lambchops's Full Review: Eight Arms to Hold You by Veruca Salt
Illinois-based rock band Veruca Salt came to be known as a musical force to be reckoned with in the mid 1990’s. Their sound combined the girl-band greatness of the Breeders with harder-edged rock influence from early 1990’s grunge and late 1980’s hair metal.
The heart of this band always was the duo of Nina Gordon and Louise Post. The twosome wrote, sang, and played guitars on their three albums. Their musical and vocals styles were always very different, but when their talents combined great rock music was produced. Formed in 1993, Veruca Salt released their debut in the fall of 1994. American Thighs would go on to become both a commercial and critical success thus solidifying the band’s place in music history.
Gordon and Post (along with Steve Lack on bass and Jim Shapiro on Drums) released their sophomore effort in early 1997. Eight Arms To Hold You pays homage to the Beatles, David Bowie, and metal music in general while sounding anything but. While some people scoffed at the use of heavy electric guitars and bass, others snatched up the CD excitedly. In fact, I would say that this Bob Rock (who has worked with bands like The Cult, Metallica, Skid Row, and Motley Crue) produced album is a very worthy followup for Veruca Salt’s breakthrough effort.
Eight Arms To Hold You features fourteen tracks. The songs rely heavily on Post and Gordon’s dueling vocals and guitars. Often the two really unique things about the band end up in conflict. The guitars end up drowning out the vocals. But, overall, I do enjoy the album as a whole. I’ll try to talk at least in part about a few of the things I most enjoy and least enjoy about this album.
Of the tracks on this album, music fans most likely are aware of Volcano Girls. As with the most popular track on the band’s earlier album, Seether, this is a pop-rock masterpiece. I really don’t much care that the guitars and drums sound like something from 1989. What makes this song new and different are Gordon’s usually meek vocals (yet oddly bombastic here) and the frenzied tempo. This song remains one of my favorites from the band…ever. Don’t remember it? Maybe these lyrics will ring a bell:
Leave me, lying here
cause I don't want to go
A million miles of running and I hit the wall
I bounce back and I run some more
On the complete other end of the Veruca Salt repertoire is the last track, Earthcrosser. Written by Gordon, the track is soft and subtle at times with electric guitars breaking up the monotony. The band relies heavily on their hard rock roots, yet with Gordon’s tiny voice the songs end up being so much more than a throw back to hair metal. The varied tempo here could have proven annoying; instead I enjoy the anxious changes and the experiments.
Venus Man Trap, a Post-written and performed track, is a decent song. Although I’m somewhat annoyed by her handling of the lyrics. Since I don’t particularly enjoy her vocal talents, the fact that the guitars at times drown out her voice is no problem. The same thing really also applies to Straight. The guitars are exceptionally harsh thus burying Post’s vocals. She seems to be trying too hard to sound like somebody she’s not (Joan Jett, by chance?).
Sounding a bit more like the tracks from American Thighs, Awesome is one of my favorite tracks on this album. Gordon sounds great. She stretches her modest vocals as far as possible. The chorus is aggressive with relatively sparse instrumentation in comparison to some of the overall louder tracks. Even though this song isn’t overall as good as some of the others, I can’t help but enjoy Gordon. I also wholly enjoy With David Bowie despite thick guitars. This is an infectiously addictive track. It’s impossible to not clap along.
Gordon wrote all of the tracks from Veruca Salt that I thoroughly enjoy. Her partner in crime, Post, has a nasally voice and a more aggressive song writing and singing style. I prefer Gordon’s softer and in my opinion more intelligent approach to making music. And, since Gordon wrote the vast majority of the band’s popular songs, it seems that radio, critics, and fans largely agree with my summation.
On Eight Arms To Hold You I fully enjoy half of the tracks. The half written by Gordon. As I mentioned, I don’t appreciate Post’s additions nearly as much. If it were just Gordon, this album would have been a solid 4/5 or 5/5 stars. Alas, I cannot possibly give them that high of a rating. Post ruins it for me every time. Overall slightly better than average, I will give this album a very high 3/5 stars. Veruca Salt is a great band, and at least half of their tracks are equally great.
Veruca Salt lost Nina Gordon in the late 1990’s. Post continued on and released 2000’s Resolver while Gordon released her solo debut (Tonight and the Rest of My Life) during the same year.
Track Listing:
1. Straight [Post]
2. Volcano Girls [Gordon]
3. Don't Make Me Prove It [Post]
4. Awesome [Gordon]
5. One Last Time [Post]
6. With David Bowie [Gordon]
7. Benjamin [Post]
8. Shutterbug [Gordon]
9. The Morning Sad [Post]
10. Sound Of The Bell [Gordon]
11. Loneliness Is Worse [Post]
12. Stoneface [Gordon]
13. Venus Man Trap [Post]
14. Earthcrosser [Gordon]
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.