Courtney Love
America's Sweetheart
On Sale Now
For $13.28

I was expecting America’s Sweetheart to be something of a calamity. But try to look past the inordinate number of recent distractions (promotions) and you may remember that Ms. Love is a musician with a recent album out. With my expectations already grinded, I turn it up with a condescending smile and wait to mock the Quaalude induced suicide raves.

But hark. While this approaches neither the pop perfection of Celebrity Skin nor the unabashed torment of Live Through This, it’s certainly no calamity. “Mono,” Love’s first and probably only single, boasts sizzling grunge infection carried by Love’s cadaverous nicotine rasp. “But Julian, I’m a Little Bit Older Than You” follows and packs a raucous night friendly wallop of a riff. By now I have two questions: did she bag him, and why does everyone think this is so bad?

Maybe it’s the ballads. There’s a certain level of Warrant inspired monster rock bathos on “Hold on to Me.” And the work, which is full of overdubs and overproduction, lacks any truly outstanding songs and fades greatly in the second half. Still, the bruising riff on “All the Drugs” revives the approachable rawness of Live Through This and “Almost Golden,” with a glary hook carrying Love’s wild honey moan, recalls her ability to mold angst into pop consummation- and Cobain and Corgan are nowhere in sight!

The sales show that America’s Sweetheart is already dead and buried. A shame. But in light of her closet ambitiousness, I just can’t believe that Courtney Love is a true junkie.

Copyright © 2010 ModernRock.com All Rights Reserved