Bitter Fruit

Bitter Fruit Artist: Bobby Sutliff
Label: Not Lame Records
Category: Music


Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Media: Audio CD


UPC: 618403004923
EAN: 0618403004923
ASIN: B00004U01Y


Release Date: 2000-01-11

Bitter Fruit


Related Categories:

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

Tracks:

  1. Warning Bells
  2. One Way Ticket
  3. Change The Way
  4. Griffin Bay
  5. Pushed
  6. You Don't Have To Go
  7. No More
  8. Spencer The Rover
  9. Days Of Summer
  10. Fall
  11. I Believe In Love
  12. Sorry If
  13. Bitter Fruit
  14. I'd Run
  15. Bonus Track 1

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  1. Perfect Dream

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars Juicy 'Fruit'.......2001-10-14

Former Windbreaker Bobby Sutliff says that following the groupÕs final album, 1990Õs "Electric Landlady," he packed it in to concentrate on marriage and fatherhood. His familyÕs gain was musicÕs loss, as Sutliff & Co. had created a big-hearted, Big Star-influenced body of work in the same vein of the dbÕs and LetÕs Active. Although Sutliff says his main hobby now is making acoustic guitars, he still finds time to "write the occasional new song," and after a protracted period of woodshedding Sutliff has reteamed with Windbreaker producer, multi-instrumentalist and "New South" legend Mitch Easter to harvest "Bitter Fruit." The results are, simply, pure pop heaven. Without missing a beat (pun intended), Sutliff has forged an album that rings and chimes exactly in the fashion of his ex band Ð just listen to the way the guitars go jingle-jangle on songs like "Griffin Bay," "Warning Bells," "You DonÕt Have to Go," "No More" Ð heck, just about every track is drenched in peals of 12-string Rickenbacker-y. But these are no trifling confections. Each tune is also suffused with a wistfulness and poignancy that is heart-rending without being icky or sentimental. Seems like domestic life has not dulled SutliffÕs edge, but actually added emotional resonance to his writing. Some songs, like the yearning "Days of Summer" and the melancholic "Sorry If," even venture into harrowing and haunting Sister Lovers territory. But is it bitter fruit? Hardly. Enjoy.

5 out of 5 stars Jangle Pop Master Returns..........2000-08-10

I had been waiting over a decade for Bobby's second album, and was not a bit disappointed! After spending nearly a decade out of music-making, Bobby Sutliff has made a welcome return!

Sutliff made some great albums in the 80's as part of the duo known as the Windbreakers. They were one of the shining stars of the Southern/ Jangle Pop movement. Although overshadowed by the high profile attention that fellow group R.E.M. got, they carved out their own musical niche that blended chiming 12-string melodies with some real southern power that might find some kinship in the sounds of Tom Petty, Free, or Neil Young's work with Crazy Horse.

In '87, Sutliff made his Stateside debut of as a solo artist (the previous year had seen an EP release in the UK) with the brilliant "Only Ghosts Remain". Produced by Mitch Easter (who also played drums) and helped out by Let's Active's Angie Carlson and bassist Barry Brown, Option Magazine described that album as "Mixtures of The Searchers, Byrds, 12-string guitars, and Beatlesque pop linger. Bright and sparkling, this will definitely elevate whatever mood you're in"

(Fans of Richard Thompson, note that Bobby does a great interpretation of "Small Town Romance" that effectively does for it what The Byrds did for Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man". That alone would've been worth the price of admission).

However, within months of the release, the label, Passport (along with its distribution network, JEM) folded, tangling that release in legal limbo til this day.

Sutliff, returned to making a few more albums with the Windbreakers, but in the early '90's called it a day in order to devote himself to his family.

So, it's well over a decade later. I bought his new CD with trepidation. Would his music still retain the power and majesty of the first album? Given how most artists with such a break have either changed their style entirely (and to their detriment) or released a work of mediocrity (Boston's Third Album comes to mind), there was a lot to live up to. I'm pleased to say that this album is a brilliant followup to the first.

Once again, working with Mitch Easter, and surprise, original Windbreaker member Jeff Lewis (!), Bobby's crafted another jangle pop masterpiece. It opens with the uptempo "Warning Bells" and even gets better from there. Songs like "One Way Ticket," "You Don't Have To Go", and "Change The Way" are some of my personal favorites. Besides Bobby's brilliant guitar work (both 12-string and bluesy psychedelic solos), the music is augmented by fine keyboard and haunting cello arrangements.

Music Album:

  1. The Message Is Love ~ Tony Lindsay
  2. The Heart of Chicago 1967-1998, Vol. 2 ~ Chicago
  3. Super Hits of 1957 ~ Various Artists
  4. Bourbon County ~ Tara Key
  5. Third
  6. The Very Best of Every Mother's Son: Come on Down to My Boat ~ Every Mother's Son
  7. Whine de Lune ~ Trailer Bride
  8. Bazooka!!! ~ The Star Spangles
  9. Unplugged ~ The Corrs
  10. Adversary: Live ~ Crime & The City Solution

Music Album

Music Album

Music CD

The Gentle Giant ~ Yusef Lateef

Soul Connection ~ Goykovich Dusko

Manhattan Suite ~ Rick Kellis

Priceless Jazz ~ James Moody

Stormy Weather ~ Lena Horne

Revolution ~ Dalida

Ballades & Mots D'amour ~ Alain Bashung

Folk Songs & Dances ~ Dobroudja Folk State Ensemble

Flood ~ Boris

Musique Du Monde : Les Ballets Africains : Guinea ~ Various Artists