Only Love Can Break Your Heart

Only Love Can Break Your Heart Artist: Paul Newman
Label: Trance Syndicate
Category: Music


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


UPC: 036172997022
EAN: 0036172997022
ASIN: B00000A33Z


Release Date: 1998-09-29

Only Love Can Break Your Heart


Related Categories:

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

Tracks:

  1. Seizure's Fashion
  2. Apollo Creed
  3. Where Are Your Hands Now
  4. Dawson 1, Oklahoma 0
  5. 'Curse You Would
  6. Arriving Early
  7. The New Goth

Similar Items:

  1. Frames Per Second
  2. Machine Is Not Broken
  3. This Is How It Is Lost

Customer Reviews:

4 out of 5 stars Only Love Can Break Your Heart.......2003-07-02

Imagine a mellower Rodan, a moodier Roadside Monument, a quirkier Codeine, a bloodier A Minor Forest, and a, well, better-sounding Traindodge, and you're about halfway to understanding the music of Paul Newman. Yes, this is a band that's been heavily influenced by its post/math rock precedents, but Paul Newman takes this inspiration one step further and uses this influence as a base to build their own unique math-rock sound.

There isn't a simple, straightforward song to be found on this CD. "Seizure's Fashion" is a hard-edged but oddly restrained track, with spare guitars against a pounding beat. There are glimmers of alt-rock, and some churning alt-metal power chords around the 4-minute mark. "pollo Creed" and "Where Are Your Hands Now" are both mellow songs with repeated themes. "Apollo Creed" contains repeated chords that sound as though they're building up to a powerful conclusion, and "Where Are Your Hands Now" repeats a dynamic guitar hook of which Slint would be very proud. Midway through both songs, the guitars elegantly slide into some really pretty stuff, which sounds like Paul Newman?s take on pop-rock, before returning to their respective themes.

The first half of "Dawson 4, Oklahoma 0" is more pleasant than an autumn breeze, with a lilting guitar hook that will make you melt. True to the post-rock fashion, they throw in a little "wah-wah" which is slightly reflective of the nouveau indie of The Sea and Cake. Unfortunately, the second half doesn't hold itself up quite as well; it's a meandering melody in a tepid key. "Curse You Would" is an aggressive but controlled grunge piece. What makes it stand out is its complexity: angular melodies, frequent stop-starts and rhythmic changes. "Arriving Early" is easily the most replaceable track on the album. It isn't bad by any means, but it toes the middle-of-the-road too often and doesn?t offer anything unique to the disc. "The New Goth" is an unexpected twist -- it's blistering and brutal, and a distant cousin to A Minor Forest's "Dainty Jack and His Amazing Technicolor Cloth Jacket." The song contains all of the Paul Newman dynamism we've come to expect, and it proves that they can truly rock if and when they want to.

"Only Love..." is all but entirely without vocals, appearing ever-so-briefly in two songs and once on "The New Goth" in the form of a scream. Less Is More, at least where Paul Newman's vocals are concerned, which gives them a heightened effect when they actually do appear. More importantly, the music stands on its own very nicely, and bludgeoning it with vocals would not have been a welcome addition (and serves as a testament to the brilliance and complexity of the music itself).

Melancholy, cerebral, and quite beautiful, "Only Love Can Break Your Heart" continues the inventiveness of Slint and Rodan, and melds it with their own emotions, dynamics, and moods. It's definitely worth a listen or three for those who enjoy intricate independent rock (or those who don a smile upon hearing Slint's incredible influence on yet another band). Aside from a few missteps, it's a thoroughly enjoyable album that deserves as much praise for its amalgamation of musically historical influences as it does for its originality.

5 out of 5 stars

Music Album:

  1. From Dayton with Love ~ Morella's Forest
  2. Shake Down/Raw Sienna ~ Savoy Brown
  3. Electrified ~ Pink Cream 69
  4. Truck Stop Jug Hop ~ Hot Sauce Johnson
  5. Koobas ~ The Koobas
  6. You Should Be Sinnin' ~ The Dirtys
  7. Ammerland
  8. Pass the Hat ~ The Brandos
  9. All That We Let In ~ Indigo Girls
  10. Hellenes ~ Matt Piucci

Music Album

Music Album

Music CD

Spillane ~ John Zorn

In Good Company ~ Ted Brown

One for the Library ~ Duke Jordan

Portrait: Herbie Hancock ~ Herbie Hancock

Douglas Williams ~ Douglas Williams

B Sides ~ Manu Dibango

Les As du Musette: Gus Viseur in Brussels ~ Gus Viseur

World of Karneval ~ Various Artists

Collection d'Or ~ Jean Gabin, Yves Montand

Farbotene Lider ~ Basia Frydman