Track Listing

1. Anyway
2. Live And Learn
3. I Try
4. Little Voice
5. Pacifist
6. Don't Want It Anymore
7. Love Song
8. Angry
9. I'm Sorry
10. You Wish
11. Suffragette City
12. Give Me Away

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #114240 in Music
• Released on: 2006-11-27
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .22 pounds

Customer Reviews

...i'm on the edge of a broken heart...
First things first - anyone coming here looking for big hair and big choruses in the manner of that glorious Vixen debut album should move away now. For the 2006 Vixen is a very different one to the one I saw at Coasters all those years ago. Supported by Little Angels if memory serves. Which it usually doesn't. Anyway only guitarist Jan Kuehnemund survives from those days despite the best efforts of the VH1 show, Bands Reunited. Rather this is a belated follow up to the 1998 release 'Tangerine', a much darker album than the original lineups 'Vixen' and 'Rev It Up'.

So the old fans aren't going to go for it and I'm not sure who they're aiming this at. There are a few really good songs here with the title track, 'Don't Want It Anymore', 'Love Song' and 'You Wish' the best of the bunch. 'Love Song' is the best of them all, and the one song where vocalist Jenna Sanz-Agero manages to demonstrate some range. Elsewhere she goes for a one dimensional bellow which really doesn't work. And let's not talk about the David Bowie cover. Ever.

If this was an album by an up and coming band I'd probably be praising it for the promise and potential of the songs listed above but this is a band trading on a name held in high regard by many, so they've got to expect judgement accordingly. If you're a downloader go for those ones with 'Love Song' and 'Don't Want It Anymore' top of your list. Others may want to tread carefully.

Uninspired songwriting and no Janet Gardner makes this one to miss.
Vixen is back with "Live & Learn". Founder and first guitarist Jan Kuehnemund is back after being absent on their last album, "Tangerine". Singer Janet Gardner has been replaced by Jenna Sanz-Agero. She had big shoes to fill, and personally, I miss Janet Gardner.

Soundwise, "Live & Learn" follows the tradition of "Tangerine". Less polished and more noisy and darker compared to the more radio friendly "Vixen" and "Rev It Up".

Vixen used to be a melodic rock band, but on "Live & Learn", the melodies are minimal. Often one phrased repeated over and over. Most of the songs sound pretty much alike, except for one ballad. It's not easy to tell the songs apart, and none of the songs are very memorable. There are certainly no "Edge of a Broken Heart" or "Love is a Killer" in sight.

Unsurprisingly, gutarist Kuehnemund is the album's biggest asset. She delivers several fine guitar solos, and deserves better material to work with (although to be fair, this is her own material, she's credited as composer for almost all of the songs. She and the other band members had more help in the songwriting department in the band's early days, and it shows; her true talent is playing the guitar.

Since Janet Gardner isn't here, I would recommend this album, not to Vixen fans in general, but to Jan Kuehnemund fans. But don't be too sad if you should miss it.