Search - Arnold :: Hillside

Fab

Mark Paganus | Rockaway, New Jersey USA | 11/13/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This album was a constant companion as I made my way through the Islands of Hawaii. It provided me with a soundscape to match the surreal surroundings that I encountered. This is a great album for the head. Place it on your computer and check out the extra cuts (Twist is great) in an audio and visual way. I just wish I could find their earlier stuff. Enjoy!"

It's my favourite record. Ever.

Mark Paganus | 10/18/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is kind of hard to explain. I've owned this record since whenever it was released. And I always liked it. And then I realised, a couple of months ago, that out of all the records and CDs in my collection (and there are a lot), this is the one that I play most often. And now I can't get it out of my head. Don't get me wrong, I quite like Travis. But if you like Travis, please buy this record. It is along the same lines, but stronger, warmer, lusher, more tuneful, funnier, sadder, and so on. Also, if you've ever liked one of Radiohead's slow songs, or if you like to chill out to a Pink Floyd kind of vibe, please give this record a try. I find it quite upsetting that this band isn't famous, or rich, or both!"

Tuck it under your arm

Mark Paganus | 09/13/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The ghosts of Big Star, Barrett-era Floyd and Jimi Hendrix lurk in the shadows of this record. The melodies are achingly pretty, the bleached-out falsetto harmonies make you want to weep, and the rockers butt you in the head and tell you to snap out of it. However, right from the muted howl which cues in opener Fleas Don't Fly, you realise you've never been anywhere quite like Hillside before. Arnold have an impressively wide musical vocabulary - this album speaks drone rock, pastoral psych, folk and jazz - but what they actually have to say is what is most disarming. Lyrically, this is great stuff, at times brutal and direct, at others darkly humourous or gently surreal. Guitarist Saxby and vocalist Morris seem to follow John Lennon's advice to whoever-it-was: "Just write what you feel and make it rhyme." They must be feeling pretty unusual. It takes a touch of genius to dream up and wrap melodies around lines like these: "out here, in a year of English rain/ with the student girls from Kingston/ make me feel low again."Recreational smoking materials were also almost certainly instrumental in the production of Hillside, but the vibe is not one of monged-out beatitude or self-indulgent space-jamming. The mood shifts are there, though. Whilst 'Goodbye Grey' and 'Face' are almost recklessly sad, the spoken-word 'Rabbit' and the title track 'Hillside' offer up optimism and acceptance in the face of loss. 'Moroccan Roll' is a fierce head-on confrontation with depression. Being English, the band also do whimsy ('Curio') and mid-paced rockers shot through with strangeness ('Windsor Park') very well. There are laughs too, but not until the hidden tracks at the end. This is, mostly, serious stuff. Hillside is one of the few records in life that you actually need. Buy it while you can. It's probably been deleted."