Live Through This is certainly the best album Hole have ever made, and they will be hard pushed to surpass the level which they have reached here. Love her or hate her, Courtney Love has been a prominant figure in grunge music for a long time, and it was this album which really proved that ... Read review
Advantages: Breathtaking lyrics Disadvantages: not everyones taste
Live Through This is certainly the best album Hole have ever made, and they will be hard pushed to surpass the level which they have reached here. Love her or hate her, Courtney Love has been a prominant figure in grunge music for a long time, and it was this album which really proved that Hole were a band to be taken seriously-Courtney was not just the mouthy wife of Kurt, but a talent in her own right.
Throughout the album is the contrast ... ...Live Through This contains moments of lyrical genious, seen on Violet and Asking for it, and the anti-society rants as seen in Miss World. There are also softer moments as found on Softer.Softest and I think that I would Die.
Overall, this is a spectacular album, and one of my favourites, and should definitely be explored if you dont already own it. ... more
Live Through This is certainly the best album Hole have ever made, and they will be hard pushed to surpass the level which they have reached here. Love her or hate her, Courtney Love has been a prominant figure in grunge music for a long time, and it was this album which really proved that Hole were a band to be taken seriously-Courtney was not just the mouthy wife of Kurt, but a talent in her own right. Throughout the album is the contrast of the soft, melodic intros and the typical Courtney outbursts. Live Through This contains moments of lyrical genious, seen on Violet and Asking for it, and the anti-society rants as seen in Miss World. There are also softer moments as found on Softer.Softest and I think that I would Die. Overall, this is a spectacular album, and one of my favourites, and should definitely be explored if you dont already own it.
“Live Through This” is by far Hole’s best album and probably the best grunge album as well. Although it may be sacrilege I do think it’s better than any Nirvana album (but not of course better than “Teen Spirit”). “Live” opens with the brilliant “Violet” a violent, energetic assault before moving into more political territory. Many of the songs are criticisms of various aspects of American Society such as beauty pageants or rape. The quality of the ... ...express pain and anger. The songs vary from the thumping, angry “Gutless” and “She Walks On Me” to the beautiful and moving “Doll Parts” in which the group displays real depth. Overall “Live” is an aching and important achievement for a band at the peak of its talent, lets just hope they can pull it off again some time soon. ...
Corvid 16.07.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Live Through This - Hole
Advantages: Brilliant guitar song and great lyrics Disadvantages: the softer songs feel a little out of place
Although released after the sucicide of her husband, this is not an albumn of mourning. The 12 tracks are a mixture of raw punk rock and gentle acoustic songs. If one is able to ignore all the politics and general insanity surrounding Courtney Love then this is a very good albumn. Hole demonstrate why they spear headed the riot girl movement with angry lyrics about the injustices that females face in the world. The songs that work the best are the ... ...that the albumn loses its way on the more gentle acoustic ballads, although some of these gentler songs are brilliant particulary "I think that i would die" and "Asking for it"
Which contains the now out of context lyric: "If youlive through this with me I swear that I would die for you" These songs tend to pale in comparison to the more thrashier songs like "rock star" which is a fitting end to the albumn and the almost hardcore sounding "She ...
Bluuprint 12.07.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Live Through This - Hole
Advantages: Only a couple of fillers Disadvantages: No lyrics - a shame
This album is superb. It was the first Hole record I bought. I had previously heard a few of their tracks, so I was pretty established as to what their music sounded like, but this album truly blew me away. The CD opens with "Violet", typical of the rest of the album. It has its quiet-ish moments, but includes an amazing chorus. The production of the whole album is superb. "Doll Parts", a single, has virtually no drums, only two guitars in the whole ... ...out tracks are "Miss World" (my fave on this album), "Asking For It", "Softer, Softest", and "I Think That I Would Die". My only complaint is that the record isn't very long - a mere 38 minutes. This is a great album, though - I highly recommend it to fans of grunge / indie / rock / alternative music. ...
godspeed 23.05.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Live Through This - Hole
Advantages: a near perfect album Disadvantages: not for everyones ears
pre the kurt cobain suicide this belter of an album finally broke hole through the uk music scene, and they have never sounded as good since, loves lyrics are at times heart wrenching if you put them in perspective and there are very few weak links here, aside from the awful credit in the straight world. it also contains the superb singles violet and doll parts. Im not much of an indie music fan, but after one listen i was hooked and if you have ...
mcpoeman 26.10.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of Live Through This - Hole
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Advantages: Some strong songs - ie title track Disadvantages: patchy
Althouh I enjoyed LiveThroughThis, Celbrity Skin is a much more patchy and less abrrasive effort. Adter the rumours regarding Kurt writing most of the last album, its sad to see that Courtney had to get Billy Corgan in to write some of this one ! Apart from the excellent title track not much truly jumps out at the listener, most of the tracks take longer to sink in. Many do with time, such as Malibu but is still 4 or 5 tracks that are very easy to skip out. If you liked their last album you may like much of this one but if you're only courious about Hole i would recommend you get LiveThroughThis instead of this particular album ...
Advantages: hell its courtney love! Disadvantages: shes tried to clean up her act and it's showing in her music
i LOVE courtney love. i worship the ground the woman walks on and this is an incredibly underrated album. yeah it's more poppy than gunge but theres still some real genius in those lyrics, her voice. you can pracitcally hear the life experiance in her voice. im the only person i know who has this cd - no one else was willing to give her a chance. but this is a great album with some real stand out tracks on it. theres some really catchy choruses as well. it's not as good as Hole - LiveThroughThis but then what is?
LOVE courtney love. i worship the ground the woman walks on and this is an incredibly underrated album. yeah it's more poppy than gunge but theres still some real genius in those lyrics, her voice. you can pracitcally hear the life experiance in her voice. im the only person i know who has this cd - no one else was ...
I first got Hole's "Celebrity Skin" when it first came out, when I wasnt a very big Hole fan. I didnt really appreciate at first. Then I bought "LiveThroughThis", and loved it. I decided I'd listen to "Celebrity Skin" and I was astonished how amazing the album really is. To transform from "LiveThroughThis" to "Celebrity Skin" isnt really easy, and Courtney Love pulls its off perfectly. Highlights on the album are, "Northern Star", "Hit So Hard", "Malibu", and "Boys on the Radio". Its a great album, pick it up next time you get a chance, definatly worth your money! ...
Product Information for "Live Through This - Hole" »
Product details
Title
Live Through This
Performer
Hole
Genre
Rock & Pop
Sub Genre
Grunge
Release Date
01/1995
Original Release Year
1994
Label / Distributor
Geffen / Universal Music
Engineer
Paul Q. Kolderie; Sean Slade
Producer
Paul Q. Kolderie; Sean Slade
Pieces in Set
1
Studio / Live
Studio
Stereo
Stereo
Format
Performer
EAN
720642463123
Catalogue Number
GED 24631
SPAR code
AAD
Additional notes
Album Notes
Hole: Courtney Love (vocals, guitar); Eric Erlandson (guitar); Kristen Pfaff (piano, bass, background vocals); Patty Schemel (drums). Additional personnel: Dana Kletter (vocals). Recorded at Triclops Studios, Atlanta, Georgia. LIVE THROUGH THIS would have been an important record even without the heartbreaking overtones surrounding Courtney Love, Kurt Cobain and their daughter Frances Bean. In light of those events, however, there is a poignant resonance to Hole's songs that amplifies, and in some cases transcends their original meaning. With her husky growl and simmering sing-song delivery, Courtney Love at times suggests a female Johnny Rotten. Sugar and spice and all things nice she is not, if a song like "Doll Parts" is any indication ("Someday you will ache like I ache"). She sounds like someone who was denied a real childhood, and life's experiences seemed to have curdled inside of her. The soft-hard-soft-hard program of each song reflects a conflict between her suppressed feminine yearnings and her own world-weary, tough-gal persona. Love's bitter, over-the-top emotional recollections give LIVE THROUGH THIS much of its bite, while Hole's refined, kick-ass arrangements tend to humanize, and occasionally soften Love's wellsprings of resentment. In contrast to the relentless punk rock of PRETTY ON THE INSIDE, LIVE THROUGH THIS is a more polished alternative production, although tunes like "Gutless" are pure Sex Pistols rant and raveup ("All my friends are embryonic, all my friends are dead and gone/All my friends are microscopic, all my friends wake up alone...Sleep with me wake up alive...I don't really miss God, but I sure miss Santa Claus"). Her sensuality and sexual ambivalence are front and center on LIVE THROUGH THIS. "You should learn how to say no," she yowls on "Violet." ("When they get what they want, they never want it again...Go on take everything, take everything, I want you to." Not exactly "The Chapel Of Love.") Every inch the failed romantic and social outcast, on songs like "Asking For It" and "Rock Star" Love compulsively peels away at her own skin until a throbbing void of bitterness is all that remains. Look away if you can't take the truth or fathom the enigmatic lyrics, but you won't be able to ignore LIVE THROUGH THIS.
Album Reviews
Rolling Stone (10/31/02, p.136) - Ranked # 20 in Rolling Stone's "Women in Rock: The 50 Essential Albums" - "...[A] grim, passionate grunge masterpiece..." Rolling Stone (5/13/99, p.54) - Included in Rolling Stone's "Essential Recordings of the 90's." Rolling Stone (1/25/95, p.52) - Voted Best Album in the 1995 Critic's Poll. Rolling Stone (12/29/94-1/12/95, p.191) - "...Love delivers punk not only as insinuating as Nirvana's but as corrosive as the Sex Pistols'. More significantly, LIVE THROUGH THIS may be the most potent blast of female insurgency ever committed to tape..." Spin (9/99, p.120) - Ranked #6 in Spin Magazine's "90 Greatest Albums of the '90s." Spin (12/94, p.76) - Ranked #1 in Spin's list of the `20 Best Albums Of '94' - "...Love rode her band's gargantuan riffs through a shy loner's air-guitar fantasy: rock stardom as revenge upon the entire human race..." Entertainment Weekly (4/15/94, p.56) - "...what you take away isn't a guitar riff but Love's voice. A thick reedy instrument that makes her sound like the younger, brattier sister of Johnny Rotten, it stands out like a suited IBM executive at Lollapalooza....[Love] has charisma and attitude to burn, and she knows it...." - Rating: B+ Alternative Press (7/01, p.96) - Included in AP's "10 Essential Women's Rock Albums" - "...This put her in the public eye for her music, making herself over as the queen of angry female alterna-rock." NME (12/24/94, p.22) - Ranked #12 in NME's list of the `Top 50 Albums Of 1994.' NME (4/9/94, p.40) - 8 - Excellent - "...The result is a personal but secretive thrash-pop opera of urban nihilism and passionate dumbthinks..." Melody Maker (4/9/94, p.30) - "...You know the plot; the tension is all in execution. This has to be the high watermark of the genre that survived the crass label of `foxcore'..." Musician (4/94, p.82) - "...Cobain's much-discussed, little heard other half finally gets the chance to escape gossip-column purgatory and succceeds with flying colors...Courtney Love's foul, funny eloquence...cuts through all the bullshit with a mighty flourish. Rock on, sister..." Village Voice (3/94, p.5) - Ranked #2 in the Village Voice's 1993 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll. Village Voice (2/28/95) - Ranked #1 in the Village Voice's 1994 Pazz & Jop Critics' Poll. Village Voice (5/3/94, p.65) - "...[Love] is the nightmare doll who comes to life to wreak revenge on her domesticators....There's also her sheer star power, the irresistible curl of her phrases, the waterfall plunge of her screams. But more than that, it's the way she dares to fashion from the lies she can't escape, a story she can call true...." New York Times (1/5/95, p.C15) - Included on Jon Pareles' list of the Top 10 Albums Of '94 - "...Courtney Love channels her inchoate rage into straightforward verse-chorus-verse..." New York Times (1/5/95, p.C15) - Included on Neil Strauss' list of the Top 10 Albums Of '94 - "...Try divorcing Courtney Love the gossip-column item...from this album to find Courtney Love the punk-rock musician..."
Titles on disc 1
1.
Violet
2.
Miss World
3.
Plump
4.
Asking For It
5.
Jennifers Body
6.
Doll Parts
7.
Credit In The Straight World
8.
Softer Softest
9.
She Walks On Me
10.
I Think That I Would Die
11.
Gutless
12.
Rock Star
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