Pretty in Black

Pretty in Black Artist: The Raveonettes
Label: Sony International
Category: Music


Average customer rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Format: Import
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1
EAN: 5099751942696
ASIN: B0009YA3BI


Release Date: 2005-07-28

Pretty in Black


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Categories | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music
Indie Rock Indie Rock
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Tracks:

  1. Heavens
  2. Seductress Of Bums
  3. Love In A Trashcan
  4. Sleepwalking
  5. Uncertain Times
  6. My Boyfriend's Back
  7. Here Comes Mary
  8. Red Tan
  9. Twilight
  10. Somewhere In Texas
  11. You Say You Lie
  12. Ode To L.A.
  13. If I Was Young
  14. I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry (Bonus Track)
  15. Everyday (Bonus Track)
  16. Black Wave (Bonus Track)
  17. I Wanna Be Taken (Bonus Track)

Album Details

The Japanese Edition of the Danish Duo's 2005 Opus, Co-produced by Rock Vet Richard Gottehrer Includes Four Bonus Tracks Not Found on the USA Equivalent: A Cover of Hank Williams' "i'm So Lonesome I Could Cry", "Everyday", "Black Wave" and "i Wanna Be Taken".

Customer Reviews:

3 out of 5 stars Wrapped in "Black".......2005-08-10

Let it be known: "Pretty in Black" is not the same Raveonettes you know and love.

Sure we have the creepy vocals from Sune Rose Wagner, and the rough retro sound. But after two increasingly catchy albums' worth of music, the Raveonettes have gotten a lot poppier. The trend started in "Chain Gang of Love" peaks here, in a controversial new sound that retains some of the gloomy grandeur, but loses the ragged lo-fi sound.

Acoustics and echoes start it off on a surprisingly soft note, considering that this was the band who turned "tornado rock" into an art form. And Sharin Foo takes lead vocals an ethereal ballad, before shifting back into garage-rock form with "Love in a Trashcan," which sounds like the Velvet Underground's catchier moments.

What follows is a mixture of rough-edged ballads and pop songs, mixed in with the slightly fuzzy rock'n'roll that the Raveonettes have made famous. That bleak sound remains in it, especially when Wagner sets his creepy vocals in the middle of the songs, or when he harmonizes alongside Foo for that androgynous effect.

A cringeworthy moment comes in with the truly awful cover of "My Boyfriend's Back," where Foo sings without a shred of irony, "look out now/cause he's comin' after you!/Hey ya hey ya/my boyfriend's back." Call me a weirdo, but right now I really long for songs about how your sweetie is a little animal and how she always wants to... well, you get the idea.

Anyhow, it's pretty obvious that the Raveonettes have turned a major corner with "Pretty in Black" -- it's catchy and retropoppy, and much of their "tornado-rock" edge has vanished. Instead of distortion pedals and bass, they use more percussion, guitar and some wicked organ,

Taken only by itself, is it a good album? Well, yes. It's not the same as the previous albums by the Raveonettes, but it is an entertaining indie pop album, alternately bleak and catchy, snide and dark. And it's rough, slightly fuzzed rhythms haven't changed too much -- they simply lack the dark distortion, which, ironically, was what attracted many fans to them.

The latter half of the album has some more exotic stylings, like a tambourine and some truly eerie electronic wobbles and wavers. And "Pretty In Black" does differ a lot from the previous two in one way: Sharin Foo lends her pretty, strong vocals to several songs, sometimes solo and sometimes alongside Wagner.

Music Album:

  1. Quatro ~ Suzi Quatro
  2. This Is Gold
  3. Jesus Christ Superstars ~ Laibach
  4. Live at the Boston USA 1975 ~ Maggie Bell
  5. Debridement ~ Rivulets
  6. Restos De Un Incendio ~ Migala
  7. That's the Way It Was ~ Elvis Presley
  8. Autosuggestion ~ Pilsner
  9. The Unfinished Spanish Galleon of Finley Lake ~ Spiderbait
  10. In Our Time ~ Bradley Cole

Music Album

Music Album

Music CD

Into the Woods: The Best of Phil Woods ~ Phil Woods

Make Your Move ~ Joe Thomas

This Is New ~ Ed Bickert with Lorne Lofsky

Minor Swing ~ John Patton

Buddy's Blues//Bright One ~ Buddy De Franco

Legends of Tango ~ Horacio Salgan

Primal elements

Faceless Man ~ Boom

Kelly Key Remix ~ Kelly Key

All the Best from the Accordians of Paris ~ Various Artists