Track Listing

1. Martin Eden
2. Esta Noche
3. Teenage Wristband
4. St. Gregory
5. The Killer
6. Decatur St.
7. Papillon
8. Follow Your Down
9. Feathers
10. Fat City (Slight Return)
11. Number Nine

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #70937 in Music
• Released on: 2004-07-04
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
Blackberry Bell is the second album from the Twilight Singers--essentially the solo project of former Afghan Whigs frontman Greg Dulli, albeit featuring a number of guest collaborators including the Screaming Trees' Mark Laneghan and Mathias Schneeberger. Blackberry Belle is Dulli's finest work in years and perhaps his maturest.

The death of a close friend lent a poignant spur to the making of this album, on which Dulli explores the old Whigs themes of lust, shame, sleaze and redemption with his usual impassioned extravagance; lines such as "infect me, protect me / she gonna resurrect me, I know" ("Papillon") abound. The way a song like "Decatur St" bursts into flames as it hits the chorus reignites memories of the Whigs' Gentlemen, but musically, this is a richer, more darkly diverse mix, drawing on a palate of 1970s soul, alt. country and even prog rock, with flourishes of mellotron on "The Killer".

From the sinfully funky "Teenage Wristband" to the closing "Number 9" in which he (and Laneghan) engage in earnest dialogue with the Devil, Blackberry Belle is a near-flawless example of Greg Dulli's particularly black art. --David Stubbs

CD Description
'Blackberry Belle' is the second release from former AfghanWhigs frontman Greg Dulli's collective Twilight Singers. The album continues with the soulful rock sound that they explored on their debut release 'Twilight' while this time beingjoined by an increased amount of collaborators including Mark Lanegan and Prince vocalist Apollonia Kotero.

Customer Reviews

Dulli brings us back to life tonight
Wow...I picked Blackberry Belle up on day 1, and have not stopped listening to it since. I have not been this impressed by a new release in years. Though many were not as happy as I was with the first Twilight Singers album, Blackberry Belle meanders back towards the path that had been forged by the Afghan Whigs. This Twilight Singers album is another step in the natural progression of Greg Dulli's musical career. It's fabulous. I highly recommend it, particularly Martin Eden, Papillon, and Fat City. Buy. Now. Trust me.

A masterpiece of a darker calibre
This is the most gripping, emotive album I have heard for many years.

This is an album with a subtle story running deep below it's surface. Each listener will probably bring about their own conclusions towards what Greg Dulli is putting forwards. Entertain some speculation but there is only one man who truly knows what it is about.

Whether you're in for the complexities of the album on the whole, or a joyride of a brilliant collection of moody, brooding soul-inflected alternative that'll have you up listening bleary eyed standing in several cigarette butts and holding an empty bottle of whisky at 2am, you won't be dissapointed.

Album of the year.

Little brother to '06's glorious "Powder Burns"
Having heard "Powder Burns" first, this one takes a little longer to get to grips with; understandable when you consider it was released three years before. It's poorly mixed at points (though even then, the dusky melody of the opening 'Martin Eden' sinks in and stays there) and perhaps a little poorly paced compared to its successor. But never mind. The Singers are my favourite new band, and this album is still a sizzling treat piled high with sour sleaze-rock, pitch-black late-night confessions and beautifully textured jazz/soul undertones.
I guess the standout is the admittedly stupidly-titled 'Teenage Wristband', which laces an almost house music-esque piano flourish with driving cinematic rock, exploding into a chorus like watching the morning sun rise - wearily euphoric. The following 'St Gregory' (self-mythologisingly named a la Julian Cope's 'St Julian'???) takes a dive into almost total stillness, shimmering like late evening heat in the bayou. "My God," Dulli breathes, regarding what's become of an old friend, "you look like a ghost." Some of the other stuff allows unexpected influences like trip-hop (on 'Decatur St.') and glinting, rolling banjo loops ('Papillon') to melt into the gumbo...mmmmmmm.
It all winds its way inexorably to the closing, sensational 'Number Nine', where Greg is joined by perhaps the only man on earth who makes him look like an over-eager schoolboy by comparison, the redoubtable Mark Lanegan, and together they enact a deal with the Devil gone wrong (it's lyrically ambigious which of them is portraying Old Scratch; perhaps both, or neither, but my money's on Greg). Having said all that, the tune is marred a little by the outro, which has some awful screamy woman 'emoting' like Mariah bloody Carey.
Like all good records, this one is also a musical equivalent to its cover art, in this case blurred palm trees on a turbulent afternoon, perhaps in hurricane season, as viewed from behind hotel blinds. It all adds up to a hypnotic, cinematic and haunting listening experience.