Innocence and Experience

Innocence and Experience Artist: Blake Babies
Label: Hollywood Records
Category: Music


Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1


UPC: 035498005824
EAN: 0035498005824
ASIN: B000004AVJ


Release Date: 2001-06-05

Innocence and Experience


Related Categories:

General General
Categories | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music
Indie Rock Indie Rock
Categories | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music
Jangle Pop Jangle Pop
Categories | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music
General General
Categories | Rock | Styles | Music
Pop Rock Pop Rock
Categories | Pop | Styles | Music

Tracks:

  1. Wipe It Up
  2. Rain (Demo)
  3. Boiled Potato
  4. Lament
  5. Cesspool
  6. You Don't Give Up
  7. Star
  8. Sanctity
  9. Out There
  10. Girl In A Box
  11. I'm Not Your Mother
  12. Temptation Eyes
  13. Downtime
  14. Over And Over

Similar Items:

  1. Sunburn
  2. Earwig
  3. God Bless the Blake Babies
  4. Rosy Jack World
  5. Nicely, Nicely

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars Deserving reevaluation........2005-08-05

The Blake Babies have always been a bit of an engima to me-- Juliana Hatfield remains one of my favorite performers, but I've just never been able to get into her old band-- I picked up a copy of "Sunburn" years ago and couldn't get into it. But recently I saw a copy of this compilation, "Innocence and Experience", for next to nothing, and I gave it a spin.

I'm thinking in the end that I didn't give "Sunburn" enough of a chance. This compilation has convinced me to pull it back off my racks and give it another listen. Either I wasn't ready to hear the material or I didn't give it a good enough listen, because this stuff is fantastic.

The band, consisting of Juliana Hatfield, John Strohm, and Freda Boner put together punky jangle pop music-- glistening guitars trade back and forth with distorted washes, and throughout a crisp, clear bass rings alongside rocksteady drumming-- less aggressive than punk but more interesting than pop. Hatfield's vocal, innocent and crisp, soars above all the preceedings.

A few things I noted about it-- the material is largely reminiscent of Hatfield's debut album, but with better songwriting. Hatfield's voice tends to lack confidence as it did on her debut, but at times she digs in nicely ("Sanctify"). The influence Strohm had on Hatfield's guitar playing can't be underestimated (check his solo on the "Star" demo), and the music feels exciting and immediate, and more to the point for something recorded quite a long time ago now (over fifteen years for some of this material), it sounds fresh and new.

Evidentally there's a couple demos and a live track there were unreleased before this compilation for fans, again I'm not too familiar with the material, but it certainly is well worth a listen for fans of alternative movements, I'm glad I gave this is a second listen.

5 out of 5 stars Great Introducion.......2005-03-13

INNOCENCE AND EXPERIENCE is a great introduction to the Blake Babies. A sort of greatest hits CD, featuring a couple extras.

Most of the major Blake Babies songs are here, but since they had so many great songs, this should only be seen as an introduction to the group. I'm sure that after listening to this, you'd want to go and pick up the rest of their CDs.

The demo version of "Rain" is according to the liner notes the first song they ever recorded and sounds even better than either of the full version they later recorded of the song. It also includes a live version of the Neil Young song "Over and Over".

So, this is worth picking up both for the casual fan who wants to discover the Blake Babies and the serious fan for the two extras.

5 out of 5 stars Great Babies Album.......2004-12-14

Juliana Hatfield's early band the Blake Babies released this album late in their career with songs from earlier albums (including Earwig and Sunburn). Rain is a great song that is seen on here as the demo version, it's a great song, however I did perfer the original released version). 'Lament' is the best song on here, and is also the best Blake Babies song of all time in my opinion. As a Lemonheads fan I enjoyed hearing Evan Dando's voice on several of the tracks including 'Lament'. All in all it's an excellent cd that most any fans of Juliana will love... Long live the Blake Babies
~B

1 out of 5 stars THE WORST!!!!!.......2002-02-26

This is perhaps THE WORST CD I have EVER heard in my life! Hatfield is horrible on vocals (and I have one of her solo albums that she is much better on). (...)

5 out of 5 stars Essential, Perfect.......2001-08-08

The Blake Babies were one of the bands from the late eighties/early nineties underground Boston/MA music scene that has sadly been neglected over the last decade. While the Pixies, Buffalo Tom, Morphine and J Mascis continue to see their catalogues sought out and kept in print, the Babies have become more of a footnote when speaking about Juliana Hatfield's early days (when people still speak about Juliana Hatfield). Hopefully this year's excellent God Bless the Blake Babies and the subsequent small tours they have done in support of their most recent album will reawaken an interest in their late eighties and early nineties output.

With that in mind, their is no better place to start exploring the Blake Babies music than with Innocence and Experience. Comprised of songs drawn from all the Babies' studio albums as well as a few demos and a fantastic live version of Neil Young's "Over and Over", Innocence and Experience is a wonderful distillation of all the best that Juliana Hatfield, John Strohm, the former Freda Boner and various others (including Evan Dando) could do. Put simply, this is nearly flawless indie pop, drawing influence from both the punk camps and the strummy jangle popsters. Juliana Hatfield in my opinion has never had better material and her voice breathes a life into the Blake's songs that would perhaps render them less arresting if sung by someone else. John Strohm's songs show that although Hatfield became the breakout star, both Freda and he were essential to truly making these pop/rock gems roar with a life of their own.

Overall Innocence and Experience is a perfect title to this compilation, and not just because of the Blake reference in the band's name. These are songs about growing up, the good and the bad, the confusions and the epiphanies. When the songs were recorded the Blake Baies were just college kids, growing up in the late eighites and early nineties, having the time of their lives (for a while at least) playing rock 'n roll, and hoping for a hit. The music reflects just such a scene and buzzes with the abandom of a bunch of folks in their late teens and early twenties both learning about, and living their lives through music. The hooks are big, Juliana's voice will make you fall in love with her again if you didn't a decade ago, Freda and John will have you playing air guitar and drums, and the melodies will stick around for weeks.

Music Album:

  1. Messiah ~ Godflesh
  2. I Take on Your Days ~ Corrina Repp
  3. International Pop Overthrow, Vol. 7 ~ Various Artists
  4. Best of Yes ~ Yes
  5. Live in Bremen ~ Nucleus
  6. Roundabout: Best of Yes Live ~ Yes
  7. Epitaph, Vols. 1-2 ~ King Crimson
  8. Haiku ~ Songdog
  9. Five Suns ~ Guapo
  10. Autour de Lucie ~ Autour de Lucie

Music Album

Music Album

Music CD

Swingin' for the Fences ~ Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band

Complete Black And White ~ Earle Spencer

Live at Chateauvallon (1972) ~ Charles Mingus

Southern Comfort

Ballads: Gianni Basso ~ Gianni Basso

Clifford Hayes & the Louisville Jug Bands, Vol. 4 ~ Clifford Hayes

Colezo! Kayokyokuno Dendo V.3 ~ Various Artists

Blue Delta ~ Arcadia Reach

Vieni Con Me ~ Paps N Skar

On Fire