Purgatory/Paradise Hardcover – November 26, 2013

It's 25 years since Throwing Muses' original line-up blew me away, and a barnstorming gig in June 1989 is still my all-time favourite. (Not that there haven't been great Muses gigs since then!) This beautifully produced CD/Book is a fine and fitting installment in the Throwing Muses catalogue. There are several strong tracks here (e.g. Lazy Eye, Milan, Slippershell) that quickly work their way into your imagination, and several other more subtle or apparently slight pieces that will slow-burn around your brain. Overall, the album rewards repeat listens, revealing new pleasures and characteristics. Most of Kristen Hersh's familiar lyrical tropes are present; she's still an expert at putting a twist on common cliches and delivering dead-pan puns, and it's great to find she can still surprise after all these years. An exploration of the strangeness and wonder and horror of life as it's lived in 21st century America, I would strongly recommend this to anyone who's enjoyed the Muses in the past, and to anyone who wants their rock music to surprise and provoke them.

I think I would just say this...this album is Kristin's Abbey Road. It is a wonderful flowing piece of continuous music that showcases her at the peak of her creative powers, along with the two out Muses.All the unexpected hooky melodies weave with a narrative that dances between surreal and cerebral leaving you fully satisfied as well a spell bounds by Kristin's story telling. One of the best albums of the year by far. As other reviewers have noted your perspective and experiencing will continual to evolve the more this album gets into your rotation, which is the true test of greatness.

As I sit listening to this straight through for the first time (and as a huge TM fan) I cannot get over how amazing this collection of songs is! It is incredibly cohesive, diverse and innovative. I'm challenged to think of another TM album I would recommend more, and that is saying a lot! A must own for any fan, and as good a place to jump into their music as any I would say if it's new to you. This far exceeded my expectations for a new album from them after all this time.

Kristin Hersh is a must for anyone with a soul, anyone who feels different and needs inspiration to let it show creatively, anyone with a heart. I love her guitar playing as well as her emotional delivery and amazing, unique voice.

I thought it was just a book with poetry but I opened it up and was like wow, it has a disc too. What a surprise for me.

5 stars out of 5. Everything I hoped for when I ordered it. The accompanying book, with artwork and artist comments for each track maximize appreciation and understanding of the music. This is an artist at work--not some commercial pap. Hersh is working through her life and problems right here and right before our very eyes. This music above all depicts a daily struggle that is at its heart relentless yet hopeful and above all positive in its outlook. This is a serious listen that can enrich your life. After all, isn't that what ART is supposed to do?

Amazing depth here. Have been following Kristen & the Throwing Muses for 30 years and this never ceases to impress. Thank you!

Purgatory/ Paradise is simply brilliant. The most complete artistic expression yet from Throwing Muses. Kristin Hersh is a rock goddess! Buy all her output - music, books, everything! - you won't be disappointed. David Narcizo's percussion is fantastic, as are his images. Bernard Georges on bass -- wow! Kristin's weird little stories / poetic essays truly enrich the experience of her songs with their wonderfully elliptical lyrics. Buy this as though your very life depended on it!

as a long term fan of both Throwing Muses and Kristin Hersh's solo work i had a real sense of anticipation when i received this, and it did not disappoint. It's not often you are allowed access to works in progress, but some of the tracks here are exactly that, you can watch the development as the tune/lyrical fragment is honed into the final version of a coherent song.At 32 tracks, this may seem long but some of the tracks are only a minute long. Add to that that the developmental aspect, backed up by the book, with lyrics and stories behind the songs. This feels like a remarkable achievement in the world of instant music gratification, an album which invites the listener in and envelops them and gives more to the listener with each listen. Reading the book whilst listening almost feels as though Kristin and the band are with you talking you through the album which is an wonderful addition to the traditional sleeve notes.Overall if you like the Muses past albums then you will enjoy this!

Looking at the running times of each track on Purgatory/Paradise, a third of which hover around the one minute mark, it could be a film score. In a very real way, it's is the soundtrack to the last ten years in the lives of Kristin Hersh, Bernard Georges and Dave Narcizo, the book that comes with it being a treatment for the script.Throwing Muses have always been an example to other bands; they had a whole scene built around them in the mid 80s, and when they settled into the mid 90s alt-rock scene, a scene they had a big hand in creating, they settled near the top. Another decade after that, Kristin Hersh became a pioneer of crowdfunding for music. The better part of another decade later, Purgatory/Paradise sets an example that not many are likely to follow, albeit the same one being set this year by a number of veterans, including My Bloody Valentine, Richard Thompson and Wire: how to make a great rock album in the early 10s.If the film to which Purgatory/Paradise could be a soundtrack existed, it would be a disjointed, meandering narrative, telling the story out of order. Before the 32 song, 67 minute long album can take hold, what does make an impression is the sound. It's not lo-fi, but it's far from slick. It's very real, very human; the drums sound like drums rather than someone bouncing a basketball in an empty church. The album was mastered with an uncommonly light touch, and given the number of soft-loud transitions, it was the only way to do it. If the sound is human, then accordingly the music is direct. Whether it's a quiet, contemplative number or a strident rocker, you can imagine three people in the studio playing those instruments, and if there's any singer who sounds as if she might crawl through the speakers Ring style at any given moment, it's Kristin Hersh. Each of the songs carves out its own space while functioning as part of the album as a whole. Paradoxically for an album with so many songs, Purgatory/Paradise should be able to remind any willing listener of a time before they had thousands of albums and when their relationship with a song was deeper because of it. In 2013, releasing 32 songs that are worth listening to would have been enough, but it wasn't enough for Throwing Muses; these songs demand to be listened to.

Been listening to this on fairly constant rotation since the package turned up and it's up to the high standards set by earlier Throwing Muses' albums. If you wore out a cassette copy of Real Ramona, you shouldn't be disappointed.The packaging is superb, a beautiful collection of writing, lyrics and pictures. A really solid anchoring object for the music in an era when the physical artefacts are increasingly becoming redundant.This physical package includes instructions on how to download the album digitally, plus an instrumental version and a commentary by Kristin Hersh and Dave Narcizo, all free. The tunes stand up very well as instrumentals, ideal when you don't want your brain getting tangled up in language. The commentary is an intriguing extra for fans, discussing details of recording, inspirations and musical decisions for over an hour.

I have adored the Muses since I first discovered Hunkpapa in my college days, five years ago now and I am eternally tormented by missing out on them the first time round - I was born the year after Hunkpapa came out.Purgatory/Paradise is a gem. The stories behind the songs are wonderful and the style of writing is made of the pure awesome that Muses/4AD fans will love with tracks like "Opiates" and "Morning Birds" already becoming firm favourites.Don't stay away so long next time, Muses. :) You've been missed!

If you're a fan you won't be disappointed with this - if you're new to the Muses then it's a great example of the wonders of the writing and structure that the Muses are known for - the book is lovely, the CD tucked into a sleeve at the front like they'd almost forgotten to include it. It's a lovely thing to own, great to just open to pick out bits from, and a good read - hard to put down!The album itself is great, but I love the fact that they have thought this one through a little differently...