supralurid's Full Review: Stars on E.S.P. by His Name Is Alive
This CD's been sitting in my collection getting dusty for a while. When I first bought it, I was hoping for something a little more like their album Home Is In Your Head, which was my first exposure to their music. I listened to it a couple times, then it just got filed away and stayed there for a while. Yesterday, I pulled this out for the first time in a long time, and I am so happy I did. It's just wonderful.
The album is quite obviously a 60's tribute, but a lot of the lyrics are a little darker than those you might have come across back then. What Are You Wearing Tomorrow, for example, I am told is about teen pregnancy. What Else Is New List has this wonderful 60's surf sound with the great lyrics "Now my friends are going hungry. They can't feed off me no more."
While the whole album is just magnificent with this wonderful summer feel, I've obviously got my favorites. I love the tracks that use the lyrics "This world is not my home, I'm just passing through." I remember the hymn from church-going days, but HNIA puts a new spin on the song, giving it a whole new feel, more solemn, morbid. Beautiful.
Bad Luck Girl has this great upbeat feel. It's so summery. A perfect song to pair this with might be K.D. Lang's Summer Fling. They've both got a very whimsical, carefree feel. And I just love the lyrics, "If you wanna catch a fish, you gotta think like a fish. You and I underwater where we can see one another." Strange and wonderful.
What Are You Wearing Tomorrow has that same wonderful guitar/sad, sweet female vocals combination that I love on Home Is In Your Head. The Bees is another bright and fun song with beautiful vocals and only sometimes intelligible lyrics. Very pretty. Static, that I mentioned above, is a definite favorite.
And of course, there's the classic Universal Frequencies. A "Beech Boys" song. As I listen to it, I can't help but expect them to break into Good Vibrations. Really great Beach Boys tribute. Very well done.
Overall, this is a marvelous album and I highly recommend it. All the songs are great listening. It's fun and summery, if sometimes a bit dark.
I highly recommend that you read singsaw's review to get a little more idea of the 60's parallel, and also check out <a href=http://www.evo.org/html/interview/HisNameIsAlive.StarsOnEspAnalysis.html>evo.org</a> for an album analysis. I agree with singsaw that this is great music to listen to while waking up. I put it on during my drive to work and when I first got in, and I've been in a pleasant mood all day.
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