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Editorial Review:
He has a voice made of vintage leather, probably sprinkles tobacco on his cornflakes, cut his rock-incisors in the Screaming Trees and Queens of the Stone Age and is currently also one half of post-grunge supergroup The Gutter Twins. She has a voice like a mild summer breeze whistling through a meadow and once drizzled aural honey over Belle & Sebastian's twee indie-pop. It's like a marriage made from a Hell's Angel and waiflike virgin choirgirl--you can just imagine the disparaging looks from the vicar. But as Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan renew the vows originally made on a porch swing with 2006's well received bout of twilight Americana, Ballad of the Broken Seas, this follow-up can be brandished as proof that opposites don't only attract, but can grow together even as they grow apart. See, on Sunday at Devil Dirt Lanegan's weighty presence expands to a point where it obscures the moon--especially on "The Raven" and "Back Burner" where his Johnny Cash/Tom Waits croak reaches optimum levels of exaggeration--as Campbell flits further into the background, weaving between Morricone-esque, spaghetti western strings and sewing a beautiful ethereal quality into the seams. And such vocal juxtapositions make for intoxicating harmonies and stark, memorable impressions. But there is still also a real gentle magic to be found when they operate on an equal footing, as on "Trouble" or the sultry "Come on Over (Turn Me On)", the latter begging to be a James Bond theme. --James Berry
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
Different to first album but brilliant After reading some mediocre reviews of this album I was shocked when I finally heard it and it turned out that I really enjoyed listening to it. It's clearly a step away from the first album, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. This album has much more of blues, kind of Nashville Skyline-era Bob Dylan, feel to it, and I personally think that their vocals work much better together here, whereas the first album often felt like one or other of the vocal tracks had simply been 'tagged on'. All of the... more info
Hail the King and Queen!!!! I must say that I am very impressed by this album. I didn't appreciate the other album done by these 2 artists but this one hits the bullseye!! It has the same sort of atmosphere that is created with the Robert Plant duet album, but this cd creates much more of a relaxing atmosphere.
There isn't a weak track on this cd. Don't hesitate on buying it, even if the only reason why I bought it without even having heard a note is for the King- Mark Lanegan. As I do understand Isobel Campbell has written the... more info
Ballads of the broken seas was better There isn't a bad song on this album ,but unfortunately there is only one really good song (Come on over). On this album I think Lanegan's vocals are more gravelly and campbell's are softer,so the contrast of vocals on this disc are stronger. On the whole this is a decent release but very downbeat and weaker than Ballads of the broken sea.
Ballad of the Broken Seas - the sequel Basically a continuation of Ballad of the Broken Seas. If you were a fan of that album you'll like this, if you weren't then I doubt there's anything here to change your mind. My only complaint is that Isobel has such a beutiful voice it's a shame that there's not more of it on the album.
