Strange Angels | 
| Artist: Kristin Hersh
Label: Rykodisc
Category: Music
List Price: $11.98
Buy Used: $0.69
You Save: $11.29 (94%)
New (25) Used (27) Collectible (2) from $0.69
Rating:  19 reviews
Sales Rank: 125730
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
UPC: 144310429288
EAN: 0014431042928
ASIN: B0000009RR
Release Date: February 3, 1998
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | Home | | • | Like You | | • | Aching for You | | • | Cold Water Coming | | • | Some Catch Flies | | • | Stained | | • | Shake | | • | Hope | | • | Pale | | • | Baseball Field | | • | Heaven | | • | Gazebo Tree | | • | Gut Pageant | | • | Rock Candy Brains | | • | Cartoons |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
Strange Angels is a whispered testament, leaning on one voice and acoustic guitar, with occasional splashes of piano, cello, and strings. The result is far removed from Hersh's work with Throwing Muses, which packed it in 1996 after a decade of struggle and eight albums of coarse, uneven beauty. Along with her husband and kids, Hersh has made an even cleaner break from the past, leaving Boston for the solitude of the California desert near Joshua Tree. True to her new home base, Strange sounds like an album of folk songs written and sung under the clear night sky. When sung to children, lullabies are meant to induce sleep. When sung by Kristin Hersh to adults, they have the opposite effect. No matter how sweet or hushed the sound of Strange Angels, these lullabies disturb more than they comfort, jarring you awake when you're about to doze off, akin to what Hersh calls "cold water coming for the warm water junkies," but it can be oddly moving, too. --Keith Moerer
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| Customer Reviews: Read 14 more reviews...
 Like a cold, spring day June 11, 2001
Summer Pierre (Brooklyn, NY United States)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I like this album, even though I liked Hips and Makers better. Some really great songs appear in this second solo effort. "Gazeebo Tree" and "Hope" are fantastic. She is an incredible guitarist and a spinner of surrealist paintings that often leave you reeling. The downside of this album is that it can be at times cold, and a little relentless in her bleak landscape of madness, isolation, and extreme of consciousness. Deffenitely for the lover of acoustic albums and poetry of the damned.
 This is the album that made me pick up a guitar December 29, 2000
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Were I to get stranded on a desert island with the luxury of a cd player, this album would be all I'd need to stay sane. I can't praise Strange Angels enough -- it is a musical revelation, and anyone who loves strange, poetic lyrics and beautiful, stilted guitar melodies, and unforgettable, unconventional voices should own this cd.
Steller! February 26, 2004
Ryan (Ontario, Canada)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Contrary to the first critic, Strange Angels is one of Kristin Hersh's finest works. Well, the cult of Kristin could debate this, but this one is my personal favorite. It's authentic, simple, and gorgeous. I've listened to this record religiously over the last couple years. It's nice warm blanket when faced with the pain of grief. 5 stars, no BS. Best tracks..."Heaven," "Shake," "Aching For You," "Rainy Gazeebo Tree," "Gut Pageant," and "Pale."
Something to treasure for a long time... July 18, 1998
Micah Newman (Austin, TX United States)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
When I first heard this, I was a little disappointed that there seemed to be no 'standout' tracks. _Hips And Makers_, good ole Kristin's other solo work so far, is studded with glorious tracks like "A Loon" and "Me And My Charms", with mood swings and folk inclusions giving it the flavor of a compilation of sorts, but _Strange Angels_ sounded so *subdued* in comparison. Several listens later, I hear this album for what it is - wonderful. The songs don't reach out and grab you, but they ooze with so much of that charming Kristin-ness we know and love, it makes you want to reach out and hug her, while also often sending glaring question marks into your consciousness as always, with her almost wilfully abstract and abstruse lyrics. _Strange Angels_ rolls along quietly by; two songs even segue into each other so that the first few times you'll miss the song change. Although 'standouts' are not apparent, as the songs flow so seamlessly into one another, m! y faves are songs like the knowing "Gut Pageant" and sparkling "Baseball Field". A real treat for us Hersh fans, and I can't wait for more...
Sonic Eloquence August 3, 2006
Susan E. Senn (Dixon, IL)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This has to be my favorite Kristin Hersh record. I love Throwing Muses and was happy to hear Kristin Hersh's solo efforts. This album doesn't disappoint. While some may prefer it to be rockier, there's something very comforting and cathartic in the gentle sweeps and waves of the songs. Is it for everyone? Probably not.
If you listen to PJ Harvey you'll understand the analogy that this is Kristin Hersh's "To Bring You My Love". If you don't listen to PJ Harvey, it's a very mellow/folky album, more conceptual.
There are some songs I like more than others. "Home", "Shake", and "Like You" are my current favorites, while "Some Catch Flies" if very hit or miss to me.
This is one of my all time favorite records. It's very fitting to very specific moods. Well worth the chance you'll be giving it.
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