Search - Black Tape for a Blue Girl :: The Rope

A haunting, beautiful mix of sounds and emotions

Jason (darkknight1@hotmail.com) | Michigan | 06/13/1998

(5 out of 5 stars)

"A great start as a vehicle of artist Sam Rosenthal's beautiful and enchanting visions. His sounds take you away to the emptiness of a shattered soul and bring up your own memories of nursing a broken heart. Wonderful ambient synths mixed with the haunting beauty of vocalist Oscar Herrera's voice flow together so perfectly to invoke a tortured darkness of feeling. A wonderful album to complement your rainy day sorrows."

Hide the razors!

S. Holliday | 06/28/2002

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Well, how should I put this? This record was really not my cup of tea. High points: "Memory, Uncaring Friend" which is a little more hard hitting and rhythmical than the rest of the album, and "The Rope", very gloomy, with a chamber music sort of feel to it. Overall, the record was just too slow and dreamy for me to get into. I thought that the lyrics were great, though. I prefer the harder goth sound of Christian Death or Bauhaus, but I imagine that fans of the dark ambient/ ethereal sound would probably really get into this."

Another great release from a great band . . .

Dancing Ganesha | Bangalore, India | 12/20/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This album is less melancholic and displays more vehemence and vitriol (thank God). The first song "Memory, Uncaring Friend," is a classic hit -- with its fast pace, Herrera's great voice, and the nice electronic effects, it's a classic. What I love the most, however, are the lyrics "Clawing at the friends you see, hoping for a day that's free from caring cause you never found a thing in sharing..."



The next song "Hide In Yourself" is another hit. With its introspective nature, the song is about a man who says "Everyone tells me that I shouldn't think of you, she's not worth your time...they say you've a problem, that I shouldn't care..." This song is not only well constructed melodically, but a classic in introspection. Anyone who's ever dealt with an impossible person will relate to this song.



"Within These Walls" is a good song, but not as good as the first two. "The Holy Terrors" has an exotic flavour to it, and is nice to listen to when you're in a good mood. The next song, "End" is melancholic, but a little too bucolic for me, and Herrera's voice doesn't sound that good on it either, in fact, he sounds out of key. Next follows a song which is touching and simple, and also melancholy ("Seven Days Till Sunrise").



After this follows "The Rope", a sort of chamber-music song, Baroque in style. "The Few Remaining Threads," an electronic piece, has a very nice Spanish flavour and trip-hop drum pattern and is one of the best songs on the album. "The Lingering Flicker" is slow and mysterious, and is something you should listen to when in deep contemplation. "Slow Blur" is ambient, and totally synthed-out, not a favourite of mine, but it'll do. "The Floor Was Hard But Home" is dark and beautiful, and again, a very ambient song. "We Return" is the closing song, spoken in, uhm, Norwegian I assume? It seems to incorporate the Spanish melody from Song No. 8, with the voice speaking in Norwegian. The singing is disjointed and almost out of tune, but interesting for the intended effects of pathos. This is another good song from the album."