IGAF
I don’t give a fuck what CL says. I love this record. Almost Golden, Hello, Hold On To Me, Life Despite God, But Julian (the original from the Hollywood Bowl in 2001 was so much better with lines like ‘you know how when you went to the store? Well that was me I was following you around’) and of course the alternate version of Mono (with the Cleopatraesque Elizabeth Taylor demanding ‘you will kneel’). Plus Brody provided backing vocals on Sunset Strip! I love it.
the sound on A.S. sucked beyond words. The production was a nightmare. Linda and I had written some really good songs, but they were rendered lazily and sound like shit. The art was horrific and not my idea and the label didn’t back it at all. I was busy taking drugs to dull the pain of having lost everything and made a shit album to boot the producer [Jim Barber] didn’t know what he was doing and he just spent my money. It almost had a moment of being Exile on Main Street – almost – but that’s like almost winning a race. You either do or you do not. And in this case it’s a delightfully written record in parts and sonically untenable with two of the most pretentious songs I have ever written. I was so druggy I thought it’d be cute to rip off “Teen Spirit” on “I’ll Do Anything.” Believe it or not, “All the Drugs”, “Sunset Strip”, “Mono” and “But Julian…” are all good songs. They just were produced crap and the songs weren’t taken further than demo status. The art still makes me seethe. At least make it look cool, and instead there’s me as a Playboy pinup. I love Olivia’s art but that was personal for me – not art for a record.
Plus, this documentary footage from 2003 of the recording of America’s Sweetheart is pretty interesting with a little clip of Patty & CL towards the end.
I agree – personally I think it’s her best work.
The only issue I have with the entire album is that the alternate *I think US?* version of my favourite song on it Sunset Strip (possibly my favourite Courtney/Hole song) is terrible. The UK version that I bought at the time is AMAZING but it’s not on Spotify these days just the sucky one 🙁
Oh, and I adore the cover.
All words by Susan Sloan.