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Trampoline
Joe Henry
Trampoline
Genres: Country, Alternative Rock, Folk, Pop, Rock
 
  •  Track Listings (9) - Disc #1

After six albums on which he constantly moved back and forth between classic folk and country traditions, Joe Henry really hit his artistic stride on the brilliant Trampoline. While the album finds him occasionally driftin...  more »

     
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CD Details

All Artists: Joe Henry
Title: Trampoline
Members Wishing: 1
Total Copies: 0
Label: Atlantic/Q Records
Release Date: 3/26/1996
Genres: Country, Alternative Rock, Folk, Pop, Rock
Styles: Americana, Singer-Songwriters, Adult Alternative, Singer-Songwriters
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPC: 075679268624

Synopsis

Amazon.com essential recording
After six albums on which he constantly moved back and forth between classic folk and country traditions, Joe Henry really hit his artistic stride on the brilliant Trampoline. While the album finds him occasionally drifting toward both of those familiar modes, Trampoline also introduces us to Joe Henry, the pop-rock experimentalist. From the exotic guitar strum that opens the album on "Bob and Ray," through a feedback-drenched cover of a Sly Stone obscurity ("Let Me Have It All"), to the dark funeral organ that drives the Blue Oyster Cult-ish "Medicine," to a track featuring a female opera singer ("Flower Girl"), the album allows Henry to use all sorts of musical eccentricities. This certainly both confused and delighted longtime fans, and set the stage for Fuse and the future. Lyrically, Henry seems to be in a pretty dark place--might or might not be about the end of a relationship. And "Flower Girl" may be the most beautiful song Henry's ever written. You could compare Trampoline to that moment when Tom Waits moved from the more traditional sound of his early albums to the Beefheartish experimentations of Swordfishtrombones and Rain Dogs--that's how great both the change and growth appear to be here. --Bill Holdship

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CD Reviews

Joe's best stuff
Kelly Street | San Francisco, CA United States | 06/25/2001
(4 out of 5 stars)

"Operating for years on the roots rock/folk circuit, Joe Henry didn't just change his sound for this release. He effectively changed the direction he would take on subsequent releases, in effect starting over. While his prior CDs were good and garnered much critical acclaim, there was nothing to prepare the listener for this. I am no die-hard Joe Henry fan, (Scar and Fuse leave me cold) but there is no doubting the brilliance of Trampoline. Every song is impressive, like a greatest hits album of new material. Guest guitarist Page Hamilton from Helmet was a wise choice. Hard to pick highlights here, but two songs that harken back to Joe's country/folk days, "Go With God" and "Parade" are among the best things he has recorded."
After two years this album is still in regular circulation
Lurvpaint | Minneapolis, Minnesota United States | 04/06/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)

"Joe Henry doesn't have a formula. He takes risks. These songs are beautiul and complete. His hooks are strong and need to be because he'll take you down unexpected avenues. Open you ears and he'll be a teacher for you. In the first song he uses the phrase "about Bob and Ray" and it carries as much rhythem as meaning. He reminds us that music is abstract while offering a lovely door to walk through. Joe does a lot of thinking and he wants you to do that too. There are so many layers the feel is bitter sweet. This conquers any room. I heart Joe!"
Exudes the charms of the luckless and hopeless
tomcheese | Sydney, Nova Scotia Canada | 02/09/2002
(3 out of 5 stars)

"With heartland vocal veracity and grit-poetic lyrics, Joe Henry exudes the charms of the luckless and hopeless in bright rays. Amidst beaten-up percussion and hovering tremolo guitars, he prolongs an anxious expectation on Bob and Ray. As his relationship is shattering, he shares the plummet and crash of a pilot on the wily Ohio Air show Plane Crash. The album's title track, Trampoline, is a vivacious winner, tumbling bitter memories onto thorny guitars.Featuring an orchestral arrangement, Flower Girl glimmers and shades humbly. Let Me Have It All (the one song not penned by Joe Henry) has cranky guitars and some good thundering drums. The haunting puttering that closes out Medicine recover this shambling track; it seems Mr. Henry is still recovering from his past crash: "Time has run away with us and it laughs at all the tears and fuss, best go with God and let me trust the ghost in here is you." The plaintive cry of Go With God (Topless Shoeshine) ends in this melancholy light. With string arrangement and trombone, I Was A Playboy treads softly but surely. The finisher, Parade, has potent lyrics and a glowing ambience.A keen lyric and subtle sound is Joe Henry's Trampoline."