Search - Isobel Campbell :: Ballad of the Broken Seas

A lovely mess of styles and sounds

Eric Franklin | Seattle, WA | 03/20/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This album has been rolling on my ipod all morning long and it is really getting its claws into me. The songs are all over the place stylistically, which leaves me to wonder what album some of the other reviewers were listening to. All I can say is that this album captures some really fun music-making between two artists I never thought I'd have the chance to hear together. Gravelly Lanegan with soft Isobel make a compelling auditory delight. The only thing that keeps me from giving the album 5 stars is that it occasionally lapses, especially lyrically, to "punching up" something that would have been left better alone. There are beautiful passages ruined with a misplaced line. Byt hey, that's my opinion.



Track one, "Deus Ilbi Est", starts thumpin' with a simple beat, like feet stomping in an Irish bar, while Mark Lanegan does whiskey-fueled spoken word. Isobel sings backup. A promising album starter.



From here, the album moves into a softer passage with "Black Mountain." Isobel leads this one softly while a repetitive arpeggiated guitar plays in the background. Occasional strings punctuate the moving passages.



"The False Husband" starts out sounding like a "Lanegan spaghetti-western special" but when Isobel breathily intones the chorus, the background music changes to orchestral accompaniment. The song mashes their two styles together in an inventive and fun way. It's as if both singers brought their own song, played them together with their own bands, and just saw what would happen. You can almost hear the singers's surprised happiness at how good they sound together.



I'm not going to step through each song individually, but they're lovely. If you're a fan of the off-beat Tom Waits (just listen for the influence on "Ramblin' Man"), the messier (read true) old school country standards, and just plain incongruous music making, this is your bag."

Damn.

Stargrazer | deep in the heart of Michigan | 04/26/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Lanegan's rich croak and Campbell's feathery, nearly whispering voice combine over top of open arrangements of guitar, double bass, piano and glockenspiel. Though Campbell wrote a great deal of the material here, played several instruments, and produced the album, Lanegan's singing gets at least equal billing.



A high mark of collaborative albums, this one is likely to set new standards."

A highly unusual collaboration results in a stellar album

Robert Moore | Chicago, IL USA | 11/04/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Although I have loved a great deal of the previous work of both Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan, they are two people I never would have imagined pairing for an album. Not only that, when first learning of this album, I imagined that Lanegan was the principal songwriter for the project. In fact, she wrote nearly all of the songs on the disc, though to his credit Lanegan embraces the ones upon which he sings so marvelously that he does indeed make them sound like his own. As I said, I've loved both of these performers in other projects. Campbell, of course, is the lovely, airy female voice adorning all those incredible Belle and Sebastian songs, though she also has a slightly earlier and very find solo album, AMORINO. What that album revealed was what perhaps few suspected: though taking a backseat to the outrageously gifted Stuart Murdoch (who just might have been the finest writer in all of rock the past decade) in Belle and Sebastian, she is a significant talent in her own right). Lanegan has also produced some great solo work, especially WHISKY FOR THE HOLY GHOST, but is even better known for fronting The Screaming Trees and for his work with Queens of the Stone Age. If I were to compare what these two sound like together I might compare them to Tom Waits and Crystal Gayle on the album they did together or, ever better, the duet that Nick Cave and Kylie Minogue did on his MURDER BALLADES.



The pairing of these two talents is magical. While it would be hard to hate Isobel Campbell's singing, her voice is so soft, delicate, and ethereal that it can almost feel otherworldly after a bit. Frequently she seems to be not so much singing as whispering. Lanegan's rough, coarse, raspy baritone, on the other hand, contrasts magnificently with Campbell's. The singing duties are not quite evenly divided, with Campbell seemingly content to Lanegan take lead duties, often contenting herself with singing backup on her own songs. His singing gives an edge to the songs; her singing gives them a spiritual dimension. My one complaint with the disc is that they don't sing more duets. One of my favorite songs on the disc is "(Do You Wanna) Come Walk With Me?" on which Lanegan sings to an acoustic guitar, with Campbell almost nonchalantly providing a counterpoint.



Despite Lanegan's presence and strong singing, this is very much an Isobel Campbell album. If you listen to WHISKEY FOR THE HOLY GHOST and then this one, you can't help but be struck by the enormous differences in the songwriting. The songs on both albums are equally good, but they are quite different, the ones here more easily melodious and a bit folksier. This is also just a great set of songs. It starts off strongly with "Deus Ibi Est" and then gets even stronger with "Black Mountain," with Campbell at her very finest. The best song on the disc for my money is the last cut, "The Circus is Leaving Town." Lanegan's lone writing contribution to the album is a good one, "Revolver." One of the highlights of the album, however, is one of the best covers ever of the Hank Williams's classic "Ramblin' Man." They don't cover it so much as reinterpret it, and a very good revisioning it is.



I can't imagine many Isobel Campbell fans being disappointed in this album. Some hardcore Screaming Trees or Queens of the Stone Age fans, however, might not find it to their liking (though I sincerely hope I am wrong about this). But if you just love great music in whatever form it arrives, this could well be your cup of tea."