| Beautiful Light | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1994 | |||
| Genre | Garage rock | |||
| Label | Naked Language [1] | |||
| Producer | Peter Buck | |||
| the Fleshtones chronology | ||||
| ||||
Beautiful Light is an album by the American band the Fleshtones, released in 1994. [2] [3] It was regarded as a comeback album. [4]
Beautiful Light was issued in France as Forever Fleshtones, with a different track listing. [5]
Recorded in Athens, Georgia, the album was produced by Peter Buck. [6] [7] Buck had wanted to produce the band since 1986. [8] He played guitar on the album; Mike Mills played organ. [9] "Whistling Past the Grave" was cowritten by Michael Stipe. [10]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [10] |
| The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [11] |
| Entertainment Weekly | B+ [12] |
| MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide | [13] |
| Orlando Sentinel | [9] |
| The Tampa Tribune |  [14] |
Entertainment Weekly wrote that the band, "with the help of lean, rootsy production by R.E.M.'s Peter Buck, crafted their most earnest release." [12] Trouser Press noted that "'Mushroom Cloud' reconnects the band to the organ-powered psychedelia that has served it well in the past." [15] The Vancouver Sun panned Buck's "thin and even" production work. [16]
Stereo Review determined that "the Fleshtones rise to the occasion with a hunka-hunka burning blues/psych originals and enough garage-bred mustiness to keep things honest." [17] Rolling Stone concluded that, "when the Fleshtones resist the archness that sometimes infects their artful trash, they deliver grins." [18] The Tampa Tribune lamented the "somber mood" of Beautiful Light. [14]
AllMusic called the album "a solid record," writing that "Pickin' Pickin'" "features a fast, scale-climbing bass guitar rounded out by a slick horn section and barroom piano." [10] MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide deemed it "a pure pop record." [13]
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Mushroom Cloud" | |
| 2. | "Take a Walk with the Fleshtones" | |
| 3. | "Beautiful Light" | |
| 4. | "Big Heart" | |
| 5. | "Not Everybody's Jesus" | |
| 6. | "Whistling Past the Grave" | |
| 7. | "Outcast" | |
| 8. | "D.T. Shadows" | |
| 9. | "Pickin' Pickin'" | |
| 10. | "Pocketful of Change" | |
| 11. | "Push on Thru'" | |
| 12. | "Worried Boy Blues" |
Peter Lawrence Buck is an American musician and songwriter. He was a co-founder and the lead guitarist of the alternative rock band R.E.M. He also plays the banjo and mandolin on several R.E.M. songs. Throughout his career with R.E.M. (1980–2011), as well as during his subsequent solo career, Buck has also been at various times an official member of numerous 'side project' groups. These groups included Arthur Buck, Hindu Love Gods, The Minus 5, Tuatara, The Baseball Project, Robyn Hitchcock and the Venus 3, Tired Pony, The No-Ones, and Filthy Friends, each of which have released at least one full-length studio album. Additionally, the experimental combo Slow Music have released an official live concert CD. Another side project group called Full Time Men released an EP while Buck was a member. As well, ad hoc "supergroups" Bingo Hand Job, Musical Kings and Nigel & The Crosses have each commercially released one track.
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