Sister Hazel Albums (10)
What The Critics Say
The five members of Sister Hazel -- Jett Beres, Ken Block, Andrew Copeland, Ryan Newell, and Mark Trojanowski -- who founded the group in Gainesville, FL, in 1993, appear in a line on the cover of Release, their seventh studio album of new, non-holiday material, no one person ahead of or behind another. It's a statement of equality that is pursued in the album's contents. When a band is founded, the young musicians often don't realize that whoever is credited with writing the songs is going to make more money than the others. That starts to become apparent later on, however, and it can lead to strange consequences. After years of recording hits written by singer/guitarist John Fogerty, Creedence Clearwater Revival abruptly released Mardi Gras, an album on which the bass player and drummer got equal songwriting credits. It was a bust, and the band broke up. Former members of the Band Robbie Robertson and Levon Helm became estranged because Helm believes Robertson's sole songwriting credit on most of their music is unfair. Other groups deal with the issue head on: all U2 songs are credited equally to the band's four members. In the case of Sister Hazel, early songs tended to be credited to Block/Sister Hazel, suggesting that the singer wrote the lyrics and the band came up with the music, which may have resulted in his getting 50-percent of the music publishing and the others splitting the other 50-percent. (After the first couple of albums, the group credit was abandoned, and Block wrote most of the songs, sometimes with Beres, Copeland, and/or Newell joining in.) This time, the band has employed a new strategy. A decade-and-a-half into their career together, the members of Sister Hazel opted for songwriting democracy on Release, assigning each member at least two songs (Newell and Copeland each get three). While that might seem like a formula for disaster à la Creedence, it works out just fine. For one thing, Block never dominated the band the way Fogerty did Creedence; Sister Hazel's music has always sounded like a group effort, and it still does here. For another, some of the bandmembers have brought in help, with Newell turning to another journeyman rocker, Pat McGee, among others, and Copeland bringing on former Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers' drummer and Don Henley songwriting partner Stan Lynch. But even when they go it alone, as Beres does on "Vacation Rain" and "Ghost in the Crowd," they come up with acceptable material. Each member seems to have brought in his most accessible, catchy efforts, resulting in an album that, if anything, is even more tuneful than other Sister Hazel albums. As usual, there isn't much in the way of lyrical substance (love goes right, love goes wrong, clichés abound), but the choruses (not to mention bridges and "pre-choruses") come frequently in craftsmanlike songs that are played by a group that has been playing together for more than a decade-and-a-half. Maybe the best thing that can be said about the songwriting experiment is that the listener doesn't really notice the difference. No new ground is broken on Release, but Sister Hazel hasn't lost ground with its democratic approach, either. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
'Before the Amplifiers: Live Acoustic'
Release Date 6/17/2008
Tracks 16
Label Rock Ridge
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Sister Hazel goes "unplugged" in this live in the studio recording before a small invited audience of fans and friends. The band's repertoire of romantic, melodic, electro-acoustic pop/rock songs lends itself to arrangements that eliminate the electric instruments in favor of lots of acoustic guitar playing, but at the same time the songs are not that different in this form. As such, the group might have adopted a more communicative approach, with lead singer Ken Block introducing the songs in greater detail. He does give some explication in front of "Just Remember" and "Change Your Mind," but for the most part restricts himself to informing his listeners which albums the tunes come from, as if they didn't know. Actually, the audience seems more enthusiastic than the band, hooping and hollering and even singing along on "Swan Dive." In its post major-label career, Sister Hazel has cultivated its fans with special events and the usual series of releases aimed at their core audience (live albums, rarities albums, holiday albums), of which this is another. Selecting songs from each of the band's six studio albums (with half the tunes coming from the major-label sets Somewhere More Familiar and Fortress), the disc provides a good summary of their catalog in an intimate setting. Maybe they should try another borrowed idea from MTV, however, and do a "storytellers" album to go along with this "unplugged" one. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
'Absolutely'
Release Date 10/10/2006
Tracks 13
Label Wandering Hazel Music
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
With their sixth album Absolutely, Sister Hazel are caught at a vaguely weird crossroads. Nearly ten years on from their AAA blockbuster "All for You," the group is no longer part of the mainstream, but that doesn't mean that their music has left the mainstream. Although they're now on an independent, Sister Hazel don't sound all that much different than they did when they were on a big label having big hits; all that's changed is the pop music landscape, which isn't as receptive to the kind of slick yet earnest roots-pop that's Sister Hazel's specialty as they were in the wake of Hootie & the Blowfish's success in the late '90s. There's still a market for it, as evidenced by Sister Hazel's ongoing success as a touring outfit, but there's not an outlet for it, since radio no longer has any format to fit tuneful mainstream guitar pop from aging bands. And, truth be told, Sister Hazel haven't changed much at all over the past decade, if Absolutely is any indication. This is a record that could have been released as the sequel to their big 1997 album Somewhere More Familiar, but they instead chose to branch out ever-so-slightly with 2000s Fortress, and when their profile started to dip, they chose to cover the Cars on Lift. Neither of these slight concessions led to greater sales, and neither are apparent on Absolutely, which is about as back-to-basics as it gets for Sister Hazel. This is nothing but 13 tracks of slick but straight-ahead roots-pop. Richard Marx might have been brought on board to give some polish to "Meet Me in the Memory" but he doesn't overpower singer/songwriter Ken Block or Sister Hazel's genial rock, he just helps enhance their sweetly sentimental side for a number (although truth be told, the group has never been adverse to sentiment). To the group's credit, no matter how shiny the production is on Absolutely -- and it absolutely is, as if it was crafted for radio in 1998 -- it's still possible to hear their live muscle beneath the gloss, which helps give this album strength, but what gives it cohesion is a good set of catchy songs that sound suited for kicking back at the end of the week. It's the most consistent album they've done since Somewhere More Familiar and even if it doesn't wind up being a hit like that record, it will nevertheless surely and easily please the fans that have stuck by them all these years. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Sister Hazel probably deserved more from AAA radio than the cup of coffee they got with 1997's "All for You". The Florida combo writes strong hooks, and cultivates the same easily accessible sound that brought silver platters of success to dudes like Rob Thomas and notorious actress dater Adam Duritz. That said, Sister Hazel might lean a little much on the easygoing with 2004's Lift. The album is a wrinkle-free landscape with its emotions and instrumental points demarcated and annotated for quick and simple consumption - Lift is like Lean Cuisines for casual music fans. Opener "Surrender" offers come crackle, and its chorus is energizing and true. "Green" is as catchy as anything Train has ever written, so there's no reason why it shouldn't be a adult alternative chartbuster. Overall, the album's soft-toned production is like an enormous goosedown pillow of feelgood rock. Sister Hazel won't get you thinking too deep about anything, but they probably go great with coffee and Saturday mornings. Of course, that means you actually have to be up on Saturday morning. ~ Johnny Loftus, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
After Sister Hazel's initial burst of adult rock success waned, the group found itself off of major label Universal for Chasing Daylight. The disc is appropriately titled since that is exactly what the band seems to be doing while attempting to regain the once-promising momentum that the group had only a few years prior.�I want to be good, I want to be great," the lead cut �Your Mistake" says, though unfortunately the album fails to be the latter and only accidentally comes off as respectable. Whether the attempt to force the group to be relevant to the AAA camp was brought out by a lack of ideas or putting commercial gain ahead of artistic integrity, the fact that Chasing Daylight sounds forced is unmistakable.Most of the record mines the usual post-Hootie light rock blandscapes, with a sizable minority seemingly geared to appeal to an audience that finds Dave Matthews funky or enjoys Aerosmith for their late-period soundtrack balladeering and Kid Rock for �Only God Knows Why." The pandering supplants any notion of pure inspiration and the result is tuneful and impeccably produced hubris. ~ Brian O'Neill, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Sister Hazel was fortunate that their debut album arrived precisely at the right time, just when radio was cooling to Hootie & the Blowfish but still needed journeymen bar bands that turned out sturdy mainstream rock & roll, the kind of music that was the '90s version of heartland rock. They scored a major hit and toured the hell out of the record, building a respectable success. Still, when their second album, Fortress, appeared in the summer of 2000, they still had something to prove. Like a lot of their peers -- such post-ironic, post-Hootie artists as Matchbox Twenty, Tonic, Cowboy Mouth, and Edwin McCain -- they had to prove that they could deliver another solid record that would retain their audience. The dilemma of the working band, as it were. This is a dilemma that was particularly difficult in the late '90s/early 2000s since working bands were considerably less than hip and didn't have album rock as an outlet the way working bands did in the '70s. Sister Hazel realizes this and they even give a shout-out to their working-band comrades in their special thanks. It's likely that they connect so strongly with the working band because they are the definition of one for their era. They are a solid band, turning out sturdy albums that may have a couple of stumbles, yet it's always satisfyingly straightforward. With Fortress, Sister Hazel does take a couple of tentative steps to distinguish themselves from the pack -- a neo-psychedelic arrangement there, Beatlesque horns here, ambitious song structures every few tracks -- but they remain a working band at their core. That means that they're hardly cool in 2000, but they do deliver a follow-up that delivers on the sound of their hit, even if it never quite successfully expands that signature sound. And that's a trademark of a working band, too. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
'...Somewhere More Familiar'
Release Date 9/10/1996
Tracks 12
Label Autonomous/Croakin' Poet
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
While it is a bit glossier than the group's debut, Somewhere More Familiar is an engaging record of polished jangle pop, highlighted by the group's harmonies and knack for ringing acoustic guitar riffs. The group's songwriting is a bit inconsistent, but when Sister Hazel do hit upon the right song -- such as "All for You" -- the results are exceedingly pleasant. ~ Thom Owens, All Music Guide
'Sister Hazel'
Release Date 1/1/1994
Tracks 11
Label Autonomous/Croakin' Poet
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Once Sister Hazel's major-label debut, Somewhere More Familiar, became a hit on the heels of the success of the single "All for You," Universal reissued the group's original eponymous self-released album. Essentially, all of these songs are demos that the group used to get gigs, and eventually they started selling the album at gigs as well. None of the band's big hits are included ("All for You" is featured in an acoustic version), but concert staples like "Feel It" and "One Nation" are here, as well as nine other tracks. While the remaining cuts aren't quite of the same standard, they are pleasant, and dedicated fans will find the collection worthwhile. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
