Reviews by nevele

Yup, that's blues alright.

What a phenomenal album. It deviates from earlier XTC not only because of the other instruments used and the use of The London Sessions Orchestra, but also the song structures. Don't expect the cynical wave rock from the 80's but great atmospheric arrangements, often in an orchestral guise, but never over the top or bombastic.

Apparently the creation of this album and the songs on it took years. Years of exploration, of contention, of separation. And that is audible. And palpable.
It's not a full 5* album though, because the 2 songs that Mouldin contributed to the album (Frivolous Tonight and Fruit Nut) are not up to the level of Andy Partridge's songs.
It might not be an innovative album, but how much beauty do you want on an album?

Standout tracks are Easter Theatre, Greenman, Your Dictionary and the absolute incredible ending of The Last Balloon.

4,5*.

I don't really know what to say about this album. Musically it's... fine. The lyrics besides being a bit moralistic are ... fine. In comparison to their first album this album is just fine.

It was ok. Not a standout in the period, not a standout in its time.
But, for what it's worth, it's a very grown-up album for a debut by a young band, I'll give them that. They sound like they've been playing this for 15 years.

There is a huge discrepancy between how much I want to like this album listening at home and my actual enjoyment.

I remember sitting in the chill-out rooms at raves and gabber parties and fully digging the beats and old style detroit sounds, I remember dancing on festivals until the early morning on the french electro of this duo, but it really has never transferred that magic to a home environment.

Actually totally the opposite, it is just irking me and I want to skip most songs halfway through. So what to rate an album like that? I know how awesome this is in a live setting, how great, energetic and hypnotic this can be on the dancefloor, but as an album at home on speakers or headphones it just totally falls flat.

It just doesn't feel like Kraftwerks best work, but I'm probably wrong. Still great though

This record is particularly famous for being one of the first albums to use the then state-of-the-art synthesizer/computer Fairlight. I really see the album as a kind of musical laboratory with Kate Bush as a writing and producing 'mad professor'.
The fruits of the experimental drive are then reaped on the successor to this album: Hounds Of Love

I'm not a big fan of live albums. And especially on a '1001' albums list do live albums feel like glorified 'best of's'

But I'll make one exception for this loud, energetic, unrelenting beast of an album. What a power.

Not an album I actually listened to when it came out. Even with how big Blur became it was basically only the singles that I heard. I really disliked "Girls & Boys," thought "Parklife" was great fun, and really adored "To The End."
Still, never picked it up, for no discernable reason I can think of.

And now, listening to this 30-year old album with fresh ears I realise what I missed. Yes, the album has a few misses ("Jubilee", "Bank Holiday", "The Debt Collector") that after a few listens I grit-teethed through more than enjoyed them, but the majority of the 16 songs are fun ("Tracy Jacks"), clever ("Trouble In The Message Centre"), beautiful ("This Is A Low") and with some amazing lyrics ("London Loves")

I can hear musical influences from XTC and David Bowie, but also some more 60's influences than I thought Blur usually had. Some Kinks and even some Beach Boys.
It's not a 5* album for me due to some of the lesser songs on here and that I still think Girls & Boys is annoying as hell. For the rest, great marks!

In a time where songs have become more important than albums, I'm happy to have listened to an album again.
I was aware of the singles Static Resistance and Negative Space that have been played on my alternative radio stations, but for some reason never got to listen to the entire album.
And it really didn't disappoint, the album is listening to a heavy trip.

This really is the most generic 80's music I've ever heard. All the tricks, all the filler sounds, all the exact drum loops.
This has not stood the test of time

I don't really know what to do with this album. On the one hand there are a few really great songs on here and you're definitely listening to the blueprint of what would become Tommy.

On the other hand do the jingles and commercials become really tedious at a third and fourth listen and you start to listen that not all songs are of the level that The Who has reached on albums before and after this one. It lacks a bit of the intensity of others.

But in the end it stays a real interesting time-piece of 1967 and by spoofing and satirizing the Pirate Radio Stations of the era, it gives us listeners in the 2020's a good idea about the era.

I have listened to this album three times and I have the feeling I'm missing things. I'm not getting it.
It probably deserves more listens to fully get it, but life's too short

I thought I knew enough about music but the classification of this album as 'country' absolutely baffles me.

What I think I'm listening to is a great mix of acoustic and electric music, which draws from the 70's rock, roots and Americana, with an absolute amazing lead singer, with a sound that's influenced by the grunge.
Some incredible songs like "Jupiter and Teardrop" and "Fuzzy" mixed unfortunately with some lesser gods further down the tracklist.
All on all a really pleasant listen.

But Country? Really? Am I so out of touch?

A band I never picked up on in the 90's so these were my first time listening to them.

At my first listen, I really thought after the first two songs (and especially "Bailed Out") I found a new favourite band, but after that the album dropped off.
Listening to this album a few more times and also the songs further up in the album started to shine, like "Idiot Brother" and "How Could I Be Wrong."

Now after my 5th listen I can see how this would be classed as a 'forgotten masterpiece.'
All songs are incredibly well written, superbly melodic - there's not a sound out of place - but there's a lot of rough edges. Or 'spiky' as a friend of mine would call it.

Reading up on it, this debut is apparently not even their best album. I'll be looking into the rest!

4,5*

What a superb album. This might be the best British Ska has to offer. And it's got something to say to boot!

This really is just a weaker version of the Moody Blues. Some songs stick out and are above mediocrity, like the title track.

This is really not for me. It bored me, it didn't bring anything new.

Every song on this album is decidedly different from all others, the lyrics are great and the music has a soothing feel over it.

It hold a strange middle between schtick, hardcore and nu-metal.
When 'Wait And Bleed' came out in 1999, it positively surprised me and made me listen to this album. I remember how unimpressed I was with the rest of the album, which I found decidedly mediocre (Medio-Core ? Hah!)

I can't say that re-listening to it now, 20 years after the fact, has really put this album in a different perspective. The only thing I'm hearing better is how excellent the drumming was and how good Corey Taylors voice fits the music.

But the songs, with a few exceptions, are not any better -and oftentimes a lot less, than that of their peers on either the hardcore or the nu-metal side.

It must've been the schtick then that pulled them over the line.