Description

One of my goals in life is to make lots of people realize that Juliana Hatfield is a truly great songwriter. I don't seem to have made much progress yet, so here it goes: "Crushing Love," like Some Girls' debut "Feel It" and all of J.H.'s solo records, reveal her to be so skilled at composing pop songs that - to quote a review I wrote earlier this year - "turn heartache into something shiny and lovely, just so we can feel good about feeling bad for at least three-and-a-half minutes." I think that's a pop singer's most noble duty, and Juliana does it better than practically any other artist I can think of today. This album won't change your life (you know, like something by The Shins would - haha), but it'll make you pogo around and sing along while contemplating the complexities of love and loneliness, and it might also make you want very badly to pick up a guitar and wail away. Which is an awesome thing indeed.

Updated Dec 27, 2006