Standing at the Sky's Edge
- Richard Hawley
- Band Name: Richard Hawley
- Record Label: Mute
- Release Date: Aug 28, 2012
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May 9, 201280By employing hard-rocking, sometimes spacey psychedelia (gloriously) to express the anger he feels as he watches the hard-won gains of history being damaged and destroyed in unsavory ways, Hawley creates an essential listen.
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May 15, 201280What Standing at the Sky's Edge loses in heartbreak it easily makes up for in depth, and Hawley has just given us something that is truly worth sinking into.
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Jun 29, 201251Sky's Edge has some of the old Hawley magic in the form of "The Wood Collier's Grave"... But for the most part, it's an unwelcome return to a less distinguished period in Hawley's career, back before he knew how to make more beguiling music than this.
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Jun 20, 201260Hawley wields his guitar with fresh zeal, unfurling long, turbulent solos while his chocolatey baritone is less Roy Orbison, more Mark Lanegan. But the songwriting lags behind the sound. [Jun 2012, p.104]
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May 3, 201270Fans of Hawley's rueful view of love and relationships, his fine guitar playing, and his magnificent singing voice will find them all present and correct here, if displayed in unexpected ways. [Jun 2012, p.75]
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Jul 18, 201280His craftsman's melodiousness and honest voice add balm and balance. [Jun 2012, p.84]
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Aug 22, 201270This is a full-on rock album offering horizon-burning electric guitar as its signature, with Hawley's band stretching out with him on a few tracks for fabulously psych-fried passages. [Aug/Sep 2012, p.117]
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May 2, 201280However you choose to describe it, or whatever your preconceptions of Hawley and his music, this is definitely an album you should bend a considered ear towards.
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May 2, 201270If some of the sound could be better defined, and the special effects shaken on with a slightly lighter hand, it would be more coherent and ultimately more impressive.
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May 3, 2012100Despite the guitars crashing and howling around him, and the presence of a rather West End-sounding chorus of backing vocalists, he sounds exactly like Richard Hawley. The same, but different: a tough trick, pulled off in style.
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Sep 5, 201250Standing at the Sky's Edge is Hawley's first major misstep.
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May 2, 201280The men are going to love it. But the women will still love Richard Hawley, too.
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Jun 8, 201273He's pushing himself ever so slightly, and while it might not be enough to draw in the unconverted, the rest of us will want to stick around for more.
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May 14, 201280["Before" is] one of many standouts in a nine-song collection that engages body and mind throughout.
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Oct 1, 201260It's difficult to accept him as an angry rocker. He's so great as a lovelorn crooner - heard here on "Seek It," one of the album's few moments of tenderness - that it's hard not to be nostalgic for the old Hawley. [No.91, p.55]
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Sep 4, 2012100This may be the most uncharacteristic of his albums, but by venturing outside his comfort zone, Hawley has in turn made his best.
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May 8, 201290An unconventional masterpiece.
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May 7, 201280A classy, well-made record.
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May 4, 201280Richard Hawley has upped his game considerably on his first album for Parlophone, leaving behind his urbane, rockabilly-tinged retro-nuevo style for a full-blooded immersion in ringing psychedelic rock. It's totally unexpected, and completely winning.
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May 7, 201280Another triumph.
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May 9, 201280In Standing At The Sky's Edge Richard Hawley has forged his most fully realised and heartfelt collection of music to date. This requires your urgent attention.
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May 7, 201260Hawley's grasp of psychedelia is probably closer to the (latterday) Verve's than it is to, say, Animal Collective's.
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May 4, 201280Hawley ditches his heavily orchestrated, Indie Orbison Of The North shtick in favour of a sound that's darker, ragged and riff-heavy. It works.