore that thing out !

I know that I will probably be flammed for this but I like Courtney's Music. Courtney as a person. I don't know her so I can't judge. BUT I have heard very bad reviews about her CD and was on the fence about buying it. It's not for everyone but I love it. I like the raw and edgy sound. It's different than the surgery pop I hear everyday. It's emotional and raw. Again ~ it's not for everyone. But I have a wide range of musical taste. My favorite CD's right now are the Burden Brothers (former lead singer of the Toadies), The Darkness and C Lo's Americans Sweetheart.


Here's link to Rollingstones blrub about her show Friday night...
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/new....asp?nid=19372

Great concert review there...I like her too..I have her new CD..I did not like it at first...but I do now...sometimes it takes a few listens...


I'd love to see one of her shows...


Chris M.