Fear and Whiskey

This sucks.

I really think I wanted to like this more than I did. Right era and genre but for a couple of reasons I just didn't get with it. I didn't care for the mix which felt flat and I just couldn't get with the slight genre-bend. It was a bit like an off-brand cereal in that I dig the ingredients in theory but it just wasn't the profile I was looking for and enjoy.

Never heard of this. And maybe that was for the best. There are some OK elements, but no true bops.

Highlight: 'Psycho Cupid (Danceband on the Edge of Time)'

noo i acc liked this the strings were a nice touch

Incredibly weird. It might be good but I’d need to listen to it a bunch more times and I really can’t be bothered.

Don’t mistake this 3 star rating as saying it’s average.

There’s nothing average about this.

3 stars represents utter confusion.

I don’t know what I just listened to or how I feel about it.

Never heard of this before. Says first alt country album, and some of its ok but sometimes gets a little too Celtic for me, which I’m not a fan of.

This is another case where I feel way out of touch with most other reviewers. The average score almost puts it in the bottom of albums on this site, but I thought it was downright delightful. The description saying they combined country and punk definitely feels misleading though. It more so sounds like new wave with the occasional fiddle thrown in. Some of the vocals and production reminded me of The The, another great discovery I’ve had from this list

This record was not made for me. The vocals and the way they're mixed are grating. I guess musically it's fine enough but honestly... it's like it's doing something and nothing at the same time.

Me parece que la decisión sonora que tomaron era muy interesante en la teoría, pero puesta en práctica les costó que se escuchara bien. No es completamente malo, pero no destaco mucho.

Listened to this about 10 times today and not got bored/irritated. One I'll come back to.

It's just not for me.

Oh, God. British "punk" bands (probably new wave) trying to mix their sound with Celtic folk isn't exactly the best thing for a leisurely Sunday listen. It was a generic and often horrible new wave album that tried too hard to be weird but didn't get weird enough. There is no decent songwriting here to speak of, with songs not being weird enough to be interesting in an avant-garde way but not hooky enough to work as pop songs. Therefore, it settles in the no-man's-land between those extremes, aided by a poor vocal performance that sounds like every whiny British guy ever. Yup, sounds about right for this list. Shitty British new wave that has the occasional fiddle to make it sound more folky. Why must the list continually throw these albums at us poor listeners?

This album is ranked #15 of 16 1985 albums. Other 1985 albums rated by me:
Brothers in Arms(2/16)-5
Hounds of Love(3/16)-4
Low-Life(5/16)-3
Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash(6/16)-3
Hunting High and Low(8/16)-3
Steve McQueen(10/16)-3
Picture Book(13/16)-2

This is like a bad Dexy's.
And Dexy's were shite!
So what dirt does the "singer" have on the rest of the band? Because he would be the first one up against the wall. Maybe he owns the van?

cows have awful taste

It happened - it didn't do "it" for me, but was interesting music

I mean, after 1st song it was bad, than it wasn't and then I was praying for it to end.

Interesting blend of Smiths, Clash, Talking Heads era punk/new wave with country elements. Like a more sophisticated Pogues. Not bad at all.

The opening track is absolutely amazing, and set the mood for a jangly fun album to come, only to be immediately ruined by the pretentious second track that completely clashes every expectation I had going in. As the album progresses, I hear peeps of beauty in between self sabotaging punk noise, that is just completely unnecessary. Fear and Whiskey has so much potential, and after teasing its ability on the opening track, it just makes for a disappointing listen. Making punk music is great, but pairing punk with nice sounding instruments to purposefully clash makes for an awful experience. Then the second half of the album does a 180 (maybe more like 90 it's not that good) and dials in more on the folky fiddle tracks. There's nothing crazy special here, and it gets a little boring after 3 or 4 tracks, but it's definitely an improvement that made the latter half of this record bearable.

Interesting album, I liked the weird violin.