| Middle Cyclone | 
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Avg. Customer Rating:   (based on 87 reviews)
Sales Rank: 134
Category: Music
Artist: Neko Case
Publisher: Anti
Studio: Anti
Manufacturer: Anti
Label: Anti
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.4 x 4.9 x 0.4
MPN: 86973
UPC: 045778697328
EAN: 0045778697328
ASIN: B001MWGZDG
Release Date: March 3, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | This Tornado Loves You | | • | The Next Time You Say "Forever" | | • | People Got A Lotta Nerve | | • | Polar Nettles | | • | Vengeance Is Sleeping | | • | Never Turn Your Back On Mother Earth | | • | Middle Cyclone | | • | Fever | | • | Magpie To The Morning | | • | I'm An Animal | | • | Prison Girls | | • | Don't Forget Me | | • | The Pharaohs | | • | Red Tide | | • | Marais La Nuit |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
The fifteen-track Middle Cyclone is Neko Case's first release since 2006's Fox Confessor Brings The Flood, the best-reviewed and best-selling album of her career. Middle Cyclone was produced by Case with Darryl Neudorf and recorded in Tucson, Brooklyn, Toronto, and Vermont. It features Case backed by her core band - guitarist Paul Rigby, bassist Tom V. Ray, backing vocalist Kelly Hogan, multi-instrumentalist Jon Rauhouse, and drummer Barry Mirochnick - along with numerous guests including M. Ward, Garth Hudson, Sarah Harmer, and members of The New Pornographers, Los Lobos, Calexico, The Sadies, Visqueen, The Lilys, and Giant Sand, among others. In addition to twelve new songs written by Case, Middle Cyclone includes covers of 'Never Turn Your Back on Mother Earth' by Sparks, and "Don't Forget Me" by Harry Nilsson.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 82 more reviews...
Hauntingly gorgeous June 29, 2009
One of the wonderful things about Neko Case is that her albums are all different from each other. Furnace Room Lullaby doesn't sound like The Virginian, Blacklisted doesn't sound like Furnace Room Lullaby etc. And Middle Cyclone doesn't sound like any of the other Neko Case albums. Nor does it sound even remotely conventional, as one other reviewer stated. What we have here is a very complex (both lyrically and musically) and lovely collection of songs sung by a performer who's voice is like something from another universe. Yes, it is absolutely mind blowing. If you don't think so you better check your pulse.
This is not Fox Confessor, not from a lyrical standpoint nor a musical standpoint, and it wasn't meant to be. While I can understand that some find that disappointing, you're missing out on some wonderful music if you were hoping for something that was going to be basically the same as the last time around. But don't worry, the next Neko Case album won't sound anything like Middle Cyclone either.
The usual from Neko Case June 24, 2009
And in her case, that's a good thing. The album opens with its strongest song, "This Tornado Loves You," though the quality of songwriting is consistently good. There are standout songs, but no bad tracks - as long as you're willing to skip the stupid last track, which is just ambient birds chirping. I'm not sure why artists do this, using filler or hidden tracks. Obviously no one is going to listen to it and it's lazy.
However, there is plenty of excellent content to offset the last track. Case sounds a little more restrained than on previous albums, and those looking for the big belting songs like "Deep Red Bells" or "If You Knew" might be left a little wanting. The album took a little more time to grow on me than especially "Fox Confessor" but nevertheless, well worth your time.
 one long song June 24, 2009
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I'm a fan of Neko Case. I've been to see her live, she has an amazing exciting voice, but this cd seemed to have little variation. . .one long song. boring
 Reminds me of some novels... June 11, 2009
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
You know how some books are considered literary masterpieces, but to read them is often mind-numbingly boring? I kind of see this album that way. I can appreciate that Neko Case is talented, and her talents are certainly on display here, but this album is somewhat of a bore to me. I like her well enough, especially her work with the Sadies, but she's never quite clicked with me. Of other women in a similar genre, I find Gillian Welch and Lucinda Williams much more interesting a listenable.
Much that is pleasing June 6, 2009
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This album reminds me a little of James Taylor's One Man Dog album. Some of the songs are rather short, perhaps not fully developed. Moods shift around quite dramatically. There are some brilliant well-produced highlights. In other places, I felt Neko Case was experimenting. It's all melodic and easy to listen to, but not all of it is attention-grabbing or addicting.
I'm impressed with her lyrics. This is not to say I understand them, but that's sort of what I like about them -- they're impressionistic, and you can make your own conclusions.
The album begins with a brilliant, poetic heartbreak song, This Tornado Loves You. The track is filled with beautiful stringed instruments and gentle but urgent drumming, Neko's clear, insistent vocals, and a reverberation that provides a sense of wide open prairies. Heady stuff, and very beautiful.
Other highlights include People Got A Lotta Nerve, a song that urges repeated play, and packs a lot of wallop in two and a half minutes. Brevity is the soul of wit, and this track proves it. Almost a novelty song, but still it's great ear-candy.
There's a great cover of a Harry Nilsson song, too. I think I may like it better than Harry's version. And a few of the slow, quiet songs are effective.
However, some of the other material isn't as gripping. Oh well, you gotta fill up an album somehow, I guess. Either the poetry gets a little too arty, or the melodies aren't as memorable, or they go on too long (Prison Girls), or they're shorter and play like an incomplete paragraph (I'm an Animal). If I had been the record producer on this album, I would have urged the artist to axe some of the material entirely, and expand, combine, or re-work some of the others to match the brilliance of the best songs here.
Maybe I'm too picky, but I look at most albums like a smorgasbord. I like this, I wish I could have a little more of that, and some is not worth a second look -- it simply does not appeal. Life's too short. I like to pick the best of many artists, and fill my listening time with the highlights. Middle Cyclone is a good album, not a great album. Some of it I will leave at the side of my plate, but some dishes are delicious, and I'll return to the buffet again and again for more of the same!
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