Love Songs for Patriots [Import]

Editorial Reviews
Album Description
Love Songs For Patriots' is the first album in ten years from one of the world’s most influential bands, American Music Club. Mixing elements of rock, folk, country and jazz with the wonderful vocals of Mark Eitzel, 'Love Songs' looks set to be one of the band’s best albums yet. This import pressing has earlier release with the U.S. scheduled for (10-12-04). Cooking Vinyl. 2004.

Tracks:

Ladies And Gentlemen
Another Morning
Patriot's Heart
Love Is
Job To Do
Only Love Can Set You Free
Mantovani The Mind Reader
Home
Myopic Books
America Loves The Minstrel Show
Horseshoe Wreath In Bloom, The
Song Of The Rats Leaving The Sinking Ship
Devil Needs You, The

Album Description

AMC are back after a ten year hiatus, with the original members. "Love Songs" blends the band's unique mix of rock, folk, country, and jazz with Mark Eitzel's ever-present acerbic, brutally honest lyrics.

Customer Reviews:

"You're All Apple Pie And You're Bulletproof...".......2007-06-02

"If you want to see something patriotic, there's a stripper..."

Mmmm...if your favourite band comes back after 10 years away, it seems fair to say that your hopes and dreams are going to be stacked fairly high. It is testament to this most princely of bands that one of the most special moments of my life -yes, my life - was watching them on stage in Manchester early 2005 and realising that at last they finally looked and sounded in a live setting like what they actually were. The best band in the world. Most of what they played that night came from this album.

"...He don't look that good but he's got an all-American smile..."

This is the longest AMC album and while it isn't quite the best (we're talking degrees here)it is magnificent and deserves its place in the story of this classic band.

"...That fills his underwear with all the lonely dollars from all the lonely men who no-one ever suffers..."

'Ladies And Gentlemen' kicks things off in stirring fashion despite being better in its demo form (another story)before the first of many AMC classics here: 'Another Morning'. Specifically it is another tribute to Eitzel's life-long muse, the late Kathleen Burns but to you and me it is another example of how Eitzel's specific is tellingly personal. The person at the heart of this attack ("Someone does you wrong, you give away your life to prove it/You wear your pain with pride, you refuse to remove it...")cannot see past themselves, cannot experience the simple perfection of waking up next to your loved one and loving how everything at least for that moment feels right.

"...It is so red, white and blue the way he works the bar..."

'Only Love Can Set You Free' is the worst song title I can think of by this most gifted of songwriters but even then the song itself is brilliant. Okay, it's really just a great re-working of 'The Revolving Door' but I don't care. You write a song that great, you can re-write it the rest of your life as far as I'm concerned. And great lyrics: "But if the blow that knocks you out is the one you don't see/Then why are you fighting?"

"...Selling his embraces like Mr President or a fallen star..."

The song that is forming a link throughout this review is called 'The Patriots Heart'. It is, I genuinely believe, the finest, most complete, most stunning song Mark Eitzel has ever written. Complex politics made personal, made real. A specific gay stripper in a specific gay bar and then the song...And a return to ideas of everything and me and you.

But then there are the others...

And do you really want to read other people's minds after 'Montevani The Mind Reader', and do you really want to be Mark Eitzel after 'Home', and do you really want to know what Dinosaur Jr album would be playing in the prayed-for bookstore in 'Myopic Books' and what Saul Bellow book would be bought there...and kind of so on...sort of suggesting this is the best music in the world currently out there.

I could listen forever and then write some more...

'The Horseshoe Wreath In Bloom' rattles along in its own country/americana way with its glorious freeze-frame of alcoholism/sadness..."Funny red nose and Rudolph jokes...memory failing..."

The final two songs are slow. Again I have no problem with this. American Music Club is back. Only occasionally are bands this great.

You and all that kind of thing have to be what it's all about, the greatest part of life. This band and this songwriter fill in the blanks...

A very welcome back.......2005-04-22

As with all AMC albums, it takes a few listens for the songs to gel, but when they do, it is an exquisite experience. Love Songs ranks up with Mercury and Everclear among AMC's best (I can't go so far as the incadescent California, though a few of the tracks come close). Highlights are the lovely and wistful "Another Morning" which like AMC's best starts quietly and builds to a wrenching climax; Job to Do and Home are rousing and reflective. Patriot's Heart seethes with anger and Myopic Books is quiet meditation on loneliness that stays with you. Eitzel proves yet again that he is a master songwriter, and his voice belies living through the heartache/disenchantment he sings of. For a band that was broken up for ten years, it is amazing how timely and tight they are; I can only hope this is not the LAST AMC album.

Another Morning - Same Great Sound.......2005-02-26

It's a sad state we are in today when critics and fans prop up snot-nosed skinny emo-boys like Conor Oberst, hailing them as the next Dylan while the American Music Club CD catalog sits in record store bins, gathering dust. Front-man Mark Eitzel, unlike the afore mentioned Oberst (aka Bright Eyes) has truly loved and lost and lived to tell about it. Middle-aged and world-weary, Mark Eitzel has been spinning out some of the world's best damn introspective songs for the last 20 years. And it is a true shame that we had to live without this band for 10 of those years. To fellow AMC fans, and from the reviews posted here I know I am in good company, I say this is a must own record. It is better than their last record, San Francisco, and not quite as good as their masterpiece, Mercury. This record took several listens to grow on me, but like many of my favorite records, it is well worth the effort. I also managed to catch AMC on this tour and they still put on an amazing show. If you have a chance to see them live I highly recommend it. The only thing missing from this record is the beautiful weeping pedal-steel guitar of former member Bruce Kaphan but that is almost made up for by the wonderful keyboard work of new member Marc Capelle. The rest of the members here are also in top-notch form. All musical bases are covered here: rock, jazz, country, folk and lounge music and unlike many of today's acts who claim to wear their heart on their sleeve, the sound is genuine.

Such exquisite sorrow.......2005-02-16

On Love Songs for Patriots, American Music Club's mood is as dark as ever, but infused with the hope of redemption. Filled with yearning and distorted dreams delivered in the most beautifully poetic lyrics, the first three tracks Ladies and Gentleman, Another Morning and Patriot's Heart set the lugubrious but defiant tone for this masterpiece.

The drinking song Ladies and Gentleman is achingly moving in its juxtaposition of the pain of living with either truth or with lies. Patriot's Heart, about a male stripper, is a masterpiece of conflicting emotions, cynicism blended with compassion and understanding. Wow, this approach is something else, so unique and stirring.

There are also gentle and tender moments like Another Morning, an inspiring song about shaking off bitterness and depression, framed in a lovely melody and pop orchestration. Another highlight, and one with a sprinkling of humour, is the gentle ballad Myopic Books. The delicate track Love Is reminds me of their gem of a song Firefly from an earlier album, whilst Only Love Can Set You Free is an appealing love song.

The last two tracks, Song of the Rats Leaving the Sinking Ship and The Devil Needs You, are quite ambiguous and may be interpreted on both a personal and universal level. The latter is over 7 minutes long and combines a powerful drum pattern with delirious keyboards and horns to conclude the album on a high note.

As with the rest of their oeuvre, Love Songs For Patriots is not easy listening for everybody, but if you love the kind of redemptive sadness often found in the work of artists like Nick Drake, Leonard Cohen, Richard Thompson, Peter Murphy, Swans, Michael Gira's Angels Of Light, Nick Cave, Emmylou Harris or Jane Siberry, you will love this welcome return by American Music Club.

yet another great record.......2004-12-09

This is yet another great, great record from AMC. It is smart, intelligent, musical and biting. Nothing has been lost after the hiatus. Mark Eitzel's solo recordings were great too, but I always missed some magic that happened when he played with this band. Patriot's Heart might be their best song ever, but since they have so many great songs, please don't hold me to that. If you loved them before, you are going to love this and if you thought you might like to give AMC/Mark Eitzel a try; this is a fine place to start. Lovely package too..

Average customer rating:

Love Songs for Patriots
American Music Club
Manufacturer: Cooking Vinyl
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

Indie Rock | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

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Rock | Imports | Stores | Music
ASIN: B0002LORBA
Release Date: 2004-09-14

Tracks:

Ladies and Gentlemen
Another Morning
Patriot's Heart
Love Is
Job to Do
Only Love Can Set You Free
Mantovani the Mind Reader
Home
Myopic Books
America Loves the Minstrel Show
Horseshoe Wreath in Bloom
Song of the Rats Leaving the Sinking Ship
Devil Needs You

Album Description

Love Songs For Patriots' is the first album in ten years from one of the world's most influential bands, American Music Club. Mixing elements of rock, folk, country and jazz with the wonderful vocals of Mark Eitzel, 'Love Songs' looks set to be one of the band's best albums yet. This import pressing has earlier release with the U.S. scheduled for (10-12-04). Cooking Vinyl. 2004.

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