Violent Femmes

Add It Up

All you'll ever need...almost

Review Score:

(8/10)
This, combined with the deluxe version of the Femmes' first album, is all the Violent Femmes you'll ever need. As has been noted elsewhere on this page, the other Femmes albums tend to contain one or two good songs among easily forgettable filler. This album begins with the catchy "Waiting for the Bus". While the subject matter is not deep or earthshaking, I dare you to hear this song and then not have it run through your head every time you wait for a bus from then on. Following that are three songs from the classic self-titled debut. Everyone probably has their picks as to which songs from the first album are the most representative of the album as a whole, but to me these work just as well as anything else. They give you an idea of the sound and wit of that debut album. Following that is "Country Death Song", a twangy song with a straightforward story of a man inexplicably driven to murder his young daughter. The spare arrangements makes the song positively chilling. The next three songs comprise my least favorite section of the CD. Dealing with race, religion, and sexism, these songs treat such serious issues a little glibly, although the music is the same you have come to expect from the Femmes at this point in the compilation. The lyrics just aren't up to par, though. "I Held Her In My Arms" redeems the previous songs. Lively, bouncy, and with more instruments than the earlier works, this is a classic example of Gordon Gano's ability to write great lyrics about losing a girl, and what comes next after heartbreak. A trio of songs dealing with politics and society comes next: "I Hate the TV", a stark statement of very clear political feelings; "America Is", a repetitive and pointed social statement; and "Old Mother Reagan", which now sounds slightly dated but is still humorous. "Dance, M.F., Dance" is the strange result of the Femmes apparently trying to make a dance song. The result is catchy and almost danceable, but not quite. Then come "Lies" and "American Music", two absoulutely terrific songs. The former implies that you can't go anywhere in life without encountering someone who is lying to you; the latter covers proms, drugs, and codependence all in one song and is a great song to play in the car on your second date with someone you really like. "Out The Window" follows these, a cute enough song but just not up to par with some others on this album. Then we get live versions of two songs from the debut album, and they are terrific though they sound slightly different from the original. "Vancouver", an instrumental, is a nice break after the intensity of the live performances. But then you get "Johnny", which surpasses anything else on the album in sheer intensity. Gano's shifting volume and the theme of death make this an absolute spine-tingler for me. Overall this is an album everyone who is interested in alternative rock should own. Buy the first album and you will be set, unless you're a die-hard Femmes fan in which case you will prbably have most of this material anyway.

Items mentioned in the track list which I have not reviewed are interludes, ads, or phone messages.

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