Search - Tindersticks :: Tindersticks 2

Mandatory For Tindersticks Fans

Kurt Harding | Boerne TX | 08/30/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"What a difference a good remaster can make! I liked this CD a lot in its original form but now that its been remastered with a bonus CD added, its time to give the old one to a friend and embrace this.

Why? Not only because you get a very worthwhile bonus recording of a 1995 concert, but the sound is so much fuller and richer that the original seems to the remastered issue as primitive as monaural to stereo. On the original CD, I often found myself raising the volume on a number of cuts just to understand what was being sung. On the remaster, there is no such problem.

I still like all the cuts I did when I just had the original, but now I like the rest of them too. My favorites are Tiny Tears, Snowy In F Minor, No More Affairs, She's Gone, Mistakes, Vertrauen 2 and 3, and Sleepy Song.

The live bonus CD is excellent, far superior to most live recordings. Stuart Staples and crew give an excellent presentation of some of the best of their first two albums. The sound is full, fresh and clean. My favorites here are a knockout rendition of No More Affairs, Vertrauen 2, Sleepy Song, Jism, Drunk Tank, and Tiny Tears. This is one CD you'll want to hear again and again.

Does the price put you off? I bought mine new from one of amazon's partners at a price less than half of what it sells for directly from amazon, so there are no excuses. Tindersticks 2, remastered, should have a mandatory spot set aside for it in every fan's CD collection."

Gloomy, brooding masterpiece

Pieter | Johannesburg | 04/09/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"
This second Tindersticks album is a lengthy exploration of many melancholy moods, lifted in places by exquisite orchestral arrangements and inspiring melodies. The lyrics are often oblique as in the songs El Diablo, a subdued, almost whispered piece that ends in discordant sounds, and A Night In, a similar lugubrious excursion with nice melodic twists and turns.



I am not sure whether the track My Sister is done with tongue in cheek, but it lists an unbearable catalogue of woes and would qualify for one of the most depressing songs of all time along with Gloomy Sunday and sundry songs by Swans, Nick Cave and Kevin Coyne. A whispered voice behind the lead vocal and some mournful violin give it an eerie touch.



The organ contributions in the mix really impress, as on the tuneful ballad Tiny Tears. Although not a feel-good number either, it provides welcome relief after all of the sorrow of My Sister. The instrumental Vetrauen II is a moody evocative number and Talk To Me is a sombre ballad with a nervous rhythm that evolves into a huge orchestral sound. No More Affairs is another gloomy affair that would make Nick Drake proud, whilst the ironically titled Singing is a lovely organ instrumental.



The album's transcended moment arrives in the form of the powerful duet Travelling Light, a stunning composition with an uplifting effect despite its images of separation and mood of resignation. The next one, Cherry Blossoms, has an interesting vocal arrangement that gives it a haunting quality. Fans of Scott Walker, Joy Division and Leonard Cohen will find much to appreciate in Tindersticks.

"