Track Listing

1. Shining Road
2. Pale Blue Sky
3. Reverie
4. Lilies
5. Are You Gone?
6. Loved
7. Beautiful Friend
8. Bewildered
9. Come This Far
10. Paris And Rome
11. In The Night
12. Shing Road (Brauer Mix)
13. Paris And Rome (Flood Mix)
14. Lilies (Flood Mix)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #65683 in Music
• Released on: 1994-10-11
• Number of discs: 1

Album Description
Loved is a mysterious and artistic experience, effortlessly standing aside from prevailing music trends. The band's self-production skills continued to improve, evidenced by the sometimes elaborate arrangements; if the core of Cranes' music revolves around intentionally basic rhythms and melodies repeated as mantras, it's always been the focused delivery that puts everything together. BMG.

Amazon.com
James and Alison Shaw, the brother-sister songwriting team from Portsmouth, England that's best known as CRANES, are not without pretensions: They originally planned to make Loved a double album with half devoted to a musical interpretation of The Flies, the expressionist play by tortured French novelist Jean Paul Sartre. That plan was shelved (they had to settle for cover art by French painter Edgar Degas), and instead, their third album delivers 11 oddly seductive pop songs that mix brutally powerful drumming, a Cocteau Twins-like wall of shimmering guitars, and the lovable little-girl-on- helium vocals of Alison Shaw. --Jim DeRogatis

Customer Reviews

Alison's voice takes some getting used to . . .
First off, The Cranes certainly aren't for everyone -- and even for many of their fans they're an acquired taste.

I don't mean to be cruel, but Alison Shaw has a voice unlike any other singer on the planet. Unfortunately, many people find it extremely annoying. How shall I describe it? Perhaps like listening to a demented "Suzie Sez" doll that won't shut off while trapped in an elevator whilst tripping on a half dozen hits of strong acid. Nasal, sing-songy, and oft indecipherable. When I first heard "Loved" it was on audio tape, and I suffered through it until I hit track 4 ("Lillies"), and I'm like, "what's this?" Her voice was PERFECT for that track, and it is the absolute creepiest song I've ever heard . . . and track 14 is a remix of same, which is just as good.

After hearing both versions of "Lillies" my opinion of Alison's vocal talents softened, and I deigned to listen to the entire tape once again . . . then again. Having gained a greater appreciation for The Cranes, I then immediately ordered this album on CD.

"Lillies" is well worth the cost of this disc -- but a few other tracks are worth listening to as well. Be advised, Alison's voice does take some getting used to, The Cranes are an acquired taste, and they certainly are not for everyone.

Simply Captivating
For some odd reason back in 2004 this album was burned onto the shared drive of the Multi-national Corps-Iraq located in Baghdad. Morale so you can hear music while you are covering shift on your work station. I had seen The Cranes open for The Cure in 1990 and picked up on their name among the other detritus in the shared drive. And my first listen--Amazing. "Beautiful Friend" and "Shining Road" stand out but overall the album is an outstanding effort of pop/goth/dark artistry. I spent probably 20 nights in a row listening to this album. When they finally wiped the hard drive I was crushed. But losing 12 bucks for this great album was a small price to eventually pay. Buy it. And go see the Cranes next time you are in Europe.

Perfect see-saw of sinister and sweet
I believe it goes without saying that the Cranes were, and still remain, one of the most under-recognized musical groups of the 90s.
While they banged and bashed out their roughness on their first three albums, there was a subtle yet present trend toward cerebral melancholy and gentleness.
"Loved" marked a turning point in their career, but this is not to say that this is a work without bite, but rather, the bite is all the more noticable for the showcasing of Allison Shaw's rapturously delicate voice filled with girlish whimsy, against a background of pulsing effects and acoustic guitar.
"Shining Road" the first, and most obvious single carries with it hopeful yet world-weary lyrics against glorious pulsations which manage to tug on the heart-strings while provoking a kind of industrial hopping dance effect.
Elsewhere, as in the terrified "Lillies" (whose lyrics appear in the liner notes), and the softness of the mournful "Beautiful Friend", the dichotomy achieves heights of its awareness in the listener, and by the time "Paris And Rome" and "In The Night" have swept past, a peaceful and pensive suspension add eagerness to the final remixes.
As of when I write this, "Loved" is my favourite of the Cranes' albums, and is highly reccomended as a starting point to their career, which is also handy, since it is one of the only two Cranes full-length albums available in the US.
Do make the purchase and enjoy.