Grace Hotel
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Album Reviews

Here's a band I found by accident. I'll admit to getting sucked into one of those 14 discs for a penny things (come on, I can't be the only one!). So there I was trying to fill in numbers 13 and 14. Pretty tough, given the list you get to select from at times is pretty limited. To make a short story longer, I saw a couple of albums by a band named Broomtree. I took a chance. What the heck, if they sucked I wasn't really out much. A little while later (not the same day) a rather large package arrived, and there were my Broomtree albums. The first one was pretty good, but their second album really cooked. The music is full of aggressive energy, and positive lyrics - mix up No Doubt, Hole, and remove all of the excess garbage (not the band, real garbage) and you have a rough idea as to what Broomtree sounds like. Fronted by Kylie Schlig, this isn't a chic band, it's more than that. It's a band, not some modeling photo shoot soundtrack. These kids are young too, which bodes well for future releases. I'm glad I took the chance on this record. I'm hooked.

~ Jevon

Every year I rank my favorite CDs, and this was my #1 favorite of 2000. I liked Broomtree's debut (which ranked as one of my top three favorites of a year or so before), but this album is even better. The songs, the singing and playing, and the production are all improved over the thoroughly enjoyable debut. This Columbus, Ohio band consists of male instrumentalists and a female singer whose singing radiates with lots of personality and cheerfulness. Musically, they remind me of The Go-Go's. I mourned the break-up of The Go-Go's back in the mid-1980s, but with Broomtree on the scene, who needs The Go-Go's? In fact, I did a song-to-song challenge, digging out The Go-Go's "Talk Show" album (Broomtree's sound is closest to this album), and found Broomtree's to be superior in vocal quality especially, but all around I like "Transparent" better than any Go-Go's album, as much as I like The Go-Go's! Not only do I love Broomtree's energetic, cheerful music, but I love the lyrics too. These songs so perfectly express many of my sentiments. Many are personal conversations with God, no pretense, very open, honest, and relaxed yet while keeping in mind awe of God's holiness. Great music, awesome lyrics, exuberant personality, this is one incredible album. I play it again and again every summer.

~ J Lee Harshbarger