I like it ! (Razorblade Suitcase - Bush)

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Product:	Razorblade Suitcase - Bush
Date:	22/01/01 (10 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Personal Hollaway

Disadvantages: Communicator

After the huge success of their first record, Bush could have put out another record just like it and people would have been more than happy to snap it up. While this one bears a lot of similarity to Sixteen Stone, I think they ventured out from the safety of that formula to some different styles and rhythms on Razorblade Suitcase. They give you 13 songs and over 61 minutes of music, most of it worthwhile. The lyrics are listed out of order for some reason, maybe they changed the order of the songs at the last minute.

The songs are:

Personal Holloway
Greedy Fly
Swallowed
Insect Kin
Cold Contagious
A Tendency to Start Fires
Mouth
Straight No Chaser
History
Synapse
Communicator
Bonedriven
Distant Voices

The first track Personal Holloway begins with a dog growling, which is a good synopsis of this record as a whole. This one features a great hard rock hook, so the fact that I can't figure out what the lyrics mean doesn't matter.

The next two tracks Greedy Fly and Swallowed continue skating on an angry edge.Greedy has a good change of pace during the verses. Swallowed has the cryptic line "in the middle of a world on a fishhook, you're the wave". I guess the person is the tidal wave that engulfs the world(?)

Insect Kin has fierce intensity with a screaming vocal, including the lyric that gave me my title.

Cold Contagious builds the tension well, before the customary power chord explosion. "You will get yours" might make some of their ex-girlfriends think a bit.

A Tendency to Start Fires has some noisy lead guitar sounds which pervade many of the tracks here. Not very worthwhile, standard power chords.

Mouth got much airplay from the remix album that followed this one called Deconstructed. Title repeated a bit much, but still a great rock song, tenses you up then gives you the release. "All your mental armor drags
me down"

Straight No Chaser is the "Glycerine" of this record. It lightens the mood with some dissonant strings and slow pace.

History is one of the better songs, excellent hook and tension. "Falling faster than a liar's grin."

Synapse and Distant Voices both have good dynamics.

Communicator doesn't really go anywhere.

Bonedriven is a slower song with those famous dissonant strings again. My favorite on this record. "A thousand lamps won't lift the dark". The concept of a "27th letter" is also intriguing.

If you liked the first record, you will get much of the same here, with the lyrics a bit more introspective and the tension a bit stronger. You don't get the same kind of relentless pounding the first one gives you, but you get several outstanding songs whose buildup is worth the release.

Summary: