Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Album Note - Cornershop: Judy Sucks a Lemon for Breakfast


MILES OF TRANE: NO. There are some artists who have a variety of sounds, and you like some but not others. As an example I'll pick one who falls into that category for me: Billy Joel. I'll assume for the sake of argument that he has always put out quality material (with which I don't really agree). But some of it I just don't like. For every Captain Jack that makes me hungry for more, there's a The Legend of Billy the Kid to quell my curiosity, for each The Downeaster 'Alexa' to make me smile, there's a We Didn't Start the Fire to make me smirk. You may like or dislike all his stuff, but most probably have their own example of a love-hate relationship with an artist. An even better example for me is The Magnetic Fields, whose great stuff is fantastically great -- click here to see my point about them explained in more detail.

O:Barr gets what he wants. Always. He wanted a review of this album because he liked their earlier stuff. "Judy Sucks a Lemon for Breakfast" is a 2009 release, coming seven years after "Handcream for a Generation." Handcream had some of that quality of great and blah, but the cool stuff was  easily enough to overcome, and that album gets a YES here on Miles. Not so with Judy, on which almost all the songs miss the mark with a mundane verse-refrain-verse modality that bores me to tears. The only exception is a really good song called Free Love, reminiscent of Spectral Mornings off the  Handcream album, and a 52 second song that should have been made into something but is forgettable due to its brevity. The pro critics give the album higher marks than I do, so take advantage of the one free full listen on Lala to decide for yourself.


Pitchfork: Album Reviews: Cornershop: Judy Sucks a Lemon for Breakfast 7.3/10.0

Judy Sucks A Lemon For Breakfast reviews at Metacritic.com 76/100 (Generally favorable reviews)

See also Pitchfork: Album Reviews: Cornershop: Handcream for a Generation 7.6/10.0