After the disaster that making 'God's Foot' turned out to be, Juliana Hatfield returned to releasing full length albums a few years later with 'Bed'
How did it turn out? To me 'Bed' is a return to form as she seems to combine the popier sounds of 'Hey Babe' with the noise rock of 'Only Everything' on one album. Personally I like the combination because it is very dynamic and features one of my favorite things about Juliana, her 'Guitar Goddess' persona as he metes out some totally grungey riffs worthy of J Mascis on here!!
Also lyrically Juliana is progressing as well. She is no longer the virginal young woman of her older albums, as the adult female sexuality of 'You Are the Camera' attests to (YES!)
The worst thing about this album though is the cover! What the heck? Is she sleepy? Zoned out? Just don't like it. Album covers that I strongly dislike are a major pet peeve of Hard Harry412. The music inside might be totally good, but one is just slightly repulsed by the cover!
Julianas next album is radically different then her last three. It's like she had been listening to Carly Simon on an 8-track and decided to make a '70s soft-rock album.
Supposedly her record company didn't like it and refused to release it. (This is cataloged in the tome 'The Greatest Songs Never Sold, I need to get a copy!) Listening to it I can understand why, there really is no big single on here and I am sure the greedy execs wanted more cross-over hit songs in the vein of 'My Sister' and 'Universal Heart-beat'. There is nothing like that on here.
This is still a great album though. Heck, it may be my favorite of hers. Critics and hard-core fans would have loved it and I am sure it would have gone at least gold, fueled by some singles on just the alternative charts had it been released.
There are some nice relaxing soft-rock songs on here like 'Mountains of Love', 'Eye to Eye', and 'Don't Need a Reason'.
Then there are some real earnest attempts at rock like 'Perfection'. It is almost like Juliana had been listening to Linkin Park... years before they were around. 'Losing Your Looks' is in the same vein. Sadly these songs don't really rock.... is it because they are just boot-leg quality. Would full studio professionally mixed versions kick all possible ass as I suspect they would? It is questions like that which help to make this unique album intriguing.
There are two epic anthems on here: 'Can't Put Your Arms Around a Melody' and 'How Would You Know'. I could totally see thousands of fans chanting 'How Would You Know' at a concert! These songs kick ass and sound like they are out-takes from Dinosaur Jr.s excellent 'Hand It Over' album. Both of these tunes are very similar to J Mascis opus 'Alone' in my mind.
This may be my most favorite Juliana Hatfield album!
She really turns up the distortion on this album and it seems like she is trying to channel some Dinosaur Jr./ noise rock influence into her sound.
This is the record where Juliana started to get the reputation for being a 'guitar goddess'! Such a rep is well deserved in my mind!
Some of the songs do take a little getting warmed up to, Like 'outsider' for instance, but that is just because it was a real unorthodox drum sound at the beginning. Other-wise it is a great song and has, over time, become one my faves on here!
My favorite song on here is 'My Darling' because it totally has dynamics and the part that rocks really rocks!!
Believe me there is an entire generation of guys between the ages of 30-40 who grew up crushing on her whenever she was on Alternative Nation or 120 Minutes back in the day!
But there is even more, Hatfield is a great songwriter who writes an astounding range of tunes from acoustic ballads, to pop, to noise rock.
Oh and she is a guitar goddess as well.
And yes I even like her voice. After listening to so many male artists it is nice to hear her girlish vocals. A nice change of pace.
I would say she is probably my 4th favorite musical artist and it is just a crime, a total crime that she is not more popular or well known (how many millenials have heard of her? They are too busy listening to canned pop acts like Britnery or Cristina... sigh, grumble)
'Hey Babe' features several classic songs. 'Everybody Love Me But You' is a great mid-tempo alt-rocker. The video is awesome too.
(There is a better version of this vid. out there if you type in 'HQ' and '1992')
'Lost and Saved' has a real bottom-endy vibe and is another favorite.
Oh and I would be remiss to not mention 'Forever Baby' which has a great sense of dark humor in the lyrics. That is one of the things I love about Juliana, she totally, just really nails the whole Generation X vibe with her lyrics. She writes these alterna-pop songs, but when you peel back the onion there is great depth that people may not realize. Sort of like Sting with his lyrics and yes even Gwen Stefani with her lyrics.
Lets not forget the B-sides to this album, there were quite a few released and they are all good as well!
The two B-sides I like the most also showcase her considerable ability to craft songs of different genres.
'Feed Me' is a sad acoustic ballad, and Raisans is a cover of the classic Dinosaur Jr. rocker.
