What a great album.. totally sucked me in2 their realm of music.. my favorite of their catelog,

Here's a rolling stone review. (Four Stars) There's also a Prince mention

Jesus wept" is a multitracked feast of guitar rock, pillow-soft pop, moody psychedelia and sugary-sweet R&B with only one straight-up rap track on the entire collection. It shouldn't come as much of a surprise: On their third album, P.M. Dawn complete their transformation from a rap-based pop group to something altogether different and wonderful.

It's not that P.M. Dawn – led by Prince Be and his brother J.C. the Eternal – don't operate in the hip-hop arena. Indeed they do. But like the DJs working the fringes of dance music, the duo has taken the sound of hip-hop so far beyond rap that it would be simplistic to discuss its music in those terms alone.

From the start, P.M. Dawn's place in hip-hop seemed defiantly ambiguous. The lush, Anglo-pop arrangements, delicate hip-hop tracks and half-sung, half-spoken vocals of their 1991 debut, Of the Heart, of the Soul and of the Cross: The Utopian Experience, defied categorization and attracted a largely nonrap audience. The New Jersey pair didn't present aural vérité of the hood, nor did it directly address racial injustice; rather, P.M. Dawn waxed existential about God, love and the desire to transcend this unfathomable world. They veered even further afield of conventional rap on their sophomore LP, The Bliss Album ... ?, from 1993.

Not that Jesus Wept is a fringe album. Its overall milieu actually shares more with the slick New Jack sound of Babyface than with the more experimental tinkerings of Tricky. Prince Be and J.C. (a k a DJ Minutemix) use polished, almost overproduced vocal and instrumental tracks to lure you into a world of subtle chaos – a drum track that wanders slightly off beat, an edgy rock-guitar line, a drop-dead confessional lyric like "I can't stop screamin' 'cause I'm failing to entertain all of myself."

Doubt and confusion run rampant through Jesus Wept, an album whose very title suggests disappointment. Prince Be alludes to life's darker mysteries in his various musical shadings and his frequent use of the word shadows. In the psychedelic "My Own Personal Gravity," he asks, "Why am I always misinterpreting my guilt?" Yet he seems confident that if he can just let go of his worldly doubts, he will be redeemed by higher forces.

When you get beyond the incredible candy-coated surface, P.M. Dawn's songs are hardly soft. Prince Be's intelligent, enigmatic lyrics and J.C.'s deft mixes are almost subversive in the way they undermine the rules of every pop genre the duo mines. The sizzling "9:45 Wake-Up Dream" floats over a dub-bass line charged by a fuzzy rock-guitar hook and interrupted by a tempo change, a treated vocal part and faint, computerized bells. Underneath, the seductive poly-rhythmic currents flow like honey from beginning to end.

As P.M. Dawn move further away from rap, their occasional cosmic excesses fit well into the duo's vaguely religious-existential view of the world. "Bless me cursed with colorful emotions," Prince Be appeals to the Almighty in "Sometimes I Miss You So Much." Jesus Wept probably won't win over any hard-core hip-hop naysayers, but as a cohesive set of studio-perfect pop, it stands up to the works of two other legendary eccentrics, Brian Wilson and that other Prince – the one who changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol. (RS 720)

Sdldawn said:

I've always preferred The Bliss Album to Jesus Wept.

Whatever happened to them anyway? I have all their albums and love each one. I check from time to time in the wrecka stow hoping that they have put out a new CD.

AcidRockGemini said:

give u a summary of the past few years..

Be released f*cked music (2cd of new material and other disk of unreleased music) for fans on the website. It was for a limited time and now its gone. It was autographed and is probably some of his best material to date.

Now he's doing some things you all will see very soon. and his new album Jim Sullivan Syndrone is comin out in a few months.. i think its a double album.

Some new music is availible to hear at www.pmdawn.net

its getting a facelift very soon..


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[Edited 9/20/04 7:34am]

Their last great album before the Jesus Christ posturing of "Dearest Christian." "Downtown Venus" still rocks! "Fantasia's Confidential Ghetto" remains one of the best suites of the '90s.

i loved their first album...the second one i wasn't so thrilled with...but they definitely had some great stuff.

Anxiety said:

"The Bliss Album...?" was a real departure, both from what P.M. Dawn had done and what was going on in music at the time. "I'd Die Without You" is still a classic, and jams like "About Nothing (for the Love of Destiny)" have too much bounce to be hated on. Their best record by far.

Thunderbird said:

err... not sure what u talkin bout.. Dearest Christian.. i believe thats his sons name, and just about every song on that album is dedicated to him..

Sdldawn said:

In "I Hate Myself for You," Prince Be says "I feel just like Joseph" in reference to his son. He names himself after Prince, his son after Christ, it's just a little much, is all I'm saying. But "Jesus Wept" is indeed a good album!

This is the only PM dawn record I own and I LOVE IT.

Do they have any others as good as this?

Slave2daGroove said:

If you like Jesus Wept, you'd probably dig Dearest Christian. Musicall, they're in the same groove. I prefer The Bliss Album...? but it's more happy, bouncy hip-hop.

Dearest Christians got some wonderful songs on it.. the untitled song (8minutes) is the best on there.. its like 4 songs in one..
[Edited 9/20/04 9:15am]

Slave2daGroove said:

Check Dearest Christian out.. awsme. Dearest Christian is steering more away from samples... and the music itself is more live sounding than anything.. The lyrics are great and his soulful backing vocals are top notch.


very underrated album.





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[Edited 9/20/04 9:18am]

Sdldawn said:

Wow, I'd love to hear that.

Jesus Wept is my favorite PM Dawn cd. My Own Personal Gravity is brilliant!

Sdldawn said:

Thanks, I'm on it.

Thunderbird said:

i heard somewhere , possibly from the horses mouth that prince be meant the "i feel just like Joseph" line in the sense of being father of a child and feeling that he has paled into insignificance since the birth of his son (as applies to joseph who had no mention after jesus birth that i know of!!) ..

the most underrated band in existence i think...

Didnt they sing.. I'd die without you??? I loved that song!

I love this group and this album and there are too many songs on here to pick just one favorite but I will anyway. Right now I love I'll Be Waiting for You. But it changes everytime I replay this cd

Thunderbird said:

I agree with you 100%.

A fun,lush cd.It's better than one might think it is.(what the hell does that mean?)

BabyCakes said:

Yes they did..

Sdldawn said:

So his cd is unavailable?

rockwilder said:

you mean out of print? i think u can find it on amazon.com and most cd shops..

Review of Dearest Christian


Amazon.com
You may find hints of the P.M. Dawn past here--soft-spoken raps, dreamy vocals, and mellow grooves--but with song titles like "Misery in Utero," "I Hate Myself for You," and "Screaming at Me," you probably won't be set adrift on memory bliss. It wouldn't be P.M. Dawn without the usual musings on the universe and musical innovation, and J.C. (the production brains of the duo) doesn't disappoint, swerving from spare, acoustic ballads to slinky electronica with barely a breath in between. There's even a decidedly Beatlesque influence, especially on "Hale-Bopp Regurgitations," an apology for all the sins in the world (including the shooting of John Lennon). If this deliciously conceived concept album is any indication, it sounds like the birth of Prince Be's son may have brought him happiness, but not without a little apprehension. Fans of the psychedelic duo will xprobably approach this record with the same mixed emotions. --Rebecca Wallwork

Of The Heart, Of The Soul And Of The Cross: The Utopian Experience
review

Amazon.com
Back in 1991, when the Cordes brothers released their beautiful debut, the notoriously prickly hip-hop community had a collective fit. How dare that fat kid, who spoke in parables, call himself a rapper? Sampling Spandau Ballet? Talking all that hippie crap? The hardcore fans filed PM Dawn in the alternative section, but the open-minded embraced the dreamy soundscape without questioning its origins. If De La Soul worked with Brain Wilson, you'd be halfway to figuring out the flowing melodies and stream-of-consciousness raps (OK, Prince Be never was much of a microphone fiend) that PM Dawn unleashed. Years later this CD stands up, if only because the rest of the world has caught up to the confusion that Be felt in his troubled soul and translated into music so well. Simply lovely stuff. --Amy Linden

The Bliss Album..
Allmusic
Review by Steve Huey (4.5 out of 5 stars)
After the breakout pop success of their debut album, P.M. Dawn played up the lush, soothing urban-soul qualities of their sound on the follow-up, The Bliss Album...? For all of hardcore rap's hysteria over the duo's gentle demeanor and pop influences, Of the Heart, of the Soul, and of the Cross had been a predominantly rap-oriented album. That changes on The Bliss Album...?, which downplays Prince Be's rapping (only on about a third of the tracks) in favor of dreamy melodies throughout the songs, not just on the choruses. It's a logical move, since P.M. Dawn's most unique moments were often also their most reflective, and they had an obvious knack for crafting original hooks. The Bliss Album...?'s approach also provides more opportunities for the ethereal, layered vocal overdubs that had become one of the duo's signatures. While the results don't quite re-envision hip-hop the way the debut did, they're still tremendously inventive, playing to P.M. Dawn's strengths. The musical landscapes are even more lushly arranged, and the pop numbers positively shimmer thanks to the duo's increasing sense of craft. A couple of the more aggressive rap tracks break up the mood a little, as with "Plastic," a sly rebuttal of the charges leveled by the group's macho detractors. It seems unnecessary, though, since P.M. Dawn's cosmic mysticism and vastly different influences clearly aren't competing on the same turf. Luckily, The Bliss Album...? refuses to acknowledge any artificially imposed purist boundaries, continuing to chart new sonic territory and expanding the possibilities in P.M. Dawn's music.

classic album. coincidentally, i just posted at the pm dawn board about the last song on that album. right on.

Cant wait for their new album

solid album

I love Pm Dawn. Great production very musical and tons of cool tracks..