Pain Makes You Beautiful

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Pain Makes You Beautiful
Pain Makes You Beautiful.jpg
Studio album by
The Judybats
Released1993
Studio Long View Farm, North Brookfield, Massachusetts [1]
Genre Pop, rock, alternative rock
Length44:06
Label Sire/Warner Bros.
Producer Kevin Moloney
The Judybats chronology
Down in the Shacks Where the Satellite Dishes Grow
(1992)		Pain Makes You Beautiful
(1993)		 Full-Empty
(1994)

Pain Makes You Beautiful is the third album by the American band the Judybats, released in 1993 by Sire Records. [2] [3] The album contains the band's most successful single, "Being Simple", which peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. [4] The band supported the album with a North American tour. [5]

Contents

Production

Pain Makes You Beautiful saw a significant lineup change for the band, with the departure of keyboardist Peggy Hambright and bassist Timothy Stutz and the arrival of bassist Paul Noe and drummer Dave Kenkins. [6] [7] Recorded live in the studio, the album was produced by Kevin Moloney, [8] [9] who helped the band to shorten and rearrange their songs. [10] The recording studio, Long View Farm Studios, was a country barn, built above horse stables. [11] Many of the songs' lyrics were inspired by the lives of frontman Jeff Heiskell and his friends. [12]

In 2023, Heiskell stated that he loved Moloney's production on the album, which introduced more "organic sounds", and added that he felt the band's earlier records had been overproduced by comparison. [11]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [6]
Chicago Tribune Star full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [13]
The Republican Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [14]

Trouser Press stated that "the musicianship is at a consistently high caliber, and the songwriting is tremendously diverse." [7] The Chicago Tribune concluded that "Heiskell, a dominant vocal presence live, is still too mannered on record; he's like a drawling male Annie Lennox, with every intonation sounding studied and self-conscious." [13] The Republican wrote: "Flying in the face of grunge trends, they pack a rippling batch of melodies into crisp pop tracks like the exhilarating 'Ugly on the Outside'." [14] The Washington Post determined that "the Judybats slip loose of their New South neo-folk-rock mold, though not singer/lyricist Jeff Heiskell's sometimes annoying conceits." [15] The Associated Press deemed the album "lightweight pop ... overloaded with ponderous pretensions." [16]

In a retrospective review, Stewart Mason of AllMusic thought the album traded the band's "folky eccentricities" for "a more identifiably alternative rock groove that's considerably less unique", and that Moloney "steers things a little too far to adult album alternative territory at times". [6]

Track listing

All music by the Judybats, lyrics by Jeff Heiskell.

  1. "All Day Afternoon" – 3:27
  2. "Ugly on the Outside" – 3:47
  3. "Being Simple" – 4:13
  4. "An Intense Beige" – 3:25
  5. "Geography" – 3:03
  6. "Wasting Time" – 4:15
  7. "Incredible Bittersweet" – 4:03
  8. "Scarlett" – 3:24
  9. "Trip Me Up" – 3:16
  10. "La Dulcinea" – 3:30
  11. "My Dead Friend" – 4:36
  12. "Pain (Makes You Beautiful)" – 3:12

Personnel

The Judybats

Technical

References

  1. ↑ McLennan, Scott (June 9, 1994). "Studio gets new owners". Telegram & Gazette . p. C6.
  2. ↑ "The JudyBats Biography, Songs, & Albums". AllMusic.
  3. ↑ Nordling, Elise (June 27, 1997). "You Say It's Your Birthday: The Judybats' Johnny Sughrue". MTV . Archived from the original on October 22, 2022.
  4. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (2008). Joel Whitburn Presents Rock Tracks 1981-2008. Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research Inc. ISBN   978-0-89820-174-1 – via Google Books.
  5. ↑ Luhrssen, Dave (April 22, 1993). "Mixed Bag". Entertainment. The Milwaukee Journal . p. 3.
  6. 1 2 3 Mason, Stewart. "The JudyBats - Pain Makes You Beautiful Album Reviews, Songs & More | AllMusic". AllMusic .
  7. 1 2 Zwirn, Michael. "Judybats". Trouser Press. Retrieved October 22, 2022.
  8. ↑ Sculley, Alan (April 30, 1993). "Slugger's Life Judybats Tune Up, Make Some Trades, Come Out Swinging". InRoads. Daily Press. Newport News. p. 14.
  9. ↑ "Pain Makes You Beautiful by Judybats". Billboard . Vol. 105, no. 16. April 17, 1993. p. 52.
  10. ↑ Mayhew, Don (April 8, 1993). "Judybats Not Like Most Alternative Rock Bands". The Fresno Bee . p. E4.
  11. 1 2 Edelstein, Marc (January 16, 2023). "Jeff Heiskell Discusses the Judybats' Exquisite 'Pain Makes You Beautiful' at 30". PopMatters . Retrieved April 28, 2023.
  12. ↑ Maestri, Cathy (April 2, 1993). "Musical portraits of JudyBats". The Press-Enterprise . p. AA10.
  13. 1 2 Caro, Mark (March 18, 1993). "JudyBats Pain Makes You Beautiful". Tempo. Chicago Tribune . p. 7.
  14. 1 2 O'Hare, Kevin (March 14, 1993). "Judybats, 'Pain Makes You Beautiful'". The Republican . p. E2.
  15. ↑ Jenkins, Mark (May 7, 1993). "A Broader Swing of the 'Bats". The Washington Post . p. N16.
  16. ↑ Dishneau, David (March 12, 1993). "Heavy Lyrics Drown Melody". TGIF. The Palm Beach Post . The Associated Press. p. 16.
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