Love is a celebrity makeover the likes of which could keep Oprah in business for many a month. Yet in whatever guise she chooses, Love is every inch the person, or at least the persona, she wants to be—a Christmas package of contradictions for us to unwrap and appreciate however we will. And so we shall.
For those who loved the raging anarchy of Live Through This, Celebrity Skin is a bracing reminder of how much times have changed. There are plenty of sharp edges in Love's lyrical barbs and Eric Erlandson's slashing though always melodic guitar work, yet where its predecessor stressed spontaneity, however messy it might be, the new album sounds studied, and just a little too perfect. Love's once-ravaged croak is tamed into a smooth and pitch-conscious croon on songs like "Hit So Hard" and "Malibu." On the other hand, it's possible to argue in her favor that she's been there, done that. And besides, so much of grunge and the indier-than-thou ethos that accompanied it died with her husband, that we can scarcely blame her for moving on.
Operating under those rules, Celebrity Skin offers a wealth of pleasures, some of them sweeter for being so unlikely. First on this list is the rich, engaging power pop of songs like "Awful," a downright optimistic song about the resilience of youth and the allure of music: "If the world is so wrong/ Yeah you can take it all/ With one song," Love sings over fat guitar chords and propulsive rhythms. "Boys on the Radio" is a down-the-middle mainstream rocker—albeit a gorgeous one—about Love's opposite-gender competition. "Oh the boys on the radio/ They crash and burn/ They fold and fade so slow," she sings. But not Love, one presumes. No, when she's feeling low she advocates kicking back and soaking in the curative powers of the ocean and night sky of "Malibu." At which point, you have to ask yourself, "What the hell?" and check the label to make sure this is indeed an album by Hole.
It is. Take one listen to the roiling emotions and oddly self-referential lyrics ("Love hangs herself," "Love hates you") of "Reasons to Be Beautiful," the sad resignation of "Dying," where it crops up again ("And now I know that love is dead"), and the world-weariness of "Petals" and "Northern Boy," and there's no mistaking this for a latter-day Go-Go's record, or even harder-edged Lilith fare.
Still, detractors will have their say about Celebrity Skin. Michael Beinhorn's every-hair-in-place production makes it a fabulous-sounding record, though not necessarily a compelling one. Corgan's involvement on five tracks helped shape the music into a more palatable pop direction, but it's not anyplace that Love herself did not want to go. And that's the biggest question mark remaining: Having set herself up as rock's resident Harpy, and someone "so real (she) is beyond fake," it's anyone's guess how this new, improved Courtney will play to the masses.
As Marilyn Manson recently declared, "If you're gonna pretend to be something, then you have to at least live up to what it is." When Love pretends, she pretends big, and it's an act whose fascination hasn't eroded with the shifting sands of the past few years.
- Daniel Durchholz (Wall Of Sound)
now thyself, reads the inscription at the Delphic Oracle, and though she comes to it more through intuition than a predilection for classical studies, that's one bit of advice Courtney Love has seemingly taken to heart. "Oh make me over/ I'm all I want to be/ A walking study/ In demonology," goes the opening salvo from the title track of Celebrity Skin, a song about the terrible price of fame and those all too willing to pay it. Who, indeed, has been demonized more than Love for being rock's most voracious social climber (for marrying Kurt Cobain and riding the tails of his tattered flannel shirt to fame and fortune) or accused more of artistic charlatanism (for Cobain's supposed influence over the songs on Live Through This, and now the degree of Smashing Pumpkin Billy Corgan's songwriting involvement on Celebrity Skin)? From the chopped and channeled contours of her reworked face and torso to the sculpted sonic architecture of her new album, Reader Reviews
See what your fellow readers had to say when given the chance to talk back.