Beauty Lies Explained

Beauty Lies
Type:studio
Artist:Bush Tetras
Cover:Beauty Lies.jpg
Released:1997
Genre:Post-punk
Label:Tim/Kerr
Producer:Nona Hendryx
Prev Title:Boom in the Night: Original Studio Recordings 1980-1983
Prev Year:1996
Next Title:Very Very Happy
Next Year:2007

Beauty Lies is an album by the American band Bush Tetras, released in 1997.[1] [2] It was the band's first album, as their 1980s output had consisted solely of EPs and singles.[3] All four original members participated in the reunion.[4]

Production

The album was produced by Nona Hendryx; Henry Rollins had produced the band's first two singles after the band reunited.[5] Hendryx and Darlene Love provided backing vocals on Beauty Lies.[6] "World Dub" is a hidden track.

Critical reception

Stereo Review wrote that "the band has improved slightly on Beauty Lies, the first decently produced recording in its history... The approach is a bit more rock and less funk nowadays."[7] Rolling Stone deemed the album "incredibly tight, hardheaded, muscular, confident, hooky and funny."[8] The San Diego Union-Tribune opined that "the songs are often shallow, jagged little pills that start out big and fail to deliver any substance."

The Los Angeles Daily News thought that Beauty Lies "finds the band in top form, still turning out funky pop gems powered by Pat Place's slash-and-burn guitar." The Telegram & Gazette determined that "the band's deep-groove sense of rhythm gives it a distinctive sound, and its mix of whimsical and menacing lyrics straddles the best of punk rock's dueling interests: the abilities to incite and brush off."[9] The Dayton Daily News concluded that "there's a lot of anger and screeching, not to be confused with angry screeching, on Bush Tetras' Beauty Lies ... the difference between the two being that with all the metal-pop catharsis that spills from these songs, the band can't have anything to be hacked off about anymore."[10]

AllMusic wrote that "Place's guitar is more controlled and less slashing, though she can still work up a good old art-noise head of steam."

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Bush Tetras Biography, Songs, & Albums. AllMusic.
  2. News: Sherr . Sara . Alternative Choice . Philadelphia Daily News . 17 Oct 1997 . F17.
  3. Web site: 'No Wave' Bush Tetras Back in Action. https://web.archive.org/web/20180907005951/http://www.mtv.com/news/729/no-wave-bush-tetras-back-in-action/. dead. September 7, 2018. Gil. Kaufman. MTV News.
  4. News: Dickinson . Chris . Women on the Edge . St. Louis Post-Dispatch . 7 Sep 1997 . 4C.
  5. Ashare . Matt . Bush Tetras: Pat Place's post-punk slide . Guitar Player . Oct 1997 . 31 . 10 . 20.
  6. News: The name remains the same . The Dallas Morning News . June 5, 1997 . 5C.
  7. Milano . Brett . Beauty Lies/Bruiser Queen . Stereo Review . Sep 1997 . 62 . 9 . 94.
  8. O'Dair . Barbara . Beauty Lies . Rolling Stone . Aug 21, 1997 . 767 . 112.
  9. News: McLennan . Scott . Short Cuts . Telegram & Gazette . 24 Aug 1997 . Datebook . 8.
  10. News: Rollins . Ron . Recordings in Brief . Dayton Daily News . September 19, 1997 . Go! . 19.