All Time Top 1100 Albums (Aerosmith - Big Ones) P265

I'll be back with my thoughts on this record later, but let me tell you about my day thus far.

City win.
Utd lose.
Liverpool draw with a defense that looks like a leaky bucket.
My oldest kid -- a piano player -- says, "Hey Dad, have you ever heard of this band called The Stone Roses? I really, really like them. Can I get the sheet music to 'Waterfall'?"

Yes. It's been a pretty good day.
 
I'll be back with my thoughts on this record later, but let me tell you about my day thus far.

City win.
Utd lose.
Liverpool draw with a defense that looks like a leaky bucket.
My oldest kid -- a piano player -- says, "Hey Dad, have you ever heard of this band called The Stone Roses? I really, really like them. Can I get the sheet music to 'Waterfall'?"

Yes. It's been a pretty good day.

Missed out Antonio last min win v Leeds
 
Missed out Antonio last min win v Leeds
Ha ha fair. Was just emailing with my Hammer buddy about that this second! He’s one of those Yank fans — may have mentioned him; was an article on him and his buddy in the last club program for the last Upton Park match. Pleased to see you lot doing well.
 
I'll be back with my thoughts on this record later, but let me tell you about my day thus far.

City win.
Utd lose.
Liverpool draw with a defense that looks like a leaky bucket.
My oldest kid -- a piano player -- says, "Hey Dad, have you ever heard of this band called The Stone Roses? I really, really like them. Can I get the sheet music to 'Waterfall'?"

Yes. It's been a pretty good day.
Poetic...........
 
As @BlueHammer85 pointed out, this record still sounds reasonably fresh after nearly 40 years. Violent Femmes, as I mentioned before, was once an utter staple, blasting out of every white kid’s dorm room when I was a freshman in college on any weekend with decent weather. “I hope you know that this will go down on your permanent record” was a verbal meme before the internet invented photographic memes 25 years or whatever later.

But this record reminds me a lot of Breakfast in America by Supertramp. And you’re saying to yourself, “Errrrrr . . . what?”

By this I mean that song for song, the record is pretty strong, with a couple of great big winners, some fairly right tunes representative of the band . . . and then one absolutely god-awful piece of crap that nearly ruins the record and is instantly skipped over by nearly all halfway-normal listeners In this case, it’s “Confessions”. On BiA, it’s “Casual Conversations”.

Both bands also have a barely tolerable lead vocalist (one of the two of them in Supertramp’s case), sonically and attitudinally. And if you want to stretch the comparison farther, both were hits in the States, both had a unique sound, both didn’t produce anything better, and both effectively disappeared off the face of the earth after their big records were through ear-worming their way into the popular consciousness.

Back to the vocals here: Gordon Gano’s voice is so whiny (I’m using the American spelling, cuz he’s American) it really stretches your tolerance and patience to the breaking point, but it doesn’t quite break mine at least. He’s pretty angry and pretty anxious that girls don’t care for him (and this is no way to win them back). But the whining is part of the point, I think. You can’t really scream busker punk -- the authorities in the subway stations where you play it would shut you down -- but you can whine it effectively. That aside, his guitar is fast and loose, the acoustic bass walks are super groovy, and the snare is snappy throughout. There are enough pace changes and true singalongs that this record never gets boring. To the extent busker punk can have anthems, “Blister In The Sun”, “Add It Up”, and “Gone Daddy Gone” (dig the xylophone) all qualify. I’ve always liked “Kiss Off” and “Promise” a lot too.

The issue with these guys is that they shot their wad, and their wad was definitionally small in the very tight, thin configuration they played in. Thematically, I think they pretty much exhausted all they had in the these ten songs too. But that’s as maybe. This record is a fairly indelible alternative classic, another example of the creativity that exploded in the wake of punk ripping up the playbook in the late 70s and early 80s. 7/10.
 
Last edited:
I'll be back with my thoughts on this record later, but let me tell you about my day thus far.

City win.
Utd lose.
Liverpool draw with a defense that looks like a leaky bucket.
My oldest kid -- a piano player -- says, "Hey Dad, have you ever heard of this band called The Stone Roses? I really, really like them. Can I get the sheet music to 'Waterfall'?"

Yes. It's been a pretty good day.
Have you ever heard of a band called The Stone Roses? Ah, the innocence of youth.
 
An interesting listen for sure. I generally shy away from anything in the "punk" genres (or sub-genres) - all that attitude and very little musicality, but this isn't like my idea of punk at all. There are some bloody annoying aspects - the childish lyrics (and I agree with Foggy's comments about the whiny voice), plus some of the background vocals sound like they're singing on a Wiggles record. But some of the acoustic guitar/bass work is excellent, and I also agree with some of the comments above that for a 1983 recording, the sound is very good. Problem is, aside from a few catchy tunes, there's just nothing I'd ever want to hear again, but it's not a bad album.

6/10
 
An interesting listen for sure. I generally shy away from anything in the "punk" genres (or sub-genres) - all that attitude and very little musicality, but this isn't like my idea of punk at all. There are some bloody annoying aspects - the childish lyrics (and I agree with Foggy's comments about the whiny voice), plus some of the background vocals sound like they're singing on a Wiggles record. But some of the acoustic guitar/bass work is excellent, and I also agree with some of the comments above that for a 1983 recording, the sound is very good. Problem is, aside from a few catchy tunes, there's just nothing I'd ever want to hear again, but it's not a bad album.

6/10

that’s exactly how I feel with this album
 
As @BlueHammer85 pointed out, this record still sounds reasonably fresh after nearly 40 years. Violent Femmes, as I mentioned before, was once an utter staple, blasting out of every white kid’s dorm room when I was a freshman in college on any weekend with decent weather. “I hope you know that this will go down on your permanent record” was a verbal meme before the internet invented photographic memes 25 years or whatever later.

But this record reminds me a lot of Breakfast in America by Supertramp. And you’re saying to yourself, “Errrrrr . . . what?”

By this I mean that song for song, the record is pretty strong, with a couple of great big winners, some fairly right tunes representative of the band . . . and then one absolutely god-awful piece of crap that nearly ruins the record and is instantly skipped over by nearly all halfway-normal listeners In this case, it’s “Confessions”. On BiA, it’s “Casual Conversations”.

Both bands also have a barely tolerable lead vocalist (one of the two of them in Supertramp’s case), sonically and attitudinally. And if you want to stretch the comparison farther, both were hits in the States, both had a unique sound, both didn’t produce anything better, and both effectively disappeared off the face of the earth after their big records were through ear-worming their way into the popular consciousness.

Back to the vocals here: Gordon Gano’s voice is so whiny (I’m using the American spelling, cuz he’s American) it really stretches your tolerance and patience to the breaking point, but it doesn’t quite break mine at least. He’s pretty angry and pretty anxious that girls don’t care for him (and this is no way to win them back). But the whining is part of the point, I think. You can’t really scream busker punk -- the authorities in the subway stations where you play it would shut you down -- but you can whine it effectively. That aside, his guitar is fast and loose, the acoustic bass walks are super groovy, and the snare is snappy throughout. There are enough pace changes and true singalongs that this record never gets boring. To the extent busker punk can have anthems, “Blister In The Sun”, “Add It Up”, and “Gone Daddy Gone” (dig the xylophone) all qualify. I’ve always liked “Kiss Off” and “Promise” a lot too.

The issue with these guys is that they shot their wad, and their wad was definitionally small in the very tight, thin configuration they played in. Thematically, I think they pretty much exhausted all they had in the these ten songs too. But that’s as maybe. This record is a fairly indelible alternative classic, another example of the creativity that exploded in the wake of punk ripping up the playbook in the late 70s and early 80s. 7/10.

Aside from long being aware of their existence, I have zero familiarity with the Violent Femmes and listening to the track BH posted, I feel confident that my decision to ignore them was well founded. I may listen to the album if time permits though.

What I can comment on is Supertramp as I do own a number of their albums and have seen them in concert a couple of times (both prior to Breakfast). You may need to have been at an English Grammar school to fully appreciate Supertramp fully but BIA is not their crowning artistic glory: it's just the one that sold in bucket loads to the Yanks. Crime of the Century is their best work and one of my favourite albums; not that I don't like BIA immensely.
 

Don't have an account? Register now and see fewer ads!

SIGN UP
Back
Top
  AdBlock Detected
Bluemoon relies on advertising to pay our hosting fees. Please support the site by disabling your ad blocking software to help keep the forum sustainable. Thanks.