Search - Kristen Barry :: Beginning Middle End

Great alternative record.

Michael Stack | North Chelmsford, MA USA | 03/30/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

""The Beginning. The Middle. The End." is one of the lost gems of alternative music. Emerging from Seattle, Kristen Barry's music never quite managed to take off, which is really a shame as her work is great.



Evidentally, by the way, she recorded something with quite a different sound on some soundtrack a few years back-- this is guitar driven alternative music, moody and aggressive. Barry's voice manages a strong, almost syrupy take on melancholy.



Largely fairly straightford alternative hard rock songs, the material actually excels better when Barry mixes things up-- her cover of "Don't cry", with a driving backbeat and probably the best vocal on the album, two just gorgeous ballad "Foolishness" (with its great cleaner-tone punk guitar sound) and the piano driven "Why Are You Wasting My Time"-- Barry manages to influse a real passion into these and gets herself wrapped around them, and the moody ramblings of the album closer, "God In the Box".



Mind you, many of the rock songs are superb, including the album's opener ("Nothing's Too Good"), with soaring guitars and the blazing "Seeing Gun".



If you're a fan of the early/mid-90s Seattle scene, you'll probably love this. Recommended."

Boo boo cow and cupcake..

gloriousmadnessx | California, USA | 04/21/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Kristen Barry's an absolute firecracker! passionate, original.. an honest songwriter and quite the story-teller. check out her work on the Cruel Intentions soundtrack."