Review of Violent Femmes' "Hallowed Ground"

Hallowed Ground (1984) is the second album made by Violent Femmes. This is a very interesting album, to say the least, which is not surprising given that this is a very interesting band.

The music has a very distinct feel to it. It's a pleasant blend of rock, folk and country. Coupled with this is the fact that the songs do not have the traditional (and safe) structure associated with normal music, which adds to the novelty.

Another strange feature of Hallowed Ground is that quite a few of the songs are strangely alluring even though they are quite bad. About half of this album consists of the type of catchy little songs that are associated with a camp singalong- repetitive, simple and mindless fun. Obvious candidates are 'Country Death Song'. 'I Hear the Rain', 'Jesus Walking on the Water' and 'It's Gonna Rain'. You know they're bad, but for some reason there is something attractive about them.

Still there are a couple of genuinely good songs on this album. 'Sweet Misery Blues' (whose verse seems, incidentally, to have been ripped straight off the introduction of 'Never Tell') is actually a clever version of the type of catchy, simple song mentioned above. 'Never Tell' is a long song that slowly builds up before an excited finish. While there's nothing special about the vocals, the guitar- featuring Gordon Gano on lead and Brian Ritchie on bass- is outstanding.

Gordon Gano's vocals are one of the weak spots on Hallowed Ground. For some strange reason he misses quite a few notes which is inexcusable on a studio album. Additionally many of the songs, although catchy, are repetitive and unimpressively simple.

On balance, the bad outweighs the good on this album. Violent Femmes are certainly original and worthy of attention, but, on Hallowed Ground ground at least, their quirky approach to music just doesn't come off.

RATING: 5/10

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