Haunted
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Track:Haunted
I, too, was first introduced to Poe's music through alternative radio back in the early 90s. Remember alternative radio? When they played great stuff by bands like The Pixies, Breeders, Bob Mould, Dead Can Dance, Juliana Hatfield and Poe? Yeah, me either - the memory is fading fast as I'm assaulted on my radio dial with My Chemical Romance and Fall Out Boy. Bleargh, as Snoopy might say.
Anyway, Hello is a grand album. But it was eclipsed and bested by her follow-up effort, Haunted. It has everyting I like about an album - a concept (it is a companion piece to her brother's novel, "House of Leaves" and most of the incidental spoken word are tapes she found of her father, the documentary filmmaker Tad Danielewski), it has exquisite production, and it has more than its share of rocking, catchy songs. I loved this album from the first spin, and it is still seven years later one of my favorite albums of all time.
Spooky and moving, the album works best as a piece, listened to in a darkened room. But there were also obvious singles - "Hey Pretty" was, according to Poe, recut with her brother reciting poetry for the verses as "Hey Pretty (Drive By 2001 Mix)because radio execs thought "there were too many female singers" at the time and was a minor hit. "Control" and "Terrible Thought" could also have made great singles, although "Walk the Walk" was chosen as the second single.
Poe was cut by her label, Atlantic, a few years after releasing Haunted. She apparently had a contract from hell that prevented her from performing any of her songs released on Atlantic or recording anything new for seven years. She has done some excellent work with Conjure One since then, and it is hoped and rumored that she is working on new material and that her legal problems are nearly over. One can hope, but I'm willing to stick my neck out and say Haunted will be her masterwork.
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