Search - Neko Case :: Blacklisted

My favorite Neko release

Guitar Man | Electric Ladyland | 02/28/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"For my money, this is my favorite Neko Case release. The songs "Things That Scare Me", "Look For Me" and "Deep Red Bells" are some of my favorite Neko songs, and she usually plays them live (we've seen her live several times over the years...always great shows).



This remastered version would be the perfect disc to start your Neko Case collection with. Her voice is in top form here, and the backing musicians are top notch. You can't go wrong here. Just the beautifully haunting and dark songs "Things That Scare Me" and "Deep Red Bells" are worth the price of admission alone. Highly recommended."

Neko's Masterpiece

BuzzGuy | Madison, WI, USA | 04/25/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"From the opening banjo-driven "Things That Scare Me" played over the verse of a child's fear of birds on wires, my ears perked up to all the possiblilites that country storytelling played on traditional instruments could still be. Even on lesser releases, Neko can always grab my attention on the lead track. "Deep Red Bells" follows, based on a true story of a serial killer of young girls. Her songwriting is superb here : "It looks a lot a lot like engine oil/and tastes like being poor and small/and popsicles in summer." The imagery is precise and perfect. She lets her enormous voice wrap around the chorus to insure this dark little story stays with us a long time.



The other tune that really grabbed me was "I Wish I Was The Moon". A very original idea that suddenly makes sense out of nonsense. "I'm so tired/I wish I was the moon tonight". What does it mean? Who cares? Somehow I found it instantly believable.



The idea of the story-song in popular music is not a new one. It simply hasn't been done this well in a long time. On "Blacklisted", Neko shows us that she has much more in common with the back-porch yearnings of Bobbie Gentry than the claptrap abstractions of singer/songwriter types such as Sarah Mclaughlin.



This is a smart, confident, precise exercise that holds up to many listens, songs about the things that go bump in the night, things that don't go away after childhood, as Neko obviously knows too well."

Neko Case - Blacklisted

K. Bennett | Huntsville, AL | 08/01/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Excellent material. It has her signature country/rock-a-billy/alternative (I really hate labels because often none really convey your intended meaning). Neko Case's music really evades a "genre" classification because it is so diverse. She goes from old-school country sounds (think early Reba, Johnny Cash, Hank Williams) to songs that remind me of Fiona Apple and then she moves on to a Sarah McLachlan sort of style. The word "eclectic" comes to mind, but that doesn't really do her art justice, either.



"Blacklisted" is a great collection of music. If you like her "Furnace Room Lullaby" and "Middle Cyclone" offerings, you'll surely enjoy this one.



Neko case has quickly become one of my all-time favorite artists. Thank goodness I was bored one night in April and caught my first episode of Letterman in two or three years. Neko Case was the guest musician, and I was captivated by her art.

"