Dirty Three Horse Stories CD

The Dirty Three are a violinist, guitarist and drummer who play instrumental rock that lies somewhere between Italian film music, American bluegrass and free jazz. The Australian trio has gained an underground reputation by touring as an opener for Pavement, Sonic Youth and Beck. HORSE STORIES, the Dirty Three's third American album, sounds nearly haunted, with tremendously moving "slow-core" ballads fueled by a seemingly inexhaustible pathos.

The song titles are enough to suggest the tragic state of this band's soul: "I Remember A Time When Once You Used To Love Me," "Warren's Lament," and "I Knew it Would Come To This" are as forlorn as Joy Division songs. Thankfully, the trio release this heartbreak with incredible dirge-like passages in which the violin, guitar and drums all gallop freely toward an ecstatic catharsis. It is during these moments that one understands that the Dirty Three do not wallow in their depression--they are hoping and dreaming all the while.

Recorded at Maison Rouge, London, England in 1996.

Dirty Three: Warren Ellis (vocals, violin); Mike Turner (guitar, organ); Jim White (drums, percussion).

Additional personnel: Andria Degen (vocals).

Rolling Stone (1/23/97, p.44) - Ranked #3 on Rolling Stone's list of the "Ten Best Albums" of 1996.
Rolling Stone (10/31/96, p.70) - 4 Stars (out of 5) - "...The problem with a lot of the so-called post-rock bands...is that they just don't actually rock. Dirty Three rock....On their and best album so far, the...trio...moves through some of the grittiest, most mesmerizing music you'll hear this year..."
Entertainment Weekly (10/11/96, p.92) - "...Whether thrashing away furiously or playing late-night weepers, the Dirty Three create music of heartbreaking beauty and fire..." - Rating: A
Q (11/96, p.120) - 4 Stars (out of 5) - "...another collection of splendidly lurching, morning-after-the-nightmare-before instrumentals....Music, then, with all the pain and much of the redemptive virtue of the best hangovers. That good."
Uncut (p.99) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[W]ith feats of measured grace and startling tenderness..."
Alternative Press (2/97, p.59) - 5 (out of 5) - "...HORSE STORIES requires no words because each note conveys more pain, sadness and joy than most artists can muster in an entire album."
Option (11-12/96, p.101) - "...a hangover of music that reeks of enough pain, anger, hope and grace to fill a dozen pint glasses....explores the darkest of emotions with static, droning dirges and eruptions of whirling, thrashing tantrums..."
Melody Maker (12/21-28/96, pp.66-67) - Ranked #28 on Melody Maker's list of 1996's "Albums Of The Year."
Melody Maker (9/7/96, p.42) - Recommended - "Emotion. It always comes down to emotion..."
NME (Magazine) (9/7/96, p.46) - 7 (out of 10) - "...The Dirty Three evidently have no great designs on mainstream success, preferring instead to doggy paddle through huge puddles of booze, tears and muddy melancholia....thrillingly enough, they're more about a violin than a guitar..."

Average Rating: (5 out of 5 stars) 

 soundtrack to so much moments..
goes furious goes sad goes gracefull goes drunk their best work and an unforgettable moment...
Submitted by sun-dagger (salonica, greece)
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