ZRU VOGUE: Beautiful Again

Zru Vogue

Beautiful Again

© 2004 Andrew L. Jackson and Rick Cuevas a.k.a. Zru Vogue (634479024146)

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Zru Vogue sings surrealist art pop songs about life, beauty and decay -- this album picks up where Zru Vogue left off after their critically acclaimed records of the early 80's.

notes

Zru Vogue is a surrealist art-rock band, or an alternative post-80's neo-dada pop duo, or just Andy and Rick playing Andy's songs in Rick's bedroom that's been converted into a studio. It all depends on how you look at it. Rick and Andy (Rick Cuevas and Andrew L. Jackson, that is) have played music together on and off since they were teenagers in the mid-70's, but they achieved cult status with their 80's bands Zru Vogue ("Nakweda Dream," "Ubuhuha") and Science Patrol ("Bandit Ducks From Outer Space").

ZRU is an acronym for Zero Risk Unobtainable, something they grabbed at random from a newspaper headline way back when. But Zruism is also a state of mind, something like Dadaism or Surrealism; a way of looking at the world sideways, so that everything becomes much clearer, although somewhat askew and bent. And that's how Zru Vogue goes about writing, arranging and producing their songs. They use intuition, intention, chance, metaphor, poetry, and other important, arty, and useless things to create, construct, deconstruct, restructure, and piece together ideas from dreams and life (real and imagined) to make songs with depth, texture, and original style. If you like offbeat pop songs with intelligent, off-center lyrics, you'll like Zru Vogue.

Their influences range from John Lennon and The Beatles to Roxy Music and Sparks; from Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd to The Stranglers and Talking Heads; from Lou Reed & The Velvet Underground to The Flaming Lips and Coldplay. But ultimately, Zru Vogue is influenced by Zru Vogue. In fact, much of the new album, Beautiful Again, draws inspiration from Zru Vogue songs recorded from 1980 to 1984. But make no mistake, this new album is not just a remake of old styles; rather, it picks up where Zru Vogue left off, and incorporates contemporary influences with the classics. All that aside, it's really just an album of great songs that can be enjoyed just as much even if you've never heard Zru Vogue before.

reviews

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  • Great job!
    author: Benny

    This album is absolutely fantastic, I love it. Listen to it, buy it and let the others know how great beautiful Again is. an italian fan

  • Great new music from Zru Vogue!
    author: WINEAU

    A fan of Zru Vogue since 1980 when Nakweda Dream issued, this is a truly great album. Sounding as fresh and haunting as ever, Zru Vogue creates a unique yet head bobbing experimental sound. You can play this one all day long, all the tracks are outstanding. Excellent!

  • pink floyd inside a yellow submarine
    author: Pamela Cohen

    Writing about music that moves me is like trying to nail Jello to a wall - which is why I'm having trouble describing Beautiful Again. Imagine listening to Pink Floyd inside a yellow submarine. The driving beats focus attention on the everybody's-been-there lyrics. The ethereal magic of "Full of Emptiness" and "Dreaming I'm Awake" creates space for the kind of meditation that they both invite. "This is where the poet finds his voice - This is where the writer finds his muse...." This might, in fact, go a long way toward making you beautiful again.

  • Zru Vogue continues to amaze. This is the real thing.
    author: r. c. barajas

    Beautiful Again has crawled under my skin - and I mean that in a good way. For those of you who know Zru, it is less dark and tribal than one might expect from their earlier work. Instead it has moments of a strange, heady joy, the kind of exhilaration one can only feel after coming out from under and feeling the sun for the first time in years. Listen to Waited So Long, and Momentum. Andrew Jackson's dreamy, honest voice is, as usual, the perfect medium for his words. This is a magnificent collection of songs - funky, original, addicting. It's Zru in all its newness. And now I just wanna go out and get me some.

  • There are definitely hits on this CD.
    author: Stanford Jordan

    There are hits on this CD. I enjoyed tracks 2,4,5,6, and 10. Track 2, Waited So Long, is very nostalgic and made my blood tingle, given some things I've been waiting on. You should recognize the chord changes in Track 4 from another classic hit. I rock Track 5, Momentum, when I need a little encouragement at work. The instrumentals are diverse and exciting. I'm eager to hear some of these on the radio soon.

  • A tru Zru masterpiece
    author: Max Tyrell

    Having just had a chance to hear ZV Beautiful Again while driving about in mah automobile I must say it's extremely massively hugely good. A tru Zru masterpiece. As one who knows from Zru, I can tell ya this is the Grade A, full-bodied, great-tasting, pure-uncut stuff. A brilliant follow-up to "ZV Unlimited Enjoyment...". It somehow puts a nice bookend on the Zru ouvre so far. Kind of cool when it's all viewed from the Nakweda beginnings to the current Bufo Agin sounds.

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