The Fold

Editorial Reviews
Album Description
A very well developed album. Creating original material was our main concern. Trying to label the music style is tough, for there is no one comparible to it. Our sound is on the cutting edge of music; we have no need for a freakish sideshow because our music goes beyond the mainstream.

Tracks:

Nobody Knows My Name
Gethsemane
Falling Up
Lamp Of The Body
It Hurts
Where I Like It Best
Tried To Be A Man
Circle In The Sand
Donkey Ride
7th Day
Elvis Cadillac
Road To Emmaus
I Was There

Amazon.com

Fans of Rickie Lee Jones and Jesus Christ can decide whether this devotional music is rapturously spiritual or deliriously strange. It sounds like nothing Jones has previously released, or anything characterizable as contemporary Christian. Instead, her voice soars and wobbles through repetitive, stream-of-consciousness incantations over rhythmic throbs and pulses. On "Where I Like It Best," Jones testifies to the power of private prayer (while seeming to cast churchgoers as hypocrites). The feral distortions of "Tried to Be a Man" recall some of the textures (if not the themes) of her former boyfriend Tom Waits, while the acoustic setting of "Donkey Ride" features guitar tunings that might make Sonic Youth wince and "Elvis Cadillac" conjures a singular vision of heaven. At close to eight and a half minutes, the closing "I Was There" seems to follow Van Morrison into the mystic. Some of this music is oddly affecting; much of it is merely odd. --Don McLeese

Album Description

THE SERMON ON EXPOSITION BOULEVARD, the new album by Rickie Lee Jones and her first for New West Records, is a beauty--soul-satisfying and sonically unique. RICKIE LEE sounds completely tapped in, alive and vital, heading down some mighty interesting roads and discovering new magical essences. Lots of creative sparks here--plenty of them. She sounds like she's going through a transformation throughout the album in a way that's reminiscent of Van Morrison's performances on his classic album Astral Weeks.

Customer Reviews:

Beautiful and Unique.......2007-07-23

Not like anything I've ever heard from Rickie Lee Jones. I've read some of the other reviews, so felt compelled to write one. Not everyone song works, but all are powerful and moving. If you are looking for glossy, packaged, commercial pop, this isn't right for you. If you are looking for incantatory, raw, eclectic music with a spiritual twist and stream of consciousness lyrics, then this is for you. This album is a revelation.

jangly unpleasant.......2007-07-03

I love rickie's music, especially "evening" and "traffic", even "ghostyhead" is more palatable than this mess. Maybe it's the obnoxious music that is obscuring the usual beauty of her voice and poetry... I don't know. It is harder to find the moments of beauty and cohesion in this album than to sit through drunken kareoke. Even amazon's attempt at offering soundbytes with selling points is rough. I guess I'll just do as another reviewer is, stash this unpleasantness and await her next recording.

On this one she soars.......2007-05-19

I always considered Rickie to be a rawer Joni Mitchell. As Courtney Love is a rawer Madonna. But too often she seemed unfocused and distracted.

On this one Rickie shines! This is the high mark of her career so far. Through all the drug hazed days and aimless wandering she's seen the light.

If you never listen to another Rickie album, at least give this one a try.

Falling Up is the song I can't get out of my head.
It Hurts and Elvis Cadillac are other catchy pop tunes.
Nobody Knows My Name and Gethseme are haunting tunes.

The Reverend Rickie.......2007-05-11

Two and one-half stars. I've been a fan of RLJ from her first single, but her albums have always fallen into one of two categories for me: the ones I play all the way through ("Rickie Lee Jones", "Traffic From Paradise", "It's Like This"), and the ones I take a song or two from for the Rickie Lee playlist on my iPod ("The Magazine", "Flying Cowboys"). "The Sermon" falls into the latter category. "Chuck E" aside, hooky pop ditties have never been RLJ's strong suit -- even considering that, "The Sermon" is a tough listen, and is only intermittently worth the effort. After several listens, I am still looking for the songs. I know you're not Avril Levigne, Rickie, but give me something to hang onto here! Her talk-sung sermonette on prayer, "Where I Like It Best", brings tears every time I hear it, on sheer force of emotional authenticity: she exhorts the listener to "take back" prayer from organized religion, to look up and shout "I'm down here, too! I'm down here, too!", and it's goose bump material. "Elvis Cadillac" is a funky hipster vision of the afterlife, and you can't help but smile. But those two songs and the occasional inspired line ("Riding into town on your donkey/But you're going out on a cross") notwithstanding, much of "The Sermon" is jangly accompaniment to a poetry reading.

Only buy it for the packaging............2007-05-09

Talk about one-hit wonders. This disc was so discordant that I could only stand about one-half of one song before I shut it off and hid it away, just in case one of my kids tried to play it someday. Even the lyrics were self-indulgent. When will indies understand that there must be SOMETHING for another HUMAN BEING to connect with, whether it be the music or the words. Don't make us work so hard to like you, Rikkie.

Orphans [Fold-out Digipak with 24-page booklet]

Average customer rating:

Quantity over quality
i assume 5 stars is appropriate
Absolute Favorite Singer!
It's Tom Waits, and therefore excellent
Why did I wait so long before buying this CD?

Orphans [Fold-out Digipak with 24-page booklet]
Tom Waits
Manufacturer: ANTI
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B000L43AN4
Release Date: 2006-12-05

Tracks:

Lie To Me
LowDown
2:19
Fish In The Jailhouse
Bottom Of The World
Lucinda
Ain't Goin' Down To The Well
Lord I've Been Changed
Puttin' On The Dog
Road To Peace
All The Time
The Return Of Jackie and Judy
Walk Away
Sea Of Love
Buzz Fledderjohn
Rains On Me

Tracks:

Bend Down The Branches
You Can Never Hold Back Spring
Long Way Home
Widow's Grove
Little Drop Of Poison
Shiny Things
World Keeps Turning
Tell It To Me
Never Let Go
Fannin Street
Little Man
It's Over
If I Have To Go
Goodnight Irene
The Fall Of Troy
Take Care Of All My Children
Down There By The Train
Danny Says
Jayne's Blue Wish
Young At Heart

Tracks:

What Keeps Mankind Alive
Children's Story
Heigh Ho
Army Ants
Books Of Moses
Bone Chain
Two Sisters
First Kiss
Dog Door
Redrum
Nirvana
Home I'll Never Be
Poor Little Lamb
Altar Boy
The Pontiac
Spidey's Wild Ride
King Kong
On The Road

Amazon.com

With these astounding 54 songs (plus two bonus tracks) Tom Waits has added a vital new work to his catalog. The title, Orphans, refers to the songs either being from a range of outside projects, various impulses, and whims, or simply not having found a place on the albums for which they were intended. While that scenario has constituted a stopgap measure for lesser artists, this set stands alongside Waits's finest work. He has shaped it into three separate discs, each one separately titled after the prevailing character of its tracks and playing with its own mood and dramatic arc. Brawlers favors raucousness and uptempo grinds and grooves, while Bawlers showcases balladry and the more overtly poetic. Bastards is a funhouse of angular characters, spiky anecdotes, shaggy dogs, and even a Kurt Weill cover. The set offers everything from the amped-up rockabilly hiccuping of "Lie to Me" to the breathtaking perfection of "Shiny Things," and from the outraged political reporting of "Road to Peace" to the closing-time lament of "Little Man." --David Greenberger

Description

The three disc set is packaged in a fold-out digipak with a beautifully designed 24-page booklet, including neverbefore-seen Waits' photographs.

Customer Reviews:

Quantity over quality.......2007-05-20

A bit disappointing. As usual with Tom Waits, some of the tracks are great -- Lucinda and Goodnight Irene are standouts. But too many, while not bad, are kinda ho-hum. With editing, this would have made a better 2-disc set, or a really good single CD.

i assume 5 stars is appropriate.......2007-05-10

I bought this CD a couple of weeks ago, but haven't heard it. My husband immediately took it from me & hasn't given it back. "Oh, I keep forgetting it at work." He said it's great. Based on that & the other reviews, I'm giving it a 5 star rating anyway. :)

I plan on getting it by this weekend or going out to buy my own copy.

Absolute Favorite Singer!.......2007-05-04

I bought this the second I found out it was available for my husband who is a HUGE Waits fan. A gotta have!

It's Tom Waits, and therefore excellent.......2007-04-06

Nobody does grizzled and world-weary quite like Tom Waits, and coming off 2004's incredible Real Gone, the mammoth three-disc collection Orphans is yet more proof of his bizarre genius. Even putting aside the abundance of great music it contains, it is, if nothing else, a fitting tribute to Waits's persistently uncommercial, marketing-be-damned approach to his music. Comprised of a whopping 54 songs (both Waits originals and covers) and clocking in at about three hours, Orphans is vintage Waits from beginning to end-unvarnished, unconventional, and uncompromising. Given the enormous amount of variety to be found here, everyone's going to have their personal favorites, but whichever tracks one prefers there's no denying that Orphans makes the perfect testament to Waits's endless creativity, stinging wit and gritty, PhD-in-life sensibility.

Waits has long been a a man of many personas-demented carnival barker, old testament prophet, Jesus freak, depression-era bluesman-and even more than his more traditional albums Orphans shows off his chameleonic nature to the fullest extent. With its ample available space, Orphans allows Waits to induldge in genre exercises ranging from rockabilly (Lie To Me); to baroque pop (Little Drop of Poison); to swamp blues (Buzz Fledderjohn); to gospel (Lord I've been changed) without ever sounding like just an imitator of his varied influences. That said, Waits is still at his best when he dwells in a musical territory all his own, be it noisy, free-form experimentation or more reflective, sparsely instrumented balladry.

Each disc brings with its own unique feel, with the first one feeling the most like a proper Waits album in the vein of such all-encompassing classics as Rain Dogs and Bone Machine. Waits gets his classic-rock fix taken are of early with the scorching Low Down, whose big, brash guitar riffs wouldn't sound out of place in the '60's. The clamorous percussion and dizzying time signatures of Fish in the Jailhouse should please fans of Waits's more eccentric side, or just those like this writer who crave something abrasive and weird. Providing a sharp contrast to these tunes, but still very much in line with Waits's overall approach, are the downcast resignation of the bluesy, guitar-driven Road to Piece (a seven-minute examination of the conflict in Israel) and the closing lament of Rains on Me.

The ballad-heavy second disc, while occasionally a tad forgettable, is still home to some of the most brilliant material of Waits's career. The triumphant Take Care of All of My Children is driven by a stirring, martial drum beat, while the following Down There by the Train manages to expertly combine sadness, regret, and hope through Waits's singularly poetic lyrical imagery ("There's no eye for an eye/There's no tooth for a tooth/I saw Judas Iscariot carryin' John Wilkes Booth"-brilliant). In somewhat of a curveball for Waits, Never Let Go is inspiring and poignant in its straightforward message of devotion. There's also a great, booze-sodden lament in Goodnight Irene, which finds Waits's nicotine-stained voice at its most raw and unhinged.

The third disc is a nod to every side of the schizophrenic last two decades of Waits's career, with unstructured noise explorations (the mutant jazz-blues-rock workout Heigh Ho is hard-edged and ominous even for Waits) to a slew of spoken-word pieces to some more tender ballads. Waits starts off the disc by breaking out his classic rasp on the delightfully malevolent What Keeps Mankind Alive, and backs himself up with some inspired vocal beat-boxing on the Spidey's Wild Ride and King Kong. The latter track is especially interesting, with Waits's pained wail augmented by some ear-piercing guitar squeals and a subterranean bass line as he declaims the tragic story of, well, King Kong, with all the gravity of a character delivering the closing monologue of a Shakespearean tragedy.

Why did I wait so long before buying this CD?.......2007-03-24

I've been aware of Tom Waits for many years and have purchased a few of his more popular songs online. However, this is the first album of his that I've bought. My criteria for album purchases is that the album price must be competitive with the sum of the download prices for all the songs that appeal to me when reviewing samples. I was not disappointed and will likely go back and buy some of his older albums.

For me, 4 stars is about as good as it gets because I reserve the 5 for perfection. The biggest negative for me was the lack of lyrics in the the lower cost edition.

Average customer rating:

A Great Sophomore Release from The Fold!

Secrets Keep You Sick
The Fold
Manufacturer: Tooth & Nail Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Cities

ASIN: B000PC6FKM
Release Date: 2007-05-22

Tracks:

Medicine
Younger Than Our Years
Your Secrets Keep You Sick
New Skeptic
Faster Still
Closer
Down In Doubt And Living Without
Hey Rebekah
Catastrophe! (Prepare To Defibrillate)
Beside You Now
Revisited

Customer Reviews:

A Great Sophomore Release from The Fold!.......2007-06-01

This is a great album! A few songs, such as Faster Still, Catastrophe! (Prepare to Defibrillate), and Beside You Now, took three or four listens before I began to really appreciate them. "Revisited" is the only track on the album that I don't care for. Other than that, I can let the CD play all the way through. The Fold have matured in their song writing and musicianship since "This Too Shall Pass," which to me was a very incomplete album. "Secrets Keep You Sick" is definitely a step in the right direction and I look forward to hearing more from them in the future!

Average customer rating:

First Half VS. Second Half
Great potential on a first record
Awesome Music and beautiful lyrics
I doubt this one will pass
Just making sure everyone has the pleasure of hearing this music.

This Too Shall Pass
The Fold
Manufacturer: Tooth & Nail Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B000E5LF6Y
Release Date: 2006-02-21

Tracks:

Gravity
Backseat Drivers
New City
The Title Track
What Is Right
Going For My Lungs
Evermore
Remnant
Rid Of Me
Stay
With You, I Sink
We've Been At This
Surrounded
I Believe You

Customer Reviews:

First Half VS. Second Half.......2007-05-24

See Gus Chiggen's review; I couldn't agree with him more. The first half of this album is pretty solid, with tracks like New City, Gravity, The Title Track, and Backseat Driver. However, the second half totally falls short! And what happened to the frontman's vocals? The second half of the record just sounds rushed and horribly produced. If you want this album, do yourself a favor and buy the four songs I mentioned off of iTunes. Don't waste your money on the whole record.

Great potential on a first record.......2007-03-07

The Fold's first record sure has some solid potential. The first four tracks are incredibly fast-paced and catchy; then the album slows right down, stalls a few times and barely runs through the finale, which gets a boost from guest vocalist Matt Thiessen of Relient K.

The first half of the album had one producer, and the second half was produced by someone else in a different part of the country. The frontman for the band has even said in interviews that switching from one producer to another was a mistake. I cannot agree more.

This album shows lots of potential; the lyrical content is solid and the musicians know how to put together some good rocking sounds. With a new record due out in May, I'm excited to see what these guys have to offer.

Awesome Music and beautiful lyrics.......2006-10-14

The Fold is a really talented band. Think of them as fall out boy meets weezer. Wow, what an awesome album.However, I got tired of listening to it after few listens but I still listen to it once in awhile. Highly recommend this album. Their lyrics are way( I want to say way again) deeper than that of their contemporaries like Emery, Run Kid Run, and the Classic Crime( don't get me wrong all three bands rock my socks off). Not too shabby not to shabby for a debut album. Definitely a band to watch for.

I doubt this one will pass.......2006-05-19

With catchy music and thought-out lyrics, The Fold, once again, gives it's listeners something to look forward to. A great effort from a great band, "This Too Shall Pass" proclaims originality and talent in many different ways.

Musically, The Fold's riffs and syncopations are deliciously executed and thought out, although not as often as one would think. The vocals are magnificent -- subtle, powerful and beautifully sung.

Lyrically, the witty and thoughtfulness of "This Too Shall Pass" is unequivocal. Great composition and rythm in the words give one incredible aspect of originality to the band.

Overall, The Fold is a great buy. It's fun to pop in your car-player and go out for a drive. I would strongly recommend this album for fans of Jimmy Eat World, Fall Out Boy and Anberlin.

Just making sure everyone has the pleasure of hearing this music........2006-04-05

This is quality song writing- period. The heart put into these songs, making the album and in this band in general is extremely evident.
Playing early in the band's history in 2003 with Relient K was certainly an indication of what they're made of and where they were going. Watch out for them, they're going to be known!
If you really just want honestly good music for your fifteen dollars, you won't regret owning this. This album will stand the test of time and is one that can be played over and over.
These are real guys, writing real songs, about real lives, about a real Creator, with real struggles and the product is an amazing album.
I'll stop ranting; but really, I've bought a lot of music, heard and seen a lot of bands, and this is good music right here.
I've never been more satisfied with buying an album or paying for a show and wouldn't be spending time writing this if I didn't mean that.
God bless.

Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant

Average customer rating:

Nice Day for a Mood
critically underacclaimed
true belle and sebastian lovers will love this album
Music that never gets stale
Hmm

Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant
Belle & Sebastian
Manufacturer: Matador Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B00004T8ZB
Release Date: 2000-06-06

Tracks:

I Fought In A War
The Model
Beyond The Sunrise
Waiting For The Moon To Rise
Don't Leave The Light On, Baby
The Wrong Girl
The Chalet Lines
Nice Day For A Sulk
Woman's Realm
Family Tree
There's Too Much Love

Amazon.com's Best of 2000

All the twee kids have a new hero--Belle & Sebastian front man Stuart Murdoch has replaced Morrissey in their pantheon of kindred spirits. But Murdoch is less Morrissey than Salinger, eschewing the former's moody, self-centered moroseness for the latter's wide-eyed, nostalgic innocence. And while it's easy to get lost in his witty literary narratives and precious brogue, you have to remember that Belle & Sebastian are a sum of their parts, each member contributing to Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant, letting Murdoch shy away from the limelight. That varied palette gives Fold Your Hands Child a wide-ranging expression and subtlety not found on earlier albums. --Tod Nelson

Amazon.com

Belle & Sebastian's songs have always been instantly familiar while simultaneously original and unexpected. Listening to Belle & Sebastian, you have the inexplicable feeling that you have heard these songs somewhere before, filed away with the mothballs of your youth, or that, maybe, you have stumbled upon long-lost tapes of a young Nick Drake being backed by Village Green Preservation Society-era Kinks under the production of some low-rent Phil Spector. The fact that Belle & Sebastian have arrived at their distinct, anachronistic sound quite naturally and by accident is a large part of their charm. It's not surprising, then, that Belle & Sebastian's fourth full-length record, Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant, has arrived with the band's sincerity intact. What is surprising, however, is the record itself: an eclectic mix of the soulful and the sublime, something of a departure for the band. Unlike their last record, the amazing Boy with the Arab Strap, the songs here are not instantly recognizable, but more subtle. The hooks don't automatically grab; instead, the songs' intent is to break you down, seeping into your bloodstream and working on you from the inside out like an infection.

The eclectic feel of the record owes itself to the fact that this is, by far, Belle & Sebastian's most "record by committee" affair yet, with songwriting contributions from several different band members and songs that seem to have been built up from simple ideas into lush orchestral pieces with the musical input of the band's many different instrumentalists. While Stuart Murdoch still writes and sings the bulk of the material, he collaborates with bandmates on a number of songs, including the delicately soulful "Don't Leave the Light on Baby," written with keyboardist Chris Geddes. Unfortunately, songs by Belle & Sebastian cofounder and bassist Stuart David are not to be found on Fold Your Hands (he left the band during the recording). However, violinist Sarah Martin contributes her first song with the haunting "Waiting for the Moon to Rise," while cellist Isobel Campbell adds the record's most surprising track, "Beyond the Sunrise," sounding like a lost Leonard Cohen gem with its spare and fragile arrangement. Guitarist Stevie Jackson, who contributed some of the better songs on Arab Strap, manages only one on this outing, but it's one of the best: "The Wrong Girl," a tale of misplaced love juxtaposed against swinging Spector- like strings and horns. By the time the band reaches "Women's Realm," an infectious, life-affirming romp, the record's message, although never spelled out, is clear: Through all the melancholy and solitude and terrible things that could go wrong, life is still worth fighting for. --Paul Ducey

Album Description

'Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant', their 4th album on Matador Records, opts for a subtle, intimate palette that reveals its charms only in its own sweet time.

Customer Reviews:

Nice Day for a Mood.......2007-07-05

Now, everybody and their grandmother (well, assuming their grandmother listens to Belle & Sebastian) knows that this is pretty much Stuart Murdoch's band. On FOLD YOUR HANDS CHILD, YOU WALK LIKE A PEASANT (2000) he's in fine fey form as ever: "The Model," "Women's Realm", and "There's Too Much Love" strike me especially as minor classics in the B&S canon. However, apparently wishing to prove that Belle & Sebastian are a true band, and not just a vehicle for his brilliantly wistful vision, Murdoch pulls a Paul McCartney circa 1976 and opens the floor to his bandmates.

The results, if they aren't quite up to Murdoch's usual standards, aren't half as bad as the critics would have you believe. Stevie Jackson's "The Wrong Girl" is a nice uptempo (if not upbeat) number; the Isobel Campbell-sung "Family Tree", an airy, tongue-in-cheek "nonconformist" kind of song; and Sarah Martin's wispy "Waiting for the Moon to Rise", near-classic B&S. Which brings me to an interesting point: Belle & Sebastian isn't an especially powerful group. In order for a vocalist to get overwhelmed by their sound, they'd pretty much have to be trying. But both Martin and Campbell nearly manage it. That's not a knock - I love their tiffany little voices - but the fact remains that both girls sing with all the force of a fine lace curtain. And then "Don't Leave the Light on Baby", credited to the entire band and built on a ghostly electric piano line, is unlike anything I've heard yet from the band, and pretty much everybody gets out for a turn on the aforementioned "Women's Realm". However, not everything clicks: "Beyond the Sunrise", a Jackson/Campbell duet, falls rather flat, for instance.

In terms of sound, FOLD YOUR HANDS CHILD, YOU WALK LIKE A PEASANT is very much of a piece with Belle & Sebastian's contemporaneous EPs. This means that the record falls somewhere between the band's sleepier early work and the bolder sound of later efforts: they've gained some muscle and the arrangements are a little more ambitious, featuring lots more strings, but the power (on a relative scale, of course) of their post-2003 work isn't quite there yet. However, this is still an excellent record, and a nice showcase for the talent in the band that we may not have noticed in Stuart's shadow.

critically underacclaimed.......2006-10-10

This album is as close to perfection as any, particularly for a concept album. the low ratings accorded it by the major reviewers in completely inexplicable, and as of yet, the only accurate rendering of this work in print is The Onion AV Club's. google it.

true belle and sebastian lovers will love this album.......2006-07-24

Beautiful horn-work along with Murdoch's wonderous voice make this belle and sebastian album a masterpiece. Only iffy song is family tree in which the acoustic guitar just doesnt really work with the deep drowning voice. However overall, this alblum is absolutley belle and sebastian, or excellent.

Music that never gets stale.......2006-02-01

This is one of the best albums I've heard in a long time. It works its way through ethrial, infectious songs and then takes a turn and delivers 60's style - almost dreary - pop, I love it.

Hmm.......2005-04-26

If I were given to hyperbole (or "hyperbowl" here in Georgia), I would say that this album has the best title ever given to any artistic creation in the history of civilization, even if it is short one comma. But since I'm not, I'll just say it's a great Belle & Sebastian album with one or two clunkers.

Average customer rating:

Handel: The Masterworks (Box Set)

Manufacturer: Brilliant Classics
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Trios | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

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ASIN: B00062FLI8
Release Date: 2004-11-30

Average customer rating:

A Must
Not The Best Choice For Newcomers
Their First Awesome CD!
Breakdown amidst the mixtures of Skinny Puppy
Start here

Cleanse, Fold and Manipulate
Skinny Puppy
Manufacturer: Nettwerk Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B00005LOQS
Release Date: 2001-06-19

Tracks:

First Aid
Addiction
Shadow Cast
Draining Faces
The Mourn
Second Tooth
Tear Or Beat Deep Down Trauma
Hounds
Anger
Epilogue

Customer Reviews:

A Must.......2006-09-25

This is a must for any industrial fan. I think I would have serious doubts in anyone who says they like industrial music who'd not respond to this release.

Not The Best Choice For Newcomers.......2005-12-03

It's come to my attention from a Wikipedia article about the lawyer, Jack Thompson(He's a lawyer who is trying to fight against the videogame industry and wants to censor violent videogames), that an Amazon reviewer gave his book a 5 star rating during what JT called a bookstorming and that review was removed (They filled up the book with negative tags, photoshopped pictures, and 1 star reviews). The positive review was by a user called BushSupporter who appears to be against Skinny Puppy as well as videogames. Anyway, if you're here because you hate Jack Thompson and are curious about the band you may want to skip this CD unless you're already into harsh Industrial music. Don't get me wrong. It's an awesome piece of work but I don't feel it's going to appeal to first timers. Skinny Puppy made later releases that are a lot easier to swallow for first time listeners. Those releases are The Greater Wrong of the Right, The Process, and Rabies. Rabies being the least accessible of those three but it still has Al Jourgensen's guitars (the vocalist and guitar player from Ministry).

Their First Awesome CD!.......2005-05-26

For the first few years in their career, Skinny Puppy released some fine material in the Industrial/EBM movement that was just getting bigger and bigger. Yet for me, Manipulate is the first SP album that began to prove that the band was here to stay. Manipulate easily proved that SP could do more things with loops, beats, and synths. It proved that they were evolving as a tight unit and had plenty to say to the masses.

This would be their first great socio-political conscious record played to a moody, creepy background. Issues such as political agendas (Trauma Hounds) and abortion (First Aid) are fiercely played and sung. Mention about people's rights and countless deaths, among other problematic realities, run throughout the album. Sampling in this album is also better than on previous releases.

First time I bought this cd, it crept me out mainly because the music and lyrics were so chilling. It also got me hooked for more and I haven't stopped listening to it since. Draining Faces and Addiction are among the best, not to mention the very chilling ender, Anger / Epilogue. Manipulate makes a fine first impression to an SP newcomer and shows how important they are in the Industrial/EBM music.

Breakdown amidst the mixtures of Skinny Puppy.......2004-05-18

Although I am a huge fan of All of SP's music, as far as I am concerned nothing that they have done compares to Cleanse Fold and Manipulate, even though Vivisect VI ans Too Park Park are also great great albums in their own rights. If you are thinking of buying their reunion album, or better yet catching one of their few US concerts, and want to see just how far they have evolved, by all means get this album now! Of course, CF&M represents Skinny Puppy in their gloomiest and darkest era, and this is truly a beutifully punishing album to listen to. Tracks like Shadow Cast, Draining Faces and the Mourn meld gothic horror, ingenious sampling, with industrial percussion like no other band ever has, :wumpscut: probably coming the closest on Eevil Young Flesh. On other tracks such as Addiction and deep down Trauma Hounds, cEVIN and Goettel manage to meld seamlessly catchy, even dancy beats with the menacing lyrics provided by Ogre, which as always have something to say about the ills of contemporary society, without sounding preachy or pretentious. And who said Industrial music couldn't be a vehicle for social change! Cleanse Fold and Manipulate sounds as fresh and original as any Industrial music out today, being far more original and inventive too, and is an essential album for any fan of industrial music, ebm or darkwave.
Brap On!

Start here.......2004-01-29

I would recomend the new comer to Skinny Puppy should start thier new long road ;) with Cleanse Fold and Manipulate. This album is a short album nevertheless a romp through the early/middle of thier evolution. This album would ready someone for "Too Dark Park" and for "Bites" two albums more often reguarded as thier best (which maybe true) but are in need of greater patience to absorb.

This more so then other Puppy albums gives you a mid-tempo dark blast of pulsing beats and loops, takeing off right where Bites left off but adding to Skinny Puppy's allover accesability. Still for your money you get 3 genious(absoloutely awesome!) dance hits First Aid, Addiction and Deep Down Trauma Hounds they alone being worth admission yet still several excellent noise scapes that give mainstream music listeners an insight to the underworld of noise and anti-music and is a Skinny Puppy trademark. Such musical psychedellia can be SO sumptuously profound with emotional articulation.