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Before the start of the Juliana Hatfield Three tour next week in Portland, Juliana has spoken to Kathleen Pierce of Bangor Daily News:

I would bring a transistor radio to bed with me and listen to all the pop hits of the ’70s, I was young and very impressionable. Soaking all this stuff up, it got into my blood.

Bands like ELO [Electric Light Orchestra], Diana Ross, the song from Mahogany, The Little River Band, ABBA, that’s the stuff that got into my blood, my chords and my melodies …The Carpenters, Eagles, the Steve Miller Band.

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Jed Gottlieb, for the Boston Herald:

When you average an album a year, you don’t generally have time for nostalgia. But “Whatever, My Love” found Hatfield looking back.

“For years, I said I’d never do one of those tours where you’d play the old album,” she said ahead of her hometown Feb. 27 show at the Sinclair.

“But I got older and my brain shifted into positivity. I listened to the Three’s first album (1994’s “Become What You Are”), and I liked it. I don’t always have that reaction when I hear old albums.

“Getting back with (drummer) Todd (Philips) and (bassist) Dean (Fisher) reminded me it feels really good to plug in, be loud and rock,” she added. “I’ve missed that.”

From a feature - 'The Juliana Hatfield Three: Still Becoming What They Are' - by Stephen M. Deusner for Paste::

If Whatever My Love sounds like a direct sequel to Become What You Are, it might be because several of these songs were written in the mid to late 1990s, when Hatfield was at the peak of her popularity. She recorded “If I Could,” “Now That I’ve Found You” and “Invisible” as demos, with Philips on drums, but they never fit on any of her subsequent albums. “I loved those songs and I didn’t want to forget about them. Todd was actually the one who suggested I bring them back for this record. He made me remember how much I liked them.”

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A feature by Patrick Foster in USA Today:

The focus of the shows will firmly be on the music and, befitting a reunion tour, the group's better-known work will take center stage. "We're actually going to be playing the Become What You Are album in its entirety. That's the first order of business. After that we're going to do some songs from the new album and some older stuff from throughout the years." As for crowd expectations, "it will be a nice kind of mixture" she predicts. "People that will be there for nostalgic reasons, and I think there will be some younger people."

OMG, SAUSAGES, HILKEN, BRAS, LOL, etc

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From an article by Jim Sullivan for WBUR's The ARTery:

At various points, Hatfield, now 47, has moved away from music, or at least, has talked about doing so. “I feel like I should be doing something more grown-up or something more respectable,” she says, “but I just feel yanked back over and over again. It’s like being in love with someone who drives you crazy. You think you want to get away, and you try to get away and you just keep getting pulled back. It’s almost like it’s out of my hands. I can’t quit it. I keep trying, but I just can’t fight it anymore.”

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Today!

Whatever, My Love - the new album from The Juliana Hatfield Three - the kind of follow up to 1993's Become What You Are - is released today on American Laundromat Records.

If you weren't part of the PledgeMusic gang who received the album last week you should be able to find it from your retailer of choice, direct from American Laundromat and as a download on your iTunes in most territories.

American Laundromat are currently streaming the whole thing too.

The Boston Globe have reviewed the record today, not altogether favourably. Juliana has had her say on what they said:

Post by Juliana Hatfield (Official).

And, because we're all 2015 now, here's a video review by The Daily Guru:

SUBSCRIBE & SHARE! Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/thedailyguru Twitter: http://twitter.com/thedailyguru Tumblr: http://thedailyguru.tumblr.com Email: thedailyguru@gmail.com Check out my book at: http://thedailyguru.net/Merchandise The Daily Guru brings the finest music news and reviews and knowledge EVERY day. Sunday - New Spotify Playlist (type spotify:user:thedailyguru into the search field in your Spotify app) Monday - New Music Monday Tuesday - Live RADIO!

There will be a liveontomorrow.co.uk review ™ in due course, but not just yet. I want to give it several more listens.

Juliana's live cover of the Leslie Gore hit "You Don't Own Me"

Lesley Gore, famed for songs such as It's My Party and You Don't Own Me died yesterday at the age of 68.

She recorded those two songs when she was 16 and 17. Extraordinary.

You Don't Own Me has been covered many times but unsurprisingly I love most of all the performances by Juliana (my favourite songwriter) and Poliça (my favourite band).

Lesley Gore performs "You Don't Own Me" on the 1964 T.A.M.I show.

The 4th track from Whatever, My Love to get the pre-release streaming treatment is I'm Shy - another of the re-recorded versions of songs previously released on mp3 a decade back.

The album's out on general release tomorrow of course.

"I'm Shy" is a song about being shy.

— Juliana Hatfield (@julianahatfield) February 16, 2015

A bunch of the initial reviews for the new album:

Whatever, My Love arrives with an extra bit of anticipation from Hatfield enthusiasts. And, much like its forebear, the album's 12 tunes are tight, tidy pop-rockers, presented in her characteristic straightforward-yet-slightly-skewed manner. See the needlepoint guitar that tears through the otherwise unadorned power-pop chugger "Push Pin," or how, on "Wood," her voice virtually mimics every twist of the circular chord progression.

4/5

Richard Bienstock, Billboard

 

While Whatever, My Love certainly sounds fresh by 2015 standards, the album still succeeds in bringing longtime listeners back to the time when “Alternative” truly meant something. 

Joel Gausten

Hatfield has always had a knack of taking a simple mid-tempo song and making it infectious.  The group accomplish that with the head-swaying "Now That I Have Found You", and the hook-filled earworm "If I Could".  It's a pop rock song that will stick in your brain well after the album is over.

8/10

Snob's Music

our #PSSF15 line up has been announced! Featuring @citizencope @wfitzsimmons @julianahatfield and @buffalotomband http://t.co/FSRrkjtFIl

— The Music Hall (@MusicHall) February 11, 2015

The Juliana Hatfield Three 2015 US dates move into April.

They are part of a double bill with Buffalo Tom on the 17th in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Details at The Historic Theater.

See the tour dates page for the list of previously announced headline shows in February and March.

Juliana, on the appeal of Guitar-Bass-Drums trios and keyboards:

It’s kind of classic and simple and hard to really fuck it up. It’s like there’s a comfort and simplicity in that sort of lineup, although lately I’ve been playing a lot more keyboards on the recordings. I’ve been getting back to playing keyboards. I just think it’s more fun to play a guitar live, because you can swing it around and bash on it and move. But with a keyboard you’re more rooted to one place. Also, I like how the guitar strings can bend, but the keyboard is more stationary and static, and you can’t … in a live setting, it’s kind of restraining.

Read the whole interview with Len Comaratta at Consequence of Sound.

American Laundromat Records are now streaming a third song from the forthcoming Juliana Hatfield Three album, Whatever, My Love.

Wood is one of two bonafide all new songs on the record.

Juliana calls the song "the opposite of 'I Wanna Sex You Up'" and describes it as being "about numbness and dissociation – feeling like a block of wood." Speaking to Rolling Stone, she says:

There are mood swings in both mind and body. Like I've said before in songs like 'I Got No Idols,' sometimes 'I don't like to be touched.' How do you handle it when you feel dead and numb? When your significant other wants affection and you don't? It's complicated and mysterious, biological and psychological and emotional.

It sounds very much like a Juliana Hatfield Three song should in 2015. Good work.

Dates at Solana Beach, CA (tickets), Atlanta, GA, and a second Philadelphia, PA show have been added to the upcoming Juliana Hatfield Three Become What You Are US tour.

Update Feb 4 - There's another show added at the Neighborhood Theatre, Charlotte, NC on March 23.

Update Feb 5 - Another one at Cat's Cradle, Carrboro, NC on March 24.

The updated schedule:

February, 2015
26 Port City Music Hall, Portland, ME
27 The Sinclair, Cambridge, MA

March, 2015
1 Bowery Ballroom, New York, NY
2 Boot & Saddle, Philadelphia, PA
3 Boot & Saddle, Philadelphia, PA
4 Black Cat, Washington, DC
6 Music Box Supper Club, Cleveland, OH
7 Lincoln Hall, Chicago, IL
8 Turf Club, St. Paul, MN
11 Tractor Tavern, Seattle, WA
12 Doug Fir Lounge, Portland, OR
14 City Winery, Napa, CA
15 The Chapel, San Francisco, CA
16 Roxy Theatre, West Hollywood, CA
18 Belly Up Tavern, Solana Beach, CA
22 Terminal West, Atlanta, GA
23 Neighborhood Theatre, Charlotte, NC
24 Cat's Cradle, Carrboro, NC

link to Philly tix: http://t.co/V44gXQ15g7

— Juliana Hatfield (@julianahatfield) January 30, 2015

link to ATL tix: http://t.co/53uTtvZ0kQ

— Juliana Hatfield (@julianahatfield) January 30, 2015

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From Juliana's official site:

Juliana’s 2011 14-song album “There’s Always Another Girl” is about to be back in stock! You can pre-order it here now for the bargain price of $8.00, plus shipping/handling. Please note that there are separate shipping/handling prices and “buy-now” buttons for North American and overseas orders.

Pre-orders: julianahatfield.com/taag.htm

Related: this site's track by track review from 2011.

American Laundromat Records are streaming another song from the forthcoming Juliana Hatfield Three album Whatever, My Love.

Ordinary Guy is another reworked version of a song previously released in Juliana's 'Honor Download Experiment' a decade ago.

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A great set of photos by David Young from Saturday night's Juliana Hatfield Three performance for the Hot Stove Cool Music benefit show at the Paradise Rock Club.

See also David's photos of other artists on the bill including Mike Gent, Jen Trynin and Tanya Donelly.

Click / tap to enlarge, obvs:

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Playing together for the first time in over 20 years, The Juliana Hatfield Three reunite at the Hot Stove Cool Music event in Boston. Juliana Hatfield - guitar vocals Dean Fisher - bass Todd Phillips - drums http://www.julianahatfield.com/

See also an alternate YouTube video of Supermodel.