Courtney Love – America's Sweetheart Review

Lately, Courtney Love has made herself into an easy target for the smart alecky types in the media. There was the legal battle between Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic over what was left of the Nirvana catalogue, her antics over the course of last year where she was arrested in London after being unruly, her antics in London, where she paraded around half naked and gave an interview talking about how she got her asshole waxed, following up to her arrest in October for being under the influence of a controlled substance and then suffering a subsequent overdose. All in all, Ms. Love has made herself into a parody of herself, and so it is we come to her latest release, American Sweetheart.

There’s also been a lot of debate circulating around just how talented Courtney Love is. How much of the talent reside in her former bandmates and associates (Cobain, Corgan, et al, anyone?), and how much of what we’ve heard on the Hole records have been Courtney? Well, a quick eyeballing of the song credits show that out of the twelve tracks on American Sweetheart one song has the sole songwriting credit given to Courtney. So if you’re looking for Courtney to finally show the world that she’s capable of releasing a solo album more or less on her own, you’re looking in the wrong place. Heck, she can’t even claim full lyrical credit on the album, as she teams up with Elton John lyricist Bernie Taupin to assist with one tune.

Appearing on the cover in portrait form, looking far better than she should at age 40, one might think of the old truism to never judge a book by its cover. After listening to the wretched mess that is Courtney Love’s American Sweetheart this saying has gained new meaning for me.

The opening track and first (and hopefully last) single off of the album, ‘Mono’ sounds like old school Hole. Courtney sounds in fine form here, ready to take the piss out of anyone who’s willing to give her even 10 seconds of her time. It’s an excellent choice for first single and there’s nothing really all that bad or all that good about the tune. It’s perfectly fine for what it is.

Going onto the second track, ‘But Julian, I’m A Little Bit Older Than You’ is where the actual fun begins. Opening up with an inarticulate warble that sounds like ‘Hey!’ (which, incidentally, would be the second song in a row that starts off like that), we descend into nearly indecipherable singing that sounds like Keith Richards had somehow stumbled into the studio and was screaming into the mic. The song then descends into the age old school yard rhyme, ‘I see Paris, I see France, I can see your underpants’, thus showcasing that Courntey Love’s songwriting skills are at least on par with those who watch Sesame Street. ‘But Julian…’ sounds like the ‘Why Can’t I’ by Liz Phair on junk, speed, horse piss and whatever other crap Love was hopped up on when she ambled into the studio.

From there, the rest of the album maintains a steady balance between mundane and fantastically horrible. The mundane are the parts where Courtney is able to rise back up to her former glory that she enjoyed with Hole. ‘Sunset Strip’ sounds like it’s trying to get back to Celebrity Skin era Hole although it falls flat and winds up sounding like Courtney blaming the pressures of fame on her drug addiction. Weak indulgent tripe. Shit, that describes the whole RECORD, doesn’t it?

Oh wait, sorry, she’s not actually ON drugs, and doesn’t suffer from a drug habit, despite the fact that there’s 5 songs on this record that directly reference drugs. Pardon me while I laugh.

‘I’ll Do Anything’ is another fairly decent track, although someone needs to go and remind Courtney that the 90s are over and it’s time to try and come up with something new to present to the masses.

On second thought, after listening to slow tracks such as ‘Hold Onto Me’, ‘Sunset Strip’, ‘All The Drugs’ & ‘Nevvvahgonugnnabeeedaschaame’ ‘Never Gonna Be The Same’ one might stop to reconsider that perhaps, yes, it might do her good to stick to what’s worked before, as she doesn’t seem to have the lyrical skills or the voice to be able to do anything beyond her raging pseudo-punk/grunge songs.

Courtney’s voice has become a real problem her as it’s obvious that time hasn’t been kind to the former Mrs. Cobain. Despite the scrubbing, cleaning and dressing up done by producers James Barber, Josh Abraham and Matt Serletic, and engineers. Her weaknesses are highlighted on these slower tracks, most notably with the suicide-inducing track ‘Life Despite God’, of which the first minute or so sounds like an army of tomcats being stabbed to death by an army of senile, gone-batshit-insane grandmothers armed with screwdrivers of all sorts. It is that bad. Of course if you had bought this CD already and are still listening to the album by the time you get to this track, I’m not sure whether to commend you for possessing nerves of steel or stand back, appalled at your maschoism.

The rest of the album is forgettable, filled with garbage worth neither your time spent listening to it nor my time spent reviewing it. What is worth eyeballing, however, would be the liner notes as she goes through and thanks everyone from Paul McCartney to Jimmy Page & Robert Plant. Amusing are what she writes to each artist, as I’m not entirely sure if she’s speaking in some sort of Hollywood/music industry code or just making references to shit no one else will get or (more likely) she’s just strung out on blow, codeine and whatever else that she’s not making anymore sense than usual. Example:

To Paul McCartney: I’m always the John (EDIT: no, you’re the one on the other end of that business relationship between Johns and tramps…)but sometimes got to be the Paul and I love that I can aspire to that for the basslines for Hello Goodbye & Dear Prudence & Wings.

She also thanks Edward the Lion for keeping her alive, although no mention of Thomas the Train or Oscar the Grouch, both of whom I’m sure will be quite angry at the snub that Courtney gave them and ends the liner notes with a dedication to Cameron Crowe. Like I said, I’m not sure what reality Courtney Love is processing, given all the shit she’s hopped up on, but it sure sounds like a magical fantasy land world what with her being friends with Paul McCartney and Edward the Lion.

Anyways, I had some problems getting this CD to play without skipping in my CDROM drive thanks to that new copy protection junk that’s being tossed onto CDs these days in an attempt to curb online piracy. I also tried it on another computer in my house along with a friend’s laptop and I still encountered tons of skipping throughout the CD. Not sure if this was just a bad CD I got, or if it’s the copy protection, as it played just fine on my stereo, but keep that in mind if you’re thinking about buying this CD.

Tracklisting
Mono
But Julian, I’m a Little Bit Older Than You
Hold on to Me
Sunset Strip
All the Drugs
Almost Golden
I’ll Do Anything
Uncool
Life Despite God
Hello
Zeplin Song
Never Gonna Be the Same