Pain Makes You Beautiful Explained

Pain Makes You Beautiful
Type:Album
Artist:The Judybats
Cover:Pain Makes You Beautiful.jpg
Border:yes
Released:1993
Recorded:Long View Farm Studios, North Brookfield, Massachusetts[1]
Genre:Pop, rock, alternative rock
Length:44:06
Label:Sire/Warner Bros.
Producer:Kevin Moloney
Prev Title:Down in the Shacks Where the Satellite Dishes Grow
Prev Year:1992
Next Title:Full-Empty
Next Year:1994

Pain Makes You Beautiful is the third album by the American band the Judybats, released in 1993 by Sire Records.[2] [3] The album contains the band's most successful single, "Being Simple", which peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart.[4] The band supported the album with a North American tour.[5]

Production

Pain Makes You Beautiful saw a significant lineup change for the band, with the departure of keyboardist Peggy Hambright and bassist Timothy Stutz and the arrival of bassist Paul Noe and drummer Dave Kenkins.[6] [7] Recorded live in the studio, the album was produced by Kevin Moloney,[8] [9] who helped the band to shorten and rearrange their songs.[10] The recording studio, Long View Farm Studios, was a country barn, built above horse stables.[11] Many of the songs' lyrics were inspired by the lives of frontman Jeff Heiskell and his friends.[12]

In 2023, Heiskell stated that he loved Moloney's production on the album, which introduced more "organic sounds", and added that he felt the band's earlier records had been overproduced by comparison.[11]

Critical reception

Trouser Press stated that "the musicianship is at a consistently high caliber, and the songwriting is tremendously diverse."[7] The Chicago Tribune concluded that "Heiskell, a dominant vocal presence live, is still too mannered on record; he's like a drawling male Annie Lennox, with every intonation sounding studied and self-conscious." The Republican wrote: "Flying in the face of grunge trends, they pack a rippling batch of melodies into crisp pop tracks like the exhilarating 'Ugly on the Outside'." The Washington Post determined that "the Judybats slip loose of their New South neo-folk-rock mold, though not singer/lyricist Jeff Heiskell's sometimes annoying conceits."[13] The Associated Press deemed the album "lightweight pop ... overloaded with ponderous pretensions."[14]

In a retrospective review, Stewart Mason of AllMusic thought the album traded the band's "folky eccentricities" for "a more identifiably alternative rock groove that's considerably less unique", and that Moloney "steers things a little too far to adult album alternative territory at times".[6]

Track listing

All music by the Judybats, lyrics by Jeff Heiskell.

  1. "All Day Afternoon" – 3:27
  2. "Ugly on the Outside" – 3:47
  3. "Being Simple" – 4:13
  4. "An Intense Beige" – 3:25
  5. "Geography" – 3:03
  6. "Wasting Time" – 4:15
  7. "Incredible Bittersweet" – 4:03
  8. "Scarlett" – 3:24
  9. "Trip Me Up" – 3:16
  10. "La Dulcinea" – 3:30
  11. "My Dead Friend" – 4:36
  12. "Pain (Makes You Beautiful)" – 3:12

Personnel

The Judybats

Technical

Notes and References

  1. News: McLennan . Scott . Studio gets new owners . . June 9, 1994 . C6.
  2. Web site: The JudyBats Biography, Songs, & Albums . AllMusic.
  3. Web site: You Say It's Your Birthday: The Judybats' Johnny Sughrue . https://web.archive.org/web/20221022155722/https://www.mtv.com/news/pj642c/you-say-its-your-birthday-the-judybats-johnny-sughrue . dead . October 22, 2022 . Nordling . Elise . . June 27, 1997.
  4. Book: Whitburn, Joel . Joel Whitburn Presents Rock Tracks 1981-2008 . Joel Whitburn . 2008 . Record Research Inc. . . 0-89820-174-8 . Google Books.
  5. News: Luhrssen . Dave . Mixed Bag . . April 22, 1993 . Entertainment . 3.
  6. Web site: The JudyBats - Pain Makes You Beautiful Album Reviews, Songs & More | AllMusic . Mason . Stewart . AllMusic.
  7. Web site: Judybats . Zwirn . Michael . Trouser Press . 22 October 2022.
  8. News: Sculley . Alan . Slugger's Life Judybats Tune Up, Make Some Trades, Come Out Swinging . Daily Press . April 30, 1993 . Newport News . InRoads . 14.
  9. Pain Makes You Beautiful by Judybats . . April 17, 1993 . 105 . 16 . 52.
  10. News: Mayhew . Don . Judybats Not Like Most Alternative Rock Bands . . April 8, 1993 . E4.
  11. Web site: Jeff Heiskell Discusses the Judybats' Exquisite 'Pain Makes You Beautiful' at 30 . Edelstein . Marc . . January 16, 2023 . April 28, 2023.
  12. News: Maestri . Cathy . Musical portraits of JudyBats . . April 2, 1993 . AA10.
  13. News: Jenkins . Mark . A Broader Swing of the 'Bats . . May 7, 1993 . N16.
  14. News: Dishneau . David . Heavy Lyrics Drown Melody . . . March 12, 1993 . TGIF . 16.