Helmet - Betty

Betty Rocks

This is a great CD. Almost every song is awesome. Any self-respecting rock music lover should have this CD in his or her collection. I was lucky enough to grow up in the '90s when this CD first came out. I listen to it now and the music brings back a lot of good memories. August 20, 2007

Betty (1994)

There are two bands I associate with one person. There is Helmet, and there is TOOL, and both were introduced to me by my friend Chris who currently plays in the LA based band My Ruin. Borrowing ''Undertow'' and ''Betty'' won these two bands a brand new fan. So I cannot think of either band without thinking of my friend Chris, and his great taste in music.

I purchased ''Betty'' after borrowing it. I also went out and bought their earlier albums 'Meantime' and 'Strap It On'. 'Strap It On' definitely being the hardcore of the 3, 'Meantime' smoothing it out some, but by 'Betty' and the encouragement to get Page Hamilton to sing, you have a great album. One of my favourites from the 90's, and definitely one of its best.

One thing that always worked against Helmet, was the fact that Page Hamilton was a studied Jazz player always seemed to get in the way of what he was doing in Helmet. I've even done it just there in this review. But I cannot remember a single article about Helmet that did not mention ''Hamilton studied Jazz at.... but plays hard rock .....''. It got in the way of what was going on or what was expected to be heard from a Helmet album. Or that Hamilton was selling you short by not playing Jazz and seemingly giving you ''low entertainment'' music, beneath him, and supposedly crawling on the ground to be listened to by you. And I've always believed ''Beautiful Love'' was Hamilton's reaction to this whole media phenomenon of displaying his credentials. I haven't read that it was, or familiar enough with Hamiltion's reaction to this unneeded press coverage, but ''Beautiful Love'' seemed to be a big f*** you to what kept trailing every Helmet release. And by the way, Hamilton's a great jazz player.

Another huge pull to this album, particularly if you're a drummer, is the work of John Stanier. He does some phenomenal drumming on this album, and from that you'd expect he's doing Gene Krupa rolls, or Danny Carey fills, or Neil Peart syncopated beats. He's not. He's doing something that's as no frills as it can be, but he makes every song absolutely special. ''Rollo'' being a prime example of how good he is as a drummer. Stanier was a huge influence on the way I wrote drum parts for heavier edged music that I write. More than 10 years after Betty, Stanier's style still shows up in my own compositions. He is truly a fantastic drummer, but listen to ''Milquetoast'', ''Street Crab'' or ''Vaccination'' for proof. Whenever listing my favourite drummers, Stanier is always in that Top 10. Underrated. Unsung.

The album itself is practically perfect from beginning to end. Hamilton's singing I associate with that of an Ace Frehley or Jimi Hendrix. No they are not the greatest singers, but they have something that truly brings across they mean what they sing, and the occasionally flat note or rawness only lends to what the song is doing. I cannot think of ''Biscuits For Smut'' with a more refined vocal. And I may sing the chorus of ''Vaccination'' as opposed to screaming or growling it, but I don't think it sounds better or improves it in any way.

Fans of 'Strap It On' may not find the Helmet they were accustomed to on ''Betty''. Though an echo of it remains in the song ''Tic''. This collection of songs is more in line with where Meantime's 'Unsung' was going, but vastly improved and more memorable. Or that may be just me, and how much affection I have for ''Betty''. As said, its practically a perfect album, my only regret is not having the vinyl version with the extra songs on it. But I'll be looking for it for sure, preferring vinyl over CD anyway.

The songs themselves Amazon does not allow enough words for. Opening up with ''Wilma's Rainbow'' is at least 200 words there that could be written. And the album just keeps delivering after this opening statement. ''Clean'' has long been a favourite song from this album, but then I think of ''Street Crab'' and automatically change my mind. It's an album where every song is a favourite, and those albums are pretty rare to find. We sometimes give our ''less favoured'' tracks other hits or an entire miss, and I always believe reappraisal is something that should be applied to any artist or song. But ''Betty'' has no favourite tracks or those I consider 'filler'. Even the ''The Silver Hawaiian'' would have been a great direction for Helmet to have gone in with Bogdan in the band. They could have formed a completely different enterprise doing Hard Hip Hop Rock, calling themselves whatever they felt like, and been equally as successful at it and sounding at home. Bogdan & Stanier were a phenomenal rhythm section, and ''The Silver Hawaiian'' showcases this better than any other song on ''Betty''.

This is an album I can highly, highly recommend. To me it's one of the most important albums of the 90's, from a definitely unsung band.





March 15, 2006

Betty CD release missing three tracks...why?

The songs "Flushings" "Thick" and "Pariah" which appear on the vinyl version of this album do not appear on the CD. Anyone know why? Minus one star for that unforgivable omission.

In any case,it's an awesome album...WHATEVER form you buy it in. December 12, 2005

Don't Let The Image Fool You

This disc will pulverize and beat you.

Helmet was amongst one of the bands that helped to form the "nu metal" sound that many "true metalheads" have despised, along with Faith No More, Life Of Agony, White Zombie and Rage Against The Machine (why is Korn to blame?). Helmet was also a carrier of the "noise rock" scene with other artists like Unsane, Sonic Youth and The Jesus Lizard. This is one of the group's most underrated releases of all time.

"Wilma's Rainbow" delivers right to you, while "Milquetoast" and other select tracks tend to make you experience a very brutal noise session that makes your ears bleed. I can't really classify this as "brutal", as I listen to extreme death metal, but the "underground" sound that the guitars produce really attracts me, as I miss the 90's. This music still will beat you senseless until you collapse. Highly recommended, but not for the average alternative listener. May 5, 2005

My Favorite Album of All Time

I really appreciate the past few reviews given for this album, these were from individuals who understand musical superiority above the common labels and attachments given by critics who take in music at face value. Page commented that he was putting the lab coat on for this album, and that's where this album becomes so honest. Experimentation in the music industry is the most dangerous thing for any artist to do, but at the same time produces the true desires of that artist; this is where the artist has the most fun and doesn't take the results into consideration. Betty is hands down Helmets worst selling album but easily there best. This is a musicians album... the nay-sayers are obviously not true musicians, they are simply disappointed metal-heads and head bangers. Helmet easily could have stuck with the formula for Meantime in an attempt to become more popular and mainstream but fortunatelly they had the presence of mind to enjoy their proffesion instead of abusing it.

Incubus's "Make Yourself", Metallica's "Load", Deftones "White Pony", Shiner's "The Egg", Pearl Jam's "No Code" and Primus's "Brown Album" all challenge these barriers and show what an artist, like them or not, should attempt at some time in there career... play for yourself and not your fans, at least once. Music is very personal to those producing it and unfortunatelly too many artists get negative labels for showing their true colors.

Betty is a brilliant album and it is my hope that even though the ties between Page, Stanier and Bogdan have broken that all three of them are still extemely proud of the outcome of this album regardless of it's sales. Helmet is probably the heaviest music in my catalog, but I own it because it is true music. I can accept criticism of Size Matters and Aftertaste but there is no basis for any cut on Betty. Brilliant! If you are a drummer you are insane if you don't own this album, and if you criticize it please give me an alternative of what you consider true music and I will try to further my explination based on your suggestion. January 16, 2005

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