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| Popmatters |
 What constitutes folk music today is the subject of wide speculation. Some fans say it must have rural roots, traditional instrumentation, and be passed down from person to person. Others claim that in an age of electronic transmission, any music a person heard as part of the fabric of his or her life is part of that individual’s folk culture. For the Handsome Family, it is a bit of both—and, as they are creative artists, something more. The band has an ancient sound rich with the ghosts of losers and lovers from centuries past and dwelling amongst us today. The primordial clangs against the contemporary whether the Handsome Family covers an olde ballade or offers a self-penned piece. This is evident even on the song choices listed on the band’s recent compilation, Scattered: A Further Collection of Lost Demos, Orphaned Songs and Odd Covers. The sequel to Smothered and Covered features demos, outtakes, b-sides, and such performed in all their raggedy glory. This includes renditions of everything from classic rock (the Beatles’ “Eleanor Rigby”), folk rock (Bob Dylan’s “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues”), classic country (Hank Williams’ “Lost Highway”), traditional (“What Does the Deep Sea Say”), and originals (“Snowball”, “A Plague of Humans”) that clearly derive from older folk sources. The covers offer elegant recreations as if dressed in thrift store finery. Consider “Eleanor Rigby”, an overplayed oldie here given a fine bluegrass style accompaniment with Rennie Sparks softly singing of loneliness to husband Brett’s low harmonies. Joined by the Rivet Gang, the Handsome Family makes the song fresh and haunting, the way it sounded when first released by the fab four as a single. That’s not an easy thing to do....full text |
| Recorddept |
| This past summer Chicago’s alt-country husband/wife duo The Handsome Family issued the follow-up to 09’s studio release Honey Moon with Scattered: A Further Collection of Lost Demos, Orphaned Songs and Odd Covers. This is a compilation in the true sense of the word, with Rennie Sparks (bass, banjo, vocals, and lyricist) also furnishing the album cover art illustration and Brett Sparks (vocals, guitar, keyboards) composing the music and arrangements from songs performed throughout their almost 20 year career together. While Scattered’s 18 tracks are essentially a bonus album to The Handsome Family’s longtime fans, it also functions as a great introduction to the pioneers of modern gothic country. From studio to home recordings, debut album to recent covers of Hank Williams and Bob Dylan, the record is expansive and includes standouts like the cover of “Eleanor Rigby”, an alternate take on “June Bugs”, and “Tranquilized” Brett’s intensely personal and solemn take on life after treatment in a mental hospital for bi-polar disorder. As a self-released edition, Scattered is only available on The Handsome Family website and on their 2011 tour. – Written by JFelton...full text |
| Sleepinghedgehog |
| The Handsome Family will be touring the West Coast in January in support of Scattered, their recently released collection of “lost demos, orphaned songs, and odd covers.” The whistle-stop tour will take them from Canada to Southern California in just 10 days, Jan. 19-29. Scattered is the Handsome Family’s second collection of demos, B sides, covers and the like. The first was 2002′s Smothered And Covered. This new disc has a generous 19 tracks, fairly evenly divided between covers and originals. The covers include a scary old hymn, “The Lost Soul” and “Ain’t No Grave,” a powerful old gospel song cribbed from the incredible box set Goodbye Babylon; and the duo’s inimitable renditions of some iconic pop songs: Dylan’s “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues,” the Beatles’ “Eleanor Rigby,” Leonard Cohen’s “Famous Blue Raincoat” (my favorite of the covers), Hank Williams’ “Lost Highway,” Jim Reeves’s “The Blizzard” and the Blue Sky Boys’ “What Does the Deep Sea Say?” If you sense any common themes in those songs, welcome to the world of the Handsome Family. The originals, too, are of two types; those from the early 1990s when Brett and Rennie Sparks were still thinking of themselves as post-punk indie rockers, and those written and recorded after they settled into their gothic Americana identity. Of the former, the best is a demo of Brett’s “One Way Up,” which sounds even more like a great lost R.E.M. song than the version that ended up on their debut Odessa. “Telephones and Telescopes,” sounds like another R.E.M. song, this one an outtake from Monster. This group also includes the caustic “Little Buddy,” the surf instrumental “Honcho,” the slashing “Claire Said,” and the melancholy “Tranquilized.” More recent fare includes the portrait of Chicago, “When it Rains,” an outtake from 2001′s Twilight; “Drinking Beer on the Roof,” an alternate version of a digital-only track released with 2008′s Honey Moon; an alternate take of “June Bugs,” also from Honey Moon, and a couple of songs written for others’ projects — “Snowball” about a jumping horse, from a 2002 children’s record, and “A Plague of Humans” from a 2007 London plague-themed show. Scattered was self-released by the Handsome Family. It’s available on their website and at performances....full text |
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