Violent Femmes – Hallowed Ground

Hallowed Ground is the second album by the Violent Femmes, released in June 1984. As with the band’s first album, the songs were primarily written by singer, guitarist and lyricist Gordon Gano when he was in high school. “Country Death Song”, for example, written by Gano during his high school years, was inspired by the tradition of folk songs about “terrible, horrible stories”. Departing from the straightforward rock style of their first album, Hallowed Ground divided fans and critics, with many at the time mistaking Gano’s Christian lyrics for irony.

The material for the album was written and recorded before the release of their first album. Having material for several albums, the band decided to focus on more pop songs for their debut album and confuse the audience with their more experimental songs ending up on Hallowed Ground. Their aim to be unpredictable was set with “Country Death Song”, which was also the first song Gano played with his bassist Brian Ritchie after they met in high school.

The Christian lyrics of Hallowed Ground were considered by some to be ironic, despite the fact that Gano is a devout Baptist. The other two members of the Violent Femmes were atheists and initially refused to perform these songs, but after recording their first album, they relented and several of Gano’s religious songs were recorded for Hallowed Ground. Gano stated in 1989 that at the time, Brian Ritchie was very aggressive about anything Christian. He said he didn’t want to play in a band that expressed something he was so strongly opposed to. Pioneer musician John Zorn plays sax and clarinet on “Black Girls” and brass band Horns Of Dilemma play clarinet and trombone on the rest of the album.

The photo on the cover of the album is of a sculpture by Mary Nohl.

Allmusic, in a 4.5 out of 5 star review, described the album as a hellfire that fell from the sky, simultaneously enraging and delighting both critics and the group’s fans.
Orlando Weekly magazine described it as both underrated and divisive while the Phoenix New Times, thirty years since its release, called the album the band’s best musical effort and praised Gano’s lyrics as the lyricist’s defining moment “
Brian Ritchie later revealed that Hallowed Ground was the band’s favorite album and singled out “Never Tell”, which I select, as his favorite song.

Tracklist

1. Country Death Song 5:02
2. I Hear The Rain 1:30
3. Never Tell 7:06
4. Jesus Walking On The Water 3:04
5. I Know It’s True But I’m Sorry To Say 5:05
6. Hallowed Ground 4:12
7. Sweet Misery Blues 2:43
8. Black Girls 5:38
9. It’s Gonna Rain 4:12