Product Description

At one point, Tanya Donnelly seemed destined to play the role of the endearing little sister of alternative rock. Starting her career in the early '80s with school chum Kristin Hersh's Throwing Muses, she added a supportive guitar to the Muses' frenetic sound. When she left that band in 1990, Donnelly contributed to business pal Kim Deal's then side project, the Breeders' 1990 debut. Two years later she teamed up with Christopher and Tim Gorman to finally form her own band, Belly. Now with the addition of bassist Gail Greenwood, Belly's sophomore release--entitled KING--finds both band and Donnelly taking the front seat.
KING is a working exercise of everything Donnelly learned over the years. Echoes of Hersh's polarities (ethereal verses with ricocheting breaks) and hints of Deal's hankering for looming guitar passages dot KING's landscape. However, KING is Donnelly's show. While she writes songs with other Belly members, it's Donnelly's quirky time signatures and cryptic observations that shine through clearest.
"Red" neatly captures Belly's elegance. Shimmering, graceful chords beckon on a lurching bridge where Donnelly and Greenwood alternately yelp and coo chewy-centre lyrics like "mouth like Venus/mountain like Vesuvius". KING brings Donnelly's pop leanings to light, while keeping her alternative rock foundations in focus. Belly is reaching its potential, KING proves it.

Track Listing

1. Puberty
2. Seal My Fate
3. Red
4. Silverfish
5. Super Connected
6. Bees
7. King
8. Now They'll Sleep
9. Untitled And Unsung
10. Li'l Ennio
11. Judas My Heart

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #44121 in Music
• Released on: 2000-01-01
• Number of discs: 1

Customer Reviews

King
Admittedly, this is a disappointment. Where Star had some eerie songs thrown in with the poppier ones, King's main focus is dreamy pop rock and while that's not a bad thing, I just miss the lack of spooky tunes. However, King is still a good album and undeservedly overlooked at the time, which set the band's split in stone.

Highlight: Now They'll Sleep

Absolute Royalty
Belly managed 2 albums, Star and King. King is by far the superior album, but came after a disappointing first lp that sold largerly on the catchy 'feed the tree' single. It is a pity that King seemed to be less talked about and probably less sucessful.

King was certainly a coming of age album, and each of the 11 tracks is damn fine. The pace and structure of the album keep continual interest and there is no boring or 'filler' moments.

Although it is a moderately fast paced indie-rock album 'silverfish' and 'the bees' slow the pace down and are just simply superior. 'Super-connected' is probably the most energetic, catchy pop track on the album. And the final track 'judas my heart' does leave you wanting more and is a very strong ending track.

Absolutely essential.

American Indie at its best
I bought this album after listening to Tanya's beautysleep album (also superb). My only regret is that I missed it the first time around.

It just lets loose with more ideas in each song than some artists manage in an album. There is a tremendous live feel to the recording as well - they sound as if they were having a ball! It might take a couple of listens to connect, but if you like anything else you have heard by Tanya or the Throwing Muses - you must try this.