Search - Blanche :: If We Can't Trust the Doctors

Don't You Know It's Bad Luck To Be Superstitious?

Kevin L. Nenstiel | Kearney, Nebraska | 12/17/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"If I had to categorize this album, I'd call it Country Goth. It mixes strains of Hank Williams and Buddy Holly with the despairing wail of Marilyn Manson. The stronger songs on this disk are sonically compelling even as they force you to bathe in dread and marinate in morbidity. Even at the end, when the group takes on the old hillbilly spiritual "Wayfaring Stranger," their sound bespeaks a godless world in which death is the best we can hope for. Where this album succeeds, it succeeds spectacularly.



That said, I still can't bring myself to recommend this CD to newbies.



This album has some real treasures on it. Tracks like "Who's To Say," "Another Lost Summer," and "Someday" make hopelessness seem like a valid choice. The biblically stark instrumentation, reminiscent at times of Bob Dylan's "John Wesley Harding" album, is gorgeous and effectively carries the theme from the songs, of a narrator who has given up on human contact.



But other songs, like "Hopeless Waltz" and "Do You Trust Me," feel self-indulgent. The whole middle of the album is at almost exactly the same tempo, lapsing into vacant mood music. The two longest songs on the disk, "So Long Cruel World" and "Jack On Fire," aren't supported by the lyrics or the music and feel like they're doubling back on themselves. This is music for marching in place and it doesn't bear up to repeated listening.



There is enough on this CD to persuade me that, with time and seasoning, Blanche may be one of the major forward-thinking voices in alternative country. Several individual tracks are worth listening to, and even a few well-chosen chords feel like zygotes of great songs that will come later. For the time being, though, this album feels like the band members are trying on shoes that are too big for them and hoping they'll grow. I look forward to hearing what this band does in the future, but in the present it just doesn't work like it should."

Damn, damn, damn

Jonathan H. Mcneely | new orleans | 12/29/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"about as good as it gets. like a cross of the cure and the velvet underground gone country. sadness, longing, hopelessness. all the reasons you had to hate life in the first place. really the best new album i have bought in a while. if you have forgotten malaise and self loathing, buy this album...and hope you never hope again."

Awesome Detroit Band

M. Herrera | Detroit, MI USA | 08/30/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Blanche...another one of your typical bands from the motor city...NOT!!!!!!!! Dan Miller never ceases to amaze me whether its Two Star Tabernacle, Goober and The Peas, or Blanche. All of his bands rocked to tell you the truth, but especially his current band, Blanche. Who's To Say includes Brendan Benson with backing vocals and Mr. Jack White (yes the pasty white guy from The White Stripes, another rad band) playin the guitar solo on it. Superstition is another one of my favorites, "Don't you know it's bad luck to be superstitious?" This album is truly amazing"