Bavarian Fruit Bread

src: cps-static.rovicorp.com

Bavarian Fruit Bread is the debut album from Hope Sandoval, the vocalist of Mazzy Star and Colm Ó Cíosóig, the drummer of My Bloody Valentine, released under the name Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions on October 23, 2001 by Sanctuary Records in the United States and on November 5, 2001 by Rough Trade in the United Kingdom.

"Suzanne," the album's first and only official single, became a minor hit, with its accompanying music video, directed by Elise Collins, receiving heavy rotation on MTV2 in both the US and UK. A few songs on the album, including "Suzanne", pre-date the formation of Mazzy Star.

Seminal folk musician Bert Jansch performed guitar on two songs on the album, "Charlotte" and "Butterfly Mornings," the latter being a cover of a song used in the 1970 film The Ballad of Cable Hogue, where it appeared under its original title of "Butterfly Mornings and Wildflower Afternoons." A large portion of "Butterfly Mornings" was used in an advert for Irish TV channel Setanta Sports during Christmas period 2009.

The Japanese and Australian releases contain a thirteenth track, "Sparkly", as a bonus track; it is identical to the track of the same name that appears on the accompanying At the Doorway Again EP, which was released over a year before its parent album.

The album entered and peaked at #39 on Billboard's Top Heatseekers chart.

Video Bavarian Fruit Bread

Critical reception

Initial critical response to Bavarian Fruit Bread was generally positive. According to Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 75 out of 100, based on 15 reviews.

Many of the positive reviews focused heavily on Sandoval's vocals, with Q magazine stating that "the glacial tones and chimes that The Velvet Underground modelled on "Sunday Morning" are invoked with absolute perfection. Yet even beyond this, Sandoval's sedated, spellbound voice remains a remarkable presence." Lori Miller Barrett, in an overwhelmingly positive review of the album for neumu.net, stated "it's magical and mysterious, compelling and complex," before giving the record a 10 out of 10 score. Alternative Press described the album as "consistently intriguing, haunting and above all, very good," before giving the album a 9 out of 10 score.

Nathan Rooney from Pitchfork opened his review with the personal assessment that he had "begun to grow tired of the Mazzy Star formula before [the group] dissolved," and that without a solid shift in theme and sound from that of her previous work with Mazzy Star, Bavarian Fruit Bread ended up sounding like "a narcissistic and self-paroding record." However, the opening three tracks and the "gorgeous" Charlotte were singled out for particular praise. Also given a positive summation was the track Around My Smile which, despite being described positively as "psychodelic [sic] soul romp," was ultimately dismissed as being "uncreative." The two instrumental pieces were described as "attempts to break new ground," but again were dismissed for "adding nothing [new] to the course of the album."

Allmusic, whose review -- along with the review from Pitchfork -- was among the most critical, complimented the album's use of "child-like bells, cello and piano, alt-country electric and chamber-bare acoustic guitar and harmonica gasps," but ultimately dismissed the "minimal" backing tracks as "unsatisfying" and summarized the album as "[not particularly] compelling, striking or affecting."

The November 2001 issue of Mojo magazine commented that "[there] is a narcotic quality to these drifting ballads, one that perfectly suits these shell-shocked, terrorised times. As the world gears up for the Apocalypse, I shall take comfort in Bavarian Fruit Bread -- a very haunting, beautiful record." The album was released exactly six weeks after the 9-11 terrorist attacks in New York.

Maps Bavarian Fruit Bread

Track listing

2009 reissue

The 2009 re-release erroneously excluded "Lose Me on the Way."

1950s Vintage Zeh Scherzer & Co Bavarian Fruit Bread or Salad ...

src: i2.wp.com

Personnel

Hope Sandoval -- vocals, guitar, keys, glockenspiel, harmonica and backing vocals
Colm Ó Cíosóig -- drums, bass, guitar, keys and backing vocals
Alan Browne -- bass on "Drop," "On the Low" and "Around My Smile"
Jill Emery -- bass on "Bavarian Fruit Bread"
Julian Goldwhite -- guitar on "Bavarian Fruit Bread"
Arve Henrickson -- trumpet on "Lose Me on the Way"
Bert Jansch -- guitar on "Butterfly Mornings" and "Charlotte"
Paul McQuillan -- guitar on "On the Low" and "Around My Smile"
Ji-Young Moon -- cello on "Feeling of Gaze"
Nicole Presley -- backing vocals on "Drop"
Mike Prosenko -- guitar on "Drop"