Not much country this time
Cass L Fleming | White Bear Lake, MN United States | 10/29/2002
(4 out of 5 stars)
"The Silver Line almost abandons the country elements that worked so well on Kiss It Goodbye. Only one song near the end (forgot the title) has any type of rural flavor. This is a little bit of a disappointment for me, but I've tried to rate this new release for what it is. Mills uses his smooth trombone-like voice to create a character of intelligence, full of anguish but with dignity, who makes you understand the curse of genius with good-humored whining.Suicide Note and Sleeptalking are the most clever, catchy songs on the album, the former featuring horns and a female harmony part, which sounds great. Unfortunately, that is where the sonic excitement ends. After only a few listens, blocks of songs tend to fall into a continuous depressing zone. That always makes it harder to warm up to music, even if it is soulful (as this is), and this is why I can't give 5 stars.If you're not familiar with Chris Mills, he is one of the best at contructing lyrics that contain peculiar phrases and ironic twists. He can do this while leaving the meaning intact, as opposed to sweet-sounding nonsense like that of Jay Farrar. I recommend this to anyone who pays attention to words and appreciates the poetry."
Beautiful, beautiful, and again, beautiful
kokocooper | Chicago, IL United States | 11/07/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I think that the review which indicates this CD is different from Kiss it Goodbye and previous Chris Mills CDs is correct in that the alt country sound may not be as present here as it has been in the past. However, I didn't fall in love with his music for its genre but instead for the voice that continues to amaze me with every song I hear. I am addicted to this entire CD (except Floorboards, and that will probably grow on me once I've heard it played live a couple times) and it hasn't left my disk player since the day the CD was released. Also, Chris does have another CD that is currently available "on tour" only . . . it has two of my favorites, "Psycho" and "Safe and Sound." Get it while you can!"