Entertainment Weekly - "...Catchy-quirky rules on this sophomore album, as ex-Throwing Muse Tanya Donelly & Co. continue to learn pop songcraft..." - Rating: B+ Spin - 8 - Highly Recommended - "...remakes [Belly]...as a rock'n'roll band....[KING] transmutes sexy Gothic languor into space-age rocket science like the spirit of Angela Carter wielding a Strat....When Donelly turns the lights down low for a ballad or two, she evokes Led Zeppelin..." Musician - "...Donnelly pens songs like a good magician performs tricks, palming her pretty hooks, letting the suspense mount, then releasing them with a dove-flap flourish....KING is a stunning exercise in oblique strategy that grows more impressive and delightful with each successive listen..." Spin (3/95, p.94) - 8 - Highly Recommended - "...remakes [Belly]...as a rock'n'roll band....[KING] transmutes sexy Gothic languor into space-age rocket science like the spirit of Angela Carter wielding a Strat....When Donelly turns the lights down low for a ballad or two, she evokes Led Zeppelin..." Musician (4/95, p.69) - "...Donnelly pens songs like a good magician performs tricks, palming her pretty hooks, letting the suspense mount, then releasing them with a dove-flap flourish....KING is a stunning exercise in oblique strategy that grows more impressive and delightful with each successive listen..." Entertainment Weekly (2/17/95, p.58) - "...Catchy-quirky rules on this sophomore album, as ex-Throwing Muse Tanya Donelly & Co. continue to learn pop songcraft..." - Rating: B+

Rovi

At one point, Tanya Donnelly seemed destined to play the role of the endearing little sister of alternative rock. Starting her career in the early '80s with school chum Kristin Hersh's Throwing Muses, she added a supportive guitar to the Muses' frenetic sound. When she left that band in 1990, Donnelly contributed to business pal Kim Deal's then side project, the Breeders' 1990 debut. Two years later she teamed up with Christopher and Tim Gorman to finally form her own band, Belly. Now with the addition of bassist Gail Greenwood, Belly's sophomore release--entitled KING--finds both band and Donnelly taking the front seat.
KING is a working exercise of everything Donnelly learned over the years. Echoes of Hersh's polarities (ethereal verses with ricocheting breaks) and hints of Deal's hankering for looming guitar passages dot KING's landscape. However, KING is Donnelly's show. While she writes songs with other Belly members, it's Donnelly's quirky time signatures and cryptic observations that shine through clearest.
"Red" neatly captures Belly's elegance. Shimmering, graceful chords beckon on a lurching bridge where Donnelly and Greenwood alternately yelp and coo chewy-centre lyrics like "mouth like Venus/mountain like Vesuvius". KING brings Donnelly's pop leanings to light, while keeping her alternative rock foundations in focus. Belly is reaching its potential, KING proves it.|

Rovi