Neko Case Tigers Have Spoken CD

Personnel: Neko Case (vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, tambourine); Neko Case (6-string guitar, tenor guitar); Jim Krewson (vocals, acoustic guitar); Kelly Hogan (vocals, whistle, tambourine); Mark Downing (vocals); Brian Connelly (acoustic guitar); Jon Rauhouse (pedal steel guitar, banjo); Sean Dean (double bass, upright bass); Travis Good (vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, fiddle); Dallas Good (vocals, electric guitar); Jennie Benford (vocals, mandolin); Carolyn Mark (vocals); Brad Hutchison (banjo); Mike Belitsky (drums).
Audio Mixers: Neko Case; Darryl Neudorf; Mike Hagler.
Recording information: Isabel Bader Theatre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (03/2004-04/2004); Lee's Palace, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (03/2004-04/2004); Schubas, Chicago, IL (03/2004-04/2004); The Matador, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (03/2004-04/2004).
Photographers: Warren Butterfield; Jim Krewson.
In the press release that accompanies Neko Case's 2004 live album, The Tigers Have Spoken, the singer (and her record company) insist quite strongly that this isn't meant to be a stopgap release on the way to her next studio project. To be blunt, Case protests a bit much on this issue -- an album featuring two re-recorded originals and five covers out of 11 tracks is carrying an awful lot of padding for something intended to be a proper "new" release. But if The Tigers Have Spoken is really intended to keep fans occupied until Case finishes her next project, she thankfully hasn't abandoned her standards of quality control along the way, and delivers some splendid music on this disc. Recorded over the course of three gigs in the spring of 2004, The Tigers Have Spoken features Case backed by fellow gifted Canadians the Sadies, whose web of deep, lonesome twang fits Case's repertoire like a glove, with Jon Rauhouse sitting in on pedal steel with his usual grace and flawless feel, and Kelly Hogan and Carolyn Mark contributing backing vocals that are little short of glorious. But the reason Neko Case is headlining over this stellar cast is because she has one of the finest voices to emerge from pop music in recent memory, and she's in firm command of her instrument on these performances. Allowing herself more room to rock than on 2002's Blacklisted, Case rips it up on covers of classic tunes by Buffy Sainte-Marie, Loretta Lynn, and the Shangri-Las, and "The Tigers Have Spoken" and "Hex" show Case isn't saving all her good new songs for the next album. Maybe Case is biding her time with The Tigers Have Spoken, but she sure isn't wasting it -- if it's a relatively minor effort, it still sounds like the work of a major artist, and there's lots of pleasure to be found in it. ~ Mark Deming
For 2004's THE TIGERS HAVE SPOKEN, her debut on the prestigious Anti label, alt-country singer/songwriter Neko Case forgoes a studio album in favor of a live outing. Those looking for the upbeat pop of Case's work with the New Pornographers won't find it here--this is straight-up twangy country rock that sticks closely to the sound of her previous records (BLACKLISTED and FURNACE ROOM LULLABY), and makes the most of the concert setting.
The focus here, as always, is on Case's powerful voice, which channels Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn while remaining undeniably individual. Aided by the Sadies, vocalist Kelly Hogan, and pedal steel/banjo player Jon Rauhouse, Case unveils new originals (the bold "If You Knew," the dreamy title track) and a handful of covers (Buffy Saint-Marie's "Soulful Shade of Blue," Lynn's "Rated X"), among others. Throughout the set, Case and Hogan harmonize gorgeously, while Rauhouse's crying pedal steel lifts the music to a higher plane. Although this is a teasingly short record (barely clocking in at 34 minutes), THE TIGERS HAVE SPOKEN proved more than enough to tide fans over until Case's next full-length album.Rolling Stone (No. 966, p.61) - 3 stars out of 5 - "[S]hows off the Chicago indie country girl's endearing bag of sounds...[the originals] sound beamed in from some long-lost AM radio station."
Spin (p.123) - "[L]ike her hero Loretta Lynn, she's the good girl who done got complex." - Grade: B
Entertainment Weekly (pp.122-25) - "Part torched twang, part blue-eyed soul, Case's voice vaults impressively over pedal steel, banjo, and assorted countrified six-strings..." - Grade: A
Uncut (p.150) - 4 stars out of 5 - "TIGERS is a leave-them-gagging-for-more whirlwind, and confirmation that, at 34 and with three albums behind her, Case still has tantalizingly wide-open game plan for her future."
Alternative Press (p.108) - "[D]elivered with the intensity of a blast furnace....Packing a punch as sweet and warm as a shot of whiskey." - 4 out of 5
CMJ (p.4) - "Live CDs this honest grow harder to find by the day...it's rare that tigers speak so eloquently."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.114) - 4 stars out of 5 - "[O]ne of Americana's most exquisite singers..."