In control of yourself or so it seems and you go backwards… habit… and give your control to someone else cause you LOVE THEM SO MUCH… ha ha… of course they dump you heartlessly.
Following the harrowing vulnerability of Geek the Girl, Lisa Germano’s follow-up was the decidedly more welcoming Excerpts from a Love Circus, released by 4AD in September 1996.
Like its title suggests, Love Circus chronicles the emotional roller coaster of a relationship, and deepened Lisa’s reputation for creating emotionally complex, genre-defying music and her penchant for sarcasm. The album introduced a dreamier and more playful sound, though the sorrow and surrealism remained intact.
True to its name, the entire album has carnival-like quality to it; it’s rich in texture, with whispered vocals, toy piano, layered violin, and field recordings—complete with contributions from her cats Dorothy and Miamo-Tutti, who provide meows and purrs (and are deservedly credited as performers.).
Love Circus is an album that exists in its own strange, personal universe, but is quintessentially a Lisa Germano record from start to finish.
Excerpts From a Love Circus (CD)
Released: September 9, 1996
Label: 4AD
Catalogue No: 9 46217-2
Format: CD
Country: US
Availability: Moderate
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Baby on the Plane | 3:58 |
| 2 | A Beautiful Schizophrenic / “Where’s Miamo-Tutti?” by Dorothy | 4:53 |
| 3 | Bruises | 4:21 |
| 4 | I Love a Snot | 4:10 |
| 5 | Forget It, It’s a Mystery | 3:24 |
| 6 | Victoria’s Secret / “Just a Bad Dream” by Miamo-Tutti | 5:31 |
| 7 | Small Heads | 4:02 |
| 8 | We Suck | 4:05 |
| 9 | Lovesick | 3:32 |
| 10 | Singing to the Birds | 4:25 |
| 11 | Messages From Sophia / “There’s More Kitties in the World Than Just Miamo-Tutti” by Lisa and Dorothy | 4:56 |
| 12 | Big Big World | 4:38 |
Additional Versions
Excerpts From a Love Circus (LP)
Released: September 9, 1996
Label: 4AD
Catalogue No: CAD 6012
Format: LP
Country: UK
Availability: Rare
Excerpts From a Love Circus is the second album of Lisa’s that received a vinyl release. 4AD released the LP exclusively in the U.K., which featured its own distinct packaging. This version is long out-of-print and fetches higher prices on marketplace sites like Discogs.
More photos of this set to come.
Excerpts From a Love Circus + Small Heads EP
Released: 1999
Label: 4AD
Catalogue No: GAD 6012
Format: CD
Country: US
Availability: Moderate
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Baby on the Plane | 3:58 |
| 2 | A Beautiful Schizophrenic / “Where’s Miamo-Tutti?” by Dorothy | 4:53 |
| 3 | Bruises | 4:21 |
| 4 | I Love a Snot | 4:10 |
| 5 | Forget It, It’s a Mystery | 3:24 |
| 6 | Victoria’s Secret / “Just a Bad Dream” by Miamo-Tutti | 5:31 |
| 7 | Small Heads | 4:02 |
| 8 | We Suck | 4:05 |
| 9 | Lovesick | 3:32 |
| 10 | Singing to the Birds | 4:25 |
| 11 | Messages From Sophia / “There’s More Kitties in the World Than Just Miamo-Tutti” by Lisa and Dorothy | 4:56 |
| 12 | Big Big World | 4:38 |
| 13 | Fun, Fun for Everyone (acoustic) | 3:55 |
| 14 | Tom, Dick and Harry | 4:49 |
| 15 | Messages From Sophia (instrumental) | 3:55 |
Three years after its initial release, 4AD reissued Excerpts From a Love Circus and included three tracks from the Small Heads EP to the original track list. The album artwork remained largely unchanged, but the entire packaging was printed on a glossier paper stock. The disc face, spine, and back cover were also edited to note the inclusion of the new songs. A hype sticker was also applied.
Personnel
Musicians:
Kenny Aronoff, Bill Bottrrell, Dane Clark, Dorothy, Lisa Germano, Emily Goethals, Glenn Hicks, John Hicks, Demian Hostetter, Mark Maher, Paul Mahern, Miamo-Tutti, Allana Redecki, Craig Ross, John Silbert, Jake Smith, John Strohm, Thor, Wyndham Wallace
All songs recorded and mixed at Echo Park Studio in Bloomington, Indiana and at Lisa’s home with the exception of “Victoria’s Secret,” which was recorded and produced by Bill Bottrell at Toad Hall Studio in Pasadena, California.
Art direction & design by Paul McMenamin
Photography by Matthew Welch
Portrait by Michael Wilson
All songs written by Lisa Germano.
Published by Songs of PolyGram International, Inc., Door Number One Music, Emotional Wench Music (BMI)
Mastered by Greg Calbi at Masterdisk.
Management by Tommy Manzi
Critical Reception
“Germano adds trembling violins to other aural oddities, like the plinking of a toy piano and the purring of her cat… Those quirky elements help lighten the troubled lullabies.”
Entertainment Weekly
“Germano’s music is dreamy, with her haunting violin and keyboards coloring the drifty, mercurial arrangements.”
Tuscson Weekly
After the wrenching but rewarding Geek the Girl, Lisa Germano widens her focus and brightens her outlook on Excerpts From a Love Circus. Of course, Love Circus is a Lisa Germano album, but it’s a slightly lighter take on her vulnerable, folky dream-pop: only she could make the refrain “Bruises, bruises, bruises” equally catchy and disturbing.
As the title suggests, Excerpts From a Love Circus collects vignettes about hating the one you love and loving the one you hate; once again, Germano captures awkward, abstract feelings with her dreamy arrangements, hooky songwriting and unflinching lyrics. Passive-aggressive love songs like “I Love a Snot” sport flourishes like toy pianos and tablas, and incisive comments like “A Beautiful Schizophrenic”‘s “I know you like my bad side/I love you like my good side.” Germano’s dark, self-effacing sense of humor surfaces on “Victoria’s Secret,” which answers the question “What is Victoria’s Secret?” for once and all: “She says ‘You are ugly/I am pretty/Your man wishes/You looked like me.'”
Musically, Excerpts from a Love Circus is her most grounded and eclectic work since Happiness, spanning the intricate, spooky pop of “Baby on the Plane,” the folky “Forget It, It’s a Mystery,” the menacing, Eastern-influenced “Lovesick,” and the jangly “Small Heads.” Germano closes the album on a gentle, hopeful note, suggesting with a trio of ballads — “Singing to the Birds,” “Messages From Sophia” and “Big Big World” — that finding and losing love isn’t the worst thing in the world, as long as you don’t lose yourself in the process.
It’s not quite as gripping as some of her other albums, but Excerpts From a Love Circus is still a genuine, thoughtful album and a welcome addition to Germano’s body of work.
— Heather Phares, AllMusic
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