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Product description Hole: Courtney Love (vocals, guitar); Eric Erlandson (guitar); Melissa Auf Der Maur (bass); Patty Schemel (drums). Additional personnel: David Campbell, Craig Armstrong (strings); Michael Beinhorn, Paul DeCarli, Max Risenhoover, Chris Vrenna, Nick Franglen (programming). Principally recorded at Conway Studios, Los Angeles, California. CELEBRITY SKIN was nominated for the 1999 Grammy Award for Best Rock Album. "Celebrity Skin" was nominated for the 1999 Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or A Group With Vocal and Best Rock Song. "Malibu" was nominated for the 2000 Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal. Personnel: David Campbell , Craig Armstrong (strings); Chris Vrenna , Michael Beinhorn, Nick Franglen, Paul DeCarli (programming). Audio Mixers: Chris Lord-Alge; Jack Joseph Puig; Tom Lord-Alge. Recording information: Olympic Studios, London, England; Quad Recording, New York, NY; Quad Studios, Los Angeles, CA; Record Plant, Los Angele. Photographers: Robert Dawson ; Richard Prince. Unknown Contributor Roles: Courtney Love; Patty Schemel; Melissa Auf der Maur. After getting more press than O.J. Simpson, Courtney Love and Hole went underground to put together this quality, guitar-driven rock/pop release. CELEBRITY SKIN is packed from beginning to end with up-tempo, hard rock gems that show Love's strength and direction as a songwriter. Co-writing several tracks on CELEBRITY SKIN is Smashing Pumpkins front man Billy Corgan ("Malibu", "Petals"). The title track is co-penned by Corgan with Love scripting the lyrics. Kicking into overdrive from the first chord, the song talks about the often-comical pursuit of fortune and fame. The lyrics on "Hit So Hard" make you wonder whether Love is talking about domestic abuse or the drop-dead feeling that results from spotting the most beautiful boy in the world across the room? The lyrics are smart enough to support both theories. Other tracks to check out are "Awful," "Reasons To Be Beautif .com When last we saw Courtney Love, she was performing on the silver screen and posing for Versace, a far cry from her formative days stumbling across stages wearing ripped thrift-store clothing. But Love's Hollywood transformation is just the latest in her crusade for adoration, whatever the environment. And Celebrity Skin is just the latest manifestation of that obsession. Instead of screaming in rage over a muscular din of power chords, Love sings in a restrained, melodic alto voice; the band matches the euphony with rhythms and hooks that draw from such mainstream acts as Fleetwood Mac, the Go-Go's, and, of course, Smashing Pumpkins, whose frontman, Billy Corgan, cowrote five songs. What makes Celebrity Skin more than another good rock album, however, is Love's lyrics, which remain confessional and scathing, addressing such topics as physical abuse ("Hit So Hard"), drugs ("Use Once and Destroy"), the music industry ("Awful," "Boys on the Radio"), and her late husband's suicide ("Reasons to Be Beautiful"). If nothing else, Celebrity Skin is proof to all the skeptics that superstars have feelings, too. --Jon Wiederhorn P.when('A').execute(function(A) { A.on('a:expander:toggle_description:toggle:collapse', function(data) { window.scroll(0, data.expander.$expander[0].offsetTop-100); }); }); Review ...[T]he punk-rocker turned Vogue glamor queen abandons her old shock attack and opts for a surprisingly appealing pop-rock sound.... -- PeopleCelebrity Skin is likely to piss off anyone still indulging in the fantasy of Courtney [Love] as punk Goddess/feminist Fury; if you want the howl and the open wound, you'll have to dredge Puget Sound. In exchange for the astonishing consistency of mood that made Live Through This a breakwater of '90s rock, Celebrity Skin produces a cataract of great songs, spectacularly polished. -- SpinThe songs ricochet from desolation to fury to pride; Ms. Love's lyrics agonize over the way people let themselves be used and the way rebellion turns into a commodity. They also mourn a lover who was sincere, self-destructive, trusting, beautiful, violent and impossible to save: a version of Cobain that verges on punk hagiography. -- The New York TimesThis album is one wild emotional ride.... [T]he gloriously melodic, pop-rock sheen of the best moments in this follow-up collection are going to leave lots of Hole fans puzzled. But don't be misled. Courtney Love may be embracing power pop, but she hasn't gone soft. Versace gown and all, she's still got a fiery rock 'n'roll heart. -- The Los Angeles Times[Celebrity Skin] is sprung, flung and fun, high-impact, rock-fueled pop.... [It] teems with sonic knockouts that make you see all sorts of stars. It's accessible, fiery, and intimate.... -- Rolling Stone[Courtney Love] sounds less razor-edged, more anonymous. From start to almost finish, Celebrity Skin is dogged by that same sense of vacillation and rootlessness. It's the sound of a returning hero who attempts to act as if nothing's changed--when, in fact, everything has, including the hero.... [I]ts rough edges sanded down, [this is] a singularly dispiriting experience. It's the music business' take on the current climate of celebrity makeover; aural plastic surgery. -- Entertainment Weekly See more
B**N
Grunge Meets Pop And Shines
I'm not going to go into great detail about each song, but just say that almost every song on this album is at least solid, and some of them are all-time classics. This is definitely an album I can listen to all the way through without skipping tracks and I haven't (yet) gotten sick of it...it's got that great replayability factor going for it.My favorite songs are "Celebrity Skin", "Malibu", "Reasons to be Beautiful", "Playing Your Song", and "Petals". As others have said, the Corgan influence is very strong here, but that's all for the good as far as I'm concerned because the Pumpkins outrock just about anyone. If you had Billy sing instead of Courtney on "Northern Star" or "Petals", you could drop them right into Mellon Collie & The Infinite Sadness and no one would be the wiser. The only song I really don't much like is the 2nd track "Awful". I almost like it, but its overly-poppy blandness annoys me. This must be one of those polarizing songs because a lot of people hate it and many say it's their favorite on the whole album...go figure. I usually don't pay much attention to lyrics, but on this album they do have meaning and resonance, and I actually found myself trying to figure out at various points what she was saying (the lyrics of "Hit So Hard" are interesting to try to interpret...it might not be as obvious as it looks at first).Anyway, I don't give 5 stars lightly like many people do when they just "don't hate" something. This is a great, great album that should be in your collection. It's totally addicting. The production values are very good here, much better than the somewhat muddier-sounding Live Through This (also an excellent though very different album). It will be a shame if Hole never does another album. I expect it will be as different from this as this was from LTT. I'd like to see Courtney collaborate with Black Francis (Pixies) or Johnny Rzeznik (Goo Goo Dolls) or Ed Kowalczyk (Live)...could make for a powerful combination. Since with Courtney's earlier work we have to assume she was basically "collaborating" with Kurt Cobain, and she had the Pumpkins/Go-Gos influence on this album, I think she's at her best working with others. Too much emphasis is put on who takes credit for writing a song, or if the artist is selling out or "staying true to their roots", but if it's good it's good, in my book. And this is very good.
A**.
Great CD
Actually a great CD. I was not familiar with them until family told me about them. All as expected and arrived quickly
G**S
Temporarily Grown Up
Celebrity Skin. For me, (and most people who know me would never suspect that I ever listened to this much less own it, but I do,) is a very good commercial Rock Album, with songs from a woman who had finally grown up, but still alienated.The tunesmithing, vocals and musicianship, all show a huge amount of maturity over earlier outings for Hole, and this remains my favorite, as I have to be in the right mood to appreciate the older stuff, but I still do, albeit rarely.It is too bad (to me) that the flack Ms. Love received as being a sell out for making a more mature and more commercial CD resulted in her going back to the teen-age anger by the time "America's Sweetheart" came out, which just comes across as an angry middle aged woman who doesn't get it. But here in "Celebrity Skin" the raw emotions are tempered with well crafted music, and ironically pretty vocals.I hope that one day Ms. Love may grow up for good and all and make this kind of album again.But that's just me
D**H
amazing
The media could not be loaded. love hole so much this album is amazing
L**
Just a bit scratched
It came a bit scratched
M**S
WOW
Awesome
M**F
Very good record
Classic late 90s sound, glad to add to my collection. Vinyl pressing is good, flat, no warps or any loud surface noise. A bit pricey though.
V**A
satisfied
satisfied lol but it came in a plastic bag with the bottom covered in weird tan sticky stuff? i honestly don’t mind though the vinyl itself is in great condition!
Trustpilot
2 weeks ago
2 months ago