Search - Antietam :: Rope a Dope

Still stuck in my CD Player after four years

Frazer Dobson | Atlanta, GA United States | 07/28/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have been listening to Antietam for fifteen years now, and it's hard for me to believe they haven't yet found a wider audience. All of their albums are fine, and each one has a very distinct sound; the common thread is Tara Key's guitar, which is as instantly recognizable as any male guitar hero you'd care to name. Key is, without question, the best female guitarist of this or any decade. And on Rope-A-Dope, she cuts it loose. Sure, that squall has always been there (even on the low-key Burgoo), but it's never been as pummellingly beautiful as it is here. Check the last song, the ten-minute Silver Solace--between Key's vocal parts, she tears out molten lava streams of noise that alternately coalesce into recognizable forms and float off into the stratosphere. It's a powerfully moving song, and the music perfectly fits with the bitterness of the lyrics. Other delights: the hard, bluesy Hands Down (organ fills by Ira Kaplan of Yo La Tengo), the gorgeous yearning Pine, the quietly menacing Leave Home. There's not a bum track on this record, not even a lesser track. Buy it and make this band rich!"

Ummm. . .Wow

Aaron P. Beck | Baltimore, MD United States | 04/03/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If you like music, you'll like this album. You may most strongly feel respect with your first listen. But don't think that just because you respect it you can't get down and dirty with it. This transcends genre and annihilates almost every stereotype (especially the one claiming that girls can't play guitar). Buy it. It's worth the sum of all the cash you ever dished out for mainstream releases."