'64-'95

by

Lemon Jelly

Edit

Like some of the other reviewers here I was really given a jolt upon first listening to the newest Lemon Jelly. I plugged in the cd and sat back ready for the usual lush soundscapes LJ has given us in the past. This time I was forced to sit up and raise an eyebrow. There's even a disclaimer on a sticker that comes on the cd "This is not like our old album." How true. I tried repeatedly to just sit and listen and I couldn't. Then I took a road trip...sailing down a desert highway at a speed MUCH higher than the posted limit I plugged in '64-'95 and it all made sense!!! Suddenly I was hearing sounds I hadn't heard before and as I sped along the road it seemed the saguaros were bobbing up and down with me to 'Don't stop me now'. Later I saw a commercial for "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" and they were using "Come down on me" and I thought "Yeah! Someone else gets it!!!" It's about moving forward! I feel sorry for those who want LJ to stand still in one place and expect artists to just pump out the same old crap over and over(not that ANYTHING by LJ is crap but you get what I'm saying). KUDOS to Lemon Jelly for taking a risk and creating something completely different and still being able to infuse their usual style. HOORAY for this new album. BOO to it's nay-sayers.

PS the DVD (sold seperately) is a lot of fun too.

When I saw that Lemon Jelly had a new album out, I freaked. Lost Horizons, their last effort, very quickly earned a spot on my all-time top-10 list, and I raced to get the new, undoubtedly brilliant release. But alas, I have similar feelings as many of the reviewers here. I agree that those like me who really enjoyed Lost Horizons will not enjoy this nearly as much. It's, well, very different. My impression of '64-'95 is that it was created for a more mainstream audience, what with the harder edge in a couple tunes and the R&B stylings in others. I'll give Lemon Jelly the benefit of the doubt and not call this a complete sell-out, but it's as if they felt embarrassed by the sensitivity of their last album compared to the acts out there who are more popular because they're more hard-hitting.

I really enjoyed Lost Horizons for its subtle and restrained compositions, the way most if not all of the tracks would mesmerize with their repetition, but would creep up on you and surprise you in various ingenious ways. It just seemed a lot more rigorous, careful, and artfully musical than this new one.

There are some good moments on '64-'95, but not enough, not as many as I've come to expect, which after many optimistic listens, makes this album disappointing. I sincerely hope this was just an awkward moment for these guys and that their next album will bring them back from craft to art.

* * *

Several months later...

I've tried a few times to listen to this album again, even to find a decent track on it for a compilation, and it's useless. That pretty much sums up the album for me: Useless. Dammit, I wanted to like this album as much as I liked Lost Horizons, if not in the same way, then in a different way! Were KY and, especially, Lost Horizons flukes?