Track Listing
1. Freed
2. Behind Every Good Woman
3. You Don't Know Me
4. Fake It
5. Cold Day in Hell
6. Jumping Bean
7. Oasis Hotel
8. Second Wind
9. Thumbelina
10. Meathook
11. You Can't Always Not Get What You Don't Want
12. Give Us Something to Feel
| Details | | Contributing Artists: | Mitchell Froom | | Distributor: | Fontana Distribution | | Recording Type: | Studio | | Recording Mode: | Stereo | | SPAR Code: | n/a |
Album Notes
Personnel: Tracy Bonham (vocals, guitar, violin, Hammond organ, bass, programming); Steve Donnelly (acoustic & electric guitars); Steve Slingeneyer (guitar, marimba, drums, percussion); Gregg Arreguin (guitar); Steve Berlin (baritone saxophone); Mitchell Froom (piano, organ, Clavinet, Mellotron, Optigon, keyboards, Moog synthesizer, loops); Andrew Sherman (Wurlitzer piano, Clavinet); Mark Ender (Mellotron); Sebastian Steinberg (acoustic & electric basses); Dan Rothchild, Don Gilmore (bass); Pete Thomas (drums, percussion); Josh Freese (drums).
Producers: Mitchell Froom, Tchad Blake, Tracy Bonham, Mark Endbert, Don Gilmore.
Engineers include: Tchad Blake, Mark Endbert, Don Gilmore.
DOWN HERE is the triumphant follow-up to THE BURDENS OF BEING UPRIGHT. While the band's music may initially sound like a female-fronted answer to Nirvana, DOWN HERE makes clear that Tracy's emotion-rich music is something truly unique.
"Behind Every Good Woman" is a daring statement of liberation, especially in a society that frowns upon women for being aggressive and hypocritically applauds men for doing the same. Ms. Bonham's suggestion of Snow White's plans for "seven men, perfect height" would have surely raised the eyebrows of Walt Disney. "Fake It" is a musical study in self-examination and acceptance; and a simple four-chord progression has seldom sounded so fresh. Tracy incorporates many musical textures on DOWN HERE, from dry acoustic guitars to sampled percussion. Drawing on her classical background, Bonham's use of a contrasting harmony played solely on violin is the simple beauty of the verses in "Cold Day in Hell." She cleverly deconstructs verbal cliches in "Jumping Bean" and then swoons in the lilting instrumental "Oasis Hotel." "Meathook" shows a growing confidence in Tracy's guitar playing while the raw vocal delivery of "You Can't Always Not Get What You Don't Want" shows an artist who has come into her own.
Editorial Reviews
...A lot of guilt-free power chords and a cautious sense of wonder to go with her churlish Everywoman insights. If this smart, reasonably hard rockin' stuff can't get women back on hypermacho alt-rock radio, nothing will. - Rating: A-
Entertainment Weekly (04/21/2000)
...mines wry girl-power anthems with yearning ballads. She still has a knack for absurdist wordplay, add-but-lovely melodies, and crunchy guitar noise....reinforces the notion that [she] is a performer of sincere emotion...
CMJ (04/01/2000)
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