Track Listing

1. I'm Leaving You
2. It's All Over
3. Before It All Went Wrong
4. Hoped And Prayed
5. Waiting For You To Come
6. Easy Lover
7. Bad Woman Blues
8. Nobody Has To Know
9. Every Time I Try
10. Our Love Is Gonna Live Forever

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #26620 in Music
• Released on: 2003-08-04
• Number of discs: 1

Customer Reviews

Haunting but not memorable
"Made up/my mind/tonight I'm leaving you," Josh Haden sings somberly, over an acoustic guitar and piano. It's a pretty ordinary sentiment in songwriting, set to music that sounds a bit too much like Mazzy Star. The bluesy pop of Spain's "She Haunts My Dreams" is a pretty experience, but it is easily forgotten.

That first song sets the tone for the rest of the album -- lovelorn lyrics about breakups, a mixture of keyboard and guitar, and a slow melody. It's a pretty song, but once it was over I realized that there was nothing truly special about it. There was literally nothing to make you remember it.

There are small quirks in the following songs to distinguish one another -- "Before It All Went Wrong" has a sharp drum solo, while others have rich electric organ and swooning strings. But most of them blend into one another, with similar songs, similar instrumentation, and similar sentiments. When it's over, it's hard to remember any one song.

Simple, bluesy pop is one of the hardest kinds of music to do correctly. How to make it bluesy but not whiny, and simple but not simplistic? Bands like Mazzy Star have managed to achieve that and be memorable, but Spain oversteps itself. The result: whiny and a bit boring.

The writing is one of the biggest flaws of this album -- I could dash off each song in about ten minutes tops. Especially since there isn't much variation of topic -- it's either "I'm lonely and either she left me or I left her," or "I love her so!" Neither is terribly original, but Haden's writing renders it even more bland: "And every time I try/to put our love out/like a fire..." or "Girl our loves is gonna live/forever."

Despite the tepid songwriting, Haden has a pleasant, smooth voice that is pleasant to listen to. And the music can actually be quite pleasant when they take the time to include strings and organ. These instruments add an extra dimension to the acoustic ballads, and it's a shame they aren't used more liberally.

"She Haunts My Dreams" won't haunt anyone's dreams, with its bland songwriting and too-simple instrumentation. It's pretty, but it's even more forgettable.