Unfrozen Cavewoman Rockstar. That’s what the fourth studio release from Hole, Nobody’s Daughter tends to make Courtney Love sound like. It would appear as though the 2005 stint in rehab, in which she wrote much of the material that comprises her latest release, was the saving grace for Love as she escaped from the twelve year primordial ooze which her life became after the demise of husband and Nirvana lead Kurt Cobain in 1993. This record doesn’t function so well as an album. It’s drab, sometimes dreary and highly pedantic, sounding like a muzak version of 1998’s phenomenal Celebrity Skin. The session musicians hired to recreate Hole are mere placeholders with Love’s voice as the catalyst. Instead of an album, this is psychotherapy, a fitting public redress of Love’s emotional well-being from a rock star with one of the most obvious and sadly brilliant public disintegration into madness in quite some time. That being said, the rock industry is so completely devoid of any stirring emotional depth at this point that this release is absolutely fantastic by comparison to what it stands against (maybe only Them Crooked Vultures can compare), and with any hope portents the revival of intriguing, melodic rock. Clear statements by complex personalities is the calling card of the genre, and exactly what Love provides.
This album drags only because it has to. The artist is in repose, and it shows. Lead single “Skinny Little Bitch” doesn’t deviate from the form of “Malibu” or “Celebrity Skin,” and shows something akin to teeth that would only scare into submission the most mainstream of mainstream radio, for which it is aimed. Searing guitar riffs and Love, even after all these years, doing the best Exene Cervenka of X homage of all time. It’s that punk meets pop glam where this album does somewhat succeed, as track “How Dirty Girls Get Clean” is a straight ahead rocker that doesn’t disappoint. The album is bloated on ballads though, which as a specialty of executive producer and masterful songwriter Linda Perry is expected, but a multitude of variations on the theme of a misspent life does get a bit tedious. “Pacific Coast Highway” and “Letter to God” are excellent, as is the droning melody of “Nobody’s Daughter,” prime pop for the mainstream charts and ClearChannel radio filler. As standalone singles, the album is solid. But, when culled together as a full listen becomes a heavily swung mallet of anguish upon the soul of the listener.
On a sonic level, Courtney Love on this album shows maturation like Liz Phair from angst ridden, intentionally difficult alt-pop wonder woman into sedate comfort rocker with edge. On a personal level, given Love’s life, we should all be thoroughly okay with the transformation, and welcome it. However, for fans of the music who refuse to separate life from sound, this is going to disappoint if not ready to make the move to a soul at peace with herself that Love has adjusted into being. Overall, it’s wonderful to have Courtney Love and Hole back as a rock contribution. It certainly was different without them and their development should only be a constantly improving cycle with many happy returns.
3.5 OUT OF FIVE STARS
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