CD-Charts Position 1
Average Rating:

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Last Days of Wonder

by: Handsome Family

Release Date May 29, 2006
First heard this band when maybe as long as 10 years ago "Weightless Again" appeared on a music magazines "New Country" compilation. Since that time I've bought their back catalogue and each new album. I now have all their recordings.

Where does this album rank? ..., well IMO it's their best to date & a triumphant return to form after the disappointing "Twilight".

The only Handsome Family albums that don't deserve 5 stars are Twilight, Odessa , Milk and Scissors. If it were possible to give 5+ stars (a platinum merit award) then "Last Days of Wonder" would get it.

CD-Charts Position 2
Average Rating:

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Singing Bones

by: Handsome Family

Release Date October 13, 2003
I'm trying to work out where my head has been buried for the last decade of this band's existence. The Handsome Family are husband and wife Brett and Rennie Sparks. Singing Bones is a collection of magical musical stories that sound like ancient hand-me-down myths after a couple of listens. Its musical pedigree takes in all those dusty troubadors in black - Hank Williams, Nick Cave, Tom Waits, the sweet sadness of a Gram Parsons ballad, the gritty spirituality of a Johnny Cash rocker. While the music is always strong, the lyrics mark them out as something different and special, standing comparison with the magical realism of writers such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Italo Calvino or, perhaps more appropriately, Angela Carter. The Bottomless ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 3
Average Rating:

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Twilight

by: Handsome Family

Release Date October 02, 2001
Country music is the most enduring form of 'modern' music in the world today. Despite the best efforts of Hollywood (and English soap opera stars - 'Emmerdale') to ridicule it, it continues to exist and enjoy a strong musical following. The Handsome Family and the like are probably one of the reasons for this.

'In The Air' is an out and out country lp. Lyrically it is dark, poetic and amusing at the same time. Husband and wife songwriters Brett and Rennie Sparks are at the top of their creative tree. Their subject matter varies from the banal to the bizarre. Their delivery is musically perfect.

This lp is their most complete to date. 'Cold,Cold,Cold' is the most traditional song, recollecting great country songs of the ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 4
Average Rating:

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In the Air

by: Handsome Family

Release Date February 15, 2000
Country music is the most enduring form of 'modern' music in the world today. Despite the best efforts of Hollywood (and English soap opera stars - 'Emmerdale') to ridicule it, it continues to exist and enjoy a strong musical following. The Handsome Family and the like are probably one of the reasons for this.

'In The Air' is an out and out country lp. Lyrically it is dark, poetic and amusing at the same time. Husband and wife songwriters Brett and Rennie Sparks are at the top of their creative tree. Their subject matter varies from the banal to the bizarre. Their delivery is musically perfect.

This lp is their most complete to date. 'Cold,Cold,Cold' is the most traditional song, recollecting great country songs of the ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 5
Average Rating:

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Twilight

by: Handsome Family

Release Date October 01, 2001
Country music is the most enduring form of 'modern' music in the world today. Despite the best efforts of Hollywood (and English soap opera stars - 'Emmerdale') to ridicule it, it continues to exist and enjoy a strong musical following. The Handsome Family and the like are probably one of the reasons for this.

'In The Air' is an out and out country lp. Lyrically it is dark, poetic and amusing at the same time. Husband and wife songwriters Brett and Rennie Sparks are at the top of their creative tree. Their subject matter varies from the banal to the bizarre. Their delivery is musically perfect.

This lp is their most complete to date. 'Cold,Cold,Cold' is the most traditional song, recollecting great country songs of the ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 6
Average Rating:

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Through the Trees

by: Handsome Family

Release Date January 26, 1998
Like many people, i,m sure ,my introduction to The Handsome Family was through a free CD given away with Uncut magazine. The song "Weightless Again"- the first track on this album- is one of those tunes that once it lodges in the cerebellum is almost impossible to remove. The lyrics speak with genuine pathos about a deep seated human need for the swaddled comfort of the womb- equating modern alienation to native Americans losing the ability to make fire. As the song says "This is why people OD on pills/ And jump from the Golden Gate bridge /Anything to feel weightless again". It also encapsulates one of the bands primary themes-death - a subject they always approach with dark humour and empathy.
Through The Trees was originally released in ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 7
Average Rating:

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Odessa

by: Handsome Family

Release Date October 25, 1999
Like many people, i,m sure ,my introduction to The Handsome Family was through a free CD given away with Uncut magazine. The song "Weightless Again"- the first track on this album- is one of those tunes that once it lodges in the cerebellum is almost impossible to remove. The lyrics speak with genuine pathos about a deep seated human need for the swaddled comfort of the womb- equating modern alienation to native Americans losing the ability to make fire. As the song says "This is why people OD on pills/ And jump from the Golden Gate bridge /Anything to feel weightless again". It also encapsulates one of the bands primary themes-death - a subject they always approach with dark humour and empathy.
Through The Trees was originally released in ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 8
Average Rating:

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Through the Trees

by: Handsome Family

Release Date April 06, 1998
Like many people, i,m sure ,my introduction to The Handsome Family was through a free CD given away with Uncut magazine. The song "Weightless Again"- the first track on this album- is one of those tunes that once it lodges in the cerebellum is almost impossible to remove. The lyrics speak with genuine pathos about a deep seated human need for the swaddled comfort of the womb- equating modern alienation to native Americans losing the ability to make fire. As the song says "This is why people OD on pills/ And jump from the Golden Gate bridge /Anything to feel weightless again". It also encapsulates one of the bands primary themes-death - a subject they always approach with dark humour and empathy.
Through The Trees was originally released in ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 9
Average Rating:

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In the air (2000)

by: the Handsome Family

Release Date
Like many people, i,m sure ,my introduction to The Handsome Family was through a free CD given away with Uncut magazine. The song "Weightless Again"- the first track on this album- is one of those tunes that once it lodges in the cerebellum is almost impossible to remove. The lyrics speak with genuine pathos about a deep seated human need for the swaddled comfort of the womb- equating modern alienation to native Americans losing the ability to make fire. As the song says "This is why people OD on pills/ And jump from the Golden Gate bridge /Anything to feel weightless again". It also encapsulates one of the bands primary themes-death - a subject they always approach with dark humour and empathy.
Through The Trees was originally released in ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 10
Average Rating:

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Down in the Valley

by: Handsome Family

Release Date
Like many people, i,m sure ,my introduction to The Handsome Family was through a free CD given away with Uncut magazine. The song "Weightless Again"- the first track on this album- is one of those tunes that once it lodges in the cerebellum is almost impossible to remove. The lyrics speak with genuine pathos about a deep seated human need for the swaddled comfort of the womb- equating modern alienation to native Americans losing the ability to make fire. As the song says "This is why people OD on pills/ And jump from the Golden Gate bridge /Anything to feel weightless again". It also encapsulates one of the bands primary themes-death - a subject they always approach with dark humour and empathy.
Through The Trees was originally released in ... Read More: