Numb the pain with ten classic albums largely inspired by, unhealthily obsessed with or likely causes of heartbreak. It's easier than having to say, "It's not you, it's me. OK…it's you." / By David Peisner / Blender, September 2006
Numb the pain with ten classic albums largely inspired by, unhealthily obsessed with or likely causes of heartbreak. It's easier than having to say, "It's no... more
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Created 03/04/08
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1
Otis Redding
Otis Blue
Atco, 1966
The stunning “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” gives desperation a good name, and “You Don’t Miss Your Water,” makes regret sound poetic. But the ache in Otis's voice was so real, even his versions of the Temptations’ sunshiny “My Girl” and Sam Cooke’s civil rights anthem “Change Gonna Come” echo with the pain of getting his heart kicked around.
2
Joni Mitchell
Court and Spark
Asylum, 1974
Although Mitchell’s other breakup classic, Blue, gets all the plaudits, Court and Spark isn’t quite as dreary. In fact, it makes breakups sound kind of fun. It’s a song cycle that follows the arc of a doomed relationship, with Mitchell pouring out self-aware insights and pointed details over skittering folk-jazz arrangements.
3
Bob Dylan
Blood on the Tracks
CBS, 1975
Inspired by his disintegrating marriage, Dylan alternately sounds pained (“You’re a Big Girl Now”), defeated (“Simple Twist of Fate”), nostalgic (“If You See Her, Say Hello”) and like a vengeful prick (“Idiot Wind”). Moreover, the playing on the album is fierce, helping him plum emotional depths that he’d rarely approach again.
4
Marvin Gaye
Here, My Dear
Motown, 1978
With the proceeds from this album slated to go straight to his ex-wife as part of a divorce settlement, Marvin would’ve be justified in phoning it in. Instead, he poured every ounce of spite and selfishness he had into it, creating a lasting monument to his failed marriage. Totally self-involved and at times kind of unlistenable, it remains a voyeuristic treat.
5
Richard & Linda Thompson
Shoot Out the Lights
Hannibal, 1982
Sure, most of these tunes were written before this folk-rock couple’s marriage really bottomed out, but it was recorded while Richard was boinking someone else on the sly and Linda was pregnant and oblivious. No wonder tunes like “Don’t Renege on Our Love” and “Did She Jump or Was She Pushed?” drip with truth, bitterness and despair.
6
Bruce Springsteen
Tunnel of Love
Columbia, 1987
A song cycle that follows the rise and fall of Springsteen's brief marriage to C-list actress Julianne Phillips, Tunnel of Love was recorded over a year before Phillips actually filed for divorce. It was exactly the album that nobody wanted to hear on the heels of the dramatic arena-rock of Born in the U.S.A., but has aged as well as anything in the Boss’s catalog.
7
Nine Inch Nails
Pretty Hate Machine
TVT, 1989
You know that feeling you got the first time you were dumped, when it seemed like your entire world had collapsed, you forgot who you were and hated everything around you, particularly any God that would allow you to feel this way? This is pretty much what it sounds like. Only angrier.
8
The Afghan Whigs
Gentlemen
Elektra, 1993
There are sad, dignified breakups, and then there is this: Gentlemen chronicles the torturous, writhing death throes of a relationship marked by lies, recriminations and angry, angry sex. The guitars pierce like knives, the drums bludgeon like fists and frontman Greg Dulli howls like he’s being disemboweled with a dull butter knife. Which, of course, he is.
9
Lyle Lovett
The Road to Ensenada
Curb, 1996
Breakups aren’t always ugly. Following Lovett’s divorce from Julia Roberts, he poured his heart into this graceful, eclectic country record. More parting-is-such-sweet-sorrow than screaming bitchfest, the sadness that drips out across the songs feels all the more genuine because of Lovett’s restraint.
10
Beck
Sea Change
Geffen, 2002
Lest anyone think he was just a an extremely talented goofball, Beck busted out the pain and the pedal steel for this tour of Splitsville, inspired by his breakup with a longtime girlfriend. The misery is more amorphous than acute, but Beck earns extra points for really wallowing in it.
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