The Album Review Club - *** Christmas Break Playlist (next album 7/1/26) ***

I felt that I had to push myself with this one due to the general positive responses it was receiving. First listen it just didn't do anything and I felt that I needed to listen in another environment. Cooking didn't really help in this as it sort of merged into one. Another car journey and I'm afraid I started to feel ill at ease with it and as I neared to end of my journey I realised it was the vocals that I just didn't like/get. I found the "longing" in them something that actually started to annoy me and I almost tapped the stop button.
As mentioned in my last post I did like the synths and the ambience to it but just couldn't get on board with the whole package.
So it will have to be consigned to my least liked selections alongside (Pearl Jam & Radiohead....good company I suppose) meaning it is a 4 from the Derry jury
 
Known of the band since whenever but don’t think I have ever heard them before and their lack of singles chart action would make that likely. I certainly wasn’t motivated by the rave review in Q to go out and buy this album; I can hear why a Deacon Blue fan would.

I think a few of the comments made about the album I just reviewed could apply to this Blue Nile album. There’s nothing here to offend and it evokes the sound of the 80’s without being very distinctive. I like the music more than the singing but there’s nothing offensive.

I’ve played it four times and it’s a pleasant but unmemorable listen. I’m sure it makes for good background noise for a dinner party but I don’t think the compositions are great. I could put Saturday Night on a playlist if I used Spotify for much more than Blue moon stuff but I wouldn’t buy the album, unless I found a really cheap in a second hand copy.

Someone mentioned cranking up the volume to get the best out of it but I found when I did that the production started to fall apart a bit and I noticed more of its faults e.g the “bass” is too high in the mix.

6/10
 
HATS

Although I’m not a big fan of synthesiser bands, I do like The Blue Nile and have all their albums.
This one is my favourite not a duff track on it, it’s one of the few albums from that era I still listen to when the mood takes me.As others have said it’s very much a mood album, one that demands you sit and listen to the layers and textures whilst perhaps sipping a wee dram or two.I like Paul Buchanan’s voice, it fits the music and lyrics perfectly, as I’m known for my liking of the dour and melancholy.

Although the music is mainly played on synths, I’ve always thought some songs had a jazz vibe, so much so another of my favourite artists Marc Jordan does a great cover of ‘From A Late Night Train ’ on his jazz album ‘Make Believe Ballroom’





Great Choice Sadds

9/10
 
Having eschewed this album as an option I now have nominators envy, so well done to Sadds for having faith in it.

I apologise to my fellow posters for my lack of faith in them, in my defence I was still quite a newb at the point I bottled it. I hadn't realised what an island of quality judgement and refinement this thread was in the ocean of lunacy that is BM off topic.
 
I nominated an album to Rob several months ago and was invited to review the following album a while ago but was too busy at the time so here goes...

The Stranglers released their debut album Rattus Norvegicus in April 1977. They formed around 1975 as The Guilford Stranglers starting out as a pub rock band but soon dropped Guildford prefix. They soon started getting a following that grew and saw them playing bigger venues.

Hugh Cornwell was the main singer/lead guitarist, JJ Burnell was singer/base player, Jet black(Brian Duffy) was the drummer/ band founder and Dave Greenfield was on Keyboard and his wizardry gave the band a distinct sound.

I got into the Stranglers in 1978 as a 14 year old at a mate's house and we'd play Rattus Norvegicus for hours after school. I really liked Cornwell's angst in his singing and Burnell's heavy base playing, but Dave Greenfield was the bands unsung hero on keyboards, he developed a unique style having been influenced by Ray Manzarek-The Doors, Rick Wakeman-Yes and Jon Lord of Deep Purple.


Rattus Norvegicus contained 2 singles - Get a Grip On Yourself
Released: 28 January 1977, and Peaches - released: 21 May 1977.

A1Sometimes4:50
A2Goodbye Toulouse3:12
A3London Lady2:25
A4Princess Of The Streets4:34
A5Hanging Around4:25
B1Peaches4:03
B2(Get A) Grip (On Yourself)
Tenor Saxophone – Eric Clark (3)
3:55
B3Ugly4:03
Down In The Sewer(7:30)
B4aFalling
B4bDown In The Sewer
B4cTrying To Get Out Again
B4dRats Rally

They also gave a free 7" single with the first 10000 albums
which contained the tracks - Peasant in the Big Shitty" (live)
and Choosey Susie on B side.



I don't think there's a duff track on the album and the keyboard crescendo of Down In The Sewer finishes off an excellent album, IMO of course and I therefore give it 9/10.

Have a listen and tell us what you think of it. Hope you enjoy and thanks for listening: )
 
BlueMoonRisin’ said:
I nominated an album to Rob several months ago and was invited to review the following album a while ago but was too busy at the time so here goes...

The Stranglers released their debut album Rattus Norvegicus in April 1977. They formed around 1975 as The Guilford Stranglers starting out as a pub rock band but soon dropped Guildford prefix. They soon started getting a following that grew and saw them playing bigger venues.

Hugh Cornwell was the main singer/lead guitarist, JJ Burnell was singer/base player, Jet black(Brian Duffy) was the drummer/ band founder and Dave Greenfield was on Keyboard and his wizardry gave the band a distinct sound.

I got into the Stranglers in 1978 as a 14 year old at a mate's house and we'd play Rattus Norvegicus for hours after school. I really liked Cornwell's angst in his singing and Burnell's heavy base playing, but Dave Greenfield was the bands unsung hero on keyboards, he developed a unique style having been influenced by Ray Manzarek-The Doors, Rick Wakeman-Yes and Jon Lord of Deep Purple.


Rattus Norvegicus contained 2 singles - Get a Grip On Yourself
Released: 28 January 1977, and Peaches - released: 21 May 1977.

A1Sometimes4:50
A2Goodbye Toulouse3:12
A3London Lady2:25
A4Princess Of The Streets4:34
A5Hanging Around4:25
B1Peaches4:03
B2(Get A) Grip (On Yourself)
Tenor Saxophone – Eric Clark (3)
3:55
B3Ugly4:03
Down In The Sewer(7:30)
B4aFalling
B4bDown In The Sewer
B4cTrying To Get Out Again
B4dRats Rally

They also gave a free 7" single with the first 10000 albums
which contained the tracks - Peasant in the Big Shitty" (live)
and Choosey Susie on B side.



I don't think there's a duff track on the album and the keyboard crescendo of Down In The Sewer finishes off an excellent album, IMO of course and I therefore give it 9/10.

Have a listen and tell us what you think of it. Hope you enjoy and thanks for listening: )
Click to expand...


WTF is going on?

0/10
 
threespires said:
Having eschewed this album as an option I now have nominators envy, so well done to Sadds for having faith in it.

I apologise to my fellow posters for my lack of faith in them, in my defence I was still quite a newb at the point I bottled it. I hadn't realised what an island of quality judgement and refinement this thread was in the ocean of lunacy that is BM off topic.
Click to expand...
Yes. We still get a very refined ‘it’s shite’ now and again.
 
OB1 said:
Known of the band since whenever but don’t think I have ever heard them before and their lack of singles chart action would make that likely. I certainly wasn’t motivated by the rave review in Q to go out and buy this album; I can hear why a Deacon Blue fan would.

I think a few of the comments made about the album I just reviewed could apply to this Blue Nile album. There’s nothing here to offend and it evokes the sound of the 80’s without being very distinctive. I like the music more than the singing but there’s nothing offensive.

I’ve played it four times and it’s a pleasant but unmemorable listen. I’m sure it makes for good background noise for a dinner party but I don’t think the compositions are great. I could put Saturday Night on a playlist if I used Spotify for much more than Blue moon stuff but I wouldn’t buy the album, unless I found a really cheap in a second hand copy.

Someone mentioned cranking up the volume to get the best out of it but I found when I did that the production started to fall apart a bit and I noticed more of its faults e.g the “bass” is too high in the mix.

6/10
Click to expand...
Ok. I’ve bitten. Wtf have Deacon Blue fans got to do with The Blue Nile? (Other than they both have Blue in their name).
 
BlueMoonRisin’ said:
I nominated an album to Rob several months ago and was invited to review the following album a while ago but was too busy at the time so here goes...

The Stranglers released their debut album Rattus Norvegicus in April 1977. They formed around 1975 as The Guilford Stranglers starting out as a pub rock band but soon dropped Guildford prefix. They soon started getting a following that grew and saw them playing bigger venues.

Hugh Cornwell was the main singer/lead guitarist, JJ Burnell was singer/base player, Jet black(Brian Duffy) was the drummer/ band founder and Dave Greenfield was on Keyboard and his wizardry gave the band a distinct sound.

I got into the Stranglers in 1978 as a 14 year old at a mate's house and we'd play Rattus Norvegicus for hours after school. I really liked Cornwell's angst in his singing and Burnell's heavy base playing, but Dave Greenfield was the bands unsung hero on keyboards, he developed a unique style having been influenced by Ray Manzarek-The Doors, Rick Wakeman-Yes and Jon Lord of Deep Purple.


Rattus Norvegicus contained 2 singles - Get a Grip On Yourself
Released: 28 January 1977, and Peaches - released: 21 May 1977.

A1Sometimes4:50
A2Goodbye Toulouse3:12
A3London Lady2:25
A4Princess Of The Streets4:34
A5Hanging Around4:25
B1Peaches4:03
B2(Get A) Grip (On Yourself)
Tenor Saxophone – Eric Clark (3)
3:55
B3Ugly4:03
Down In The Sewer(7:30)
B4aFalling
B4bDown In The Sewer
B4cTrying To Get Out Again
B4dRats Rally

They also gave a free 7" single with the first 10000 albums
which contained the tracks - Peasant in the Big Shitty" (live)
and Choosey Susie on B side.



I don't think there's a duff track on the album and the keyboard crescendo of Down In The Sewer finishes off an excellent album, IMO of course and I therefore give it 9/10.

Have a listen and tell us what you think of it. Hope you enjoy and thanks for listening: )
Click to expand...

Love Peaches.
It gets an 8.
 
BlueMoonRisin’ said:
I nominated an album to Rob several months ago and was invited to review the following album a while ago but was too busy at the time so here goes...

The Stranglers released their debut album Rattus Norvegicus in April 1977. They formed around 1975 as The Guilford Stranglers starting out as a pub rock band but soon dropped Guildford prefix. They soon started getting a following that grew and saw them playing bigger venues.

Hugh Cornwell was the main singer/lead guitarist, JJ Burnell was singer/base player, Jet black(Brian Duffy) was the drummer/ band founder and Dave Greenfield was on Keyboard and his wizardry gave the band a distinct sound.

I got into the Stranglers in 1978 as a 14 year old at a mate's house and we'd play Rattus Norvegicus for hours after school. I really liked Cornwell's angst in his singing and Burnell's heavy base playing, but Dave Greenfield was the bands unsung hero on keyboards, he developed a unique style having been influenced by Ray Manzarek-The Doors, Rick Wakeman-Yes and Jon Lord of Deep Purple.


Rattus Norvegicus contained 2 singles - Get a Grip On Yourself
Released: 28 January 1977, and Peaches - released: 21 May 1977.

A1Sometimes4:50
A2Goodbye Toulouse3:12
A3London Lady2:25
A4Princess Of The Streets4:34
A5Hanging Around4:25
B1Peaches4:03
B2(Get A) Grip (On Yourself)
Tenor Saxophone – Eric Clark (3)
3:55
B3Ugly4:03
Down In The Sewer(7:30)
B4aFalling
B4bDown In The Sewer
B4cTrying To Get Out Again
B4dRats Rally

They also gave a free 7" single with the first 10000 albums
which contained the tracks - Peasant in the Big Shitty" (live)
and Choosey Susie on B side.



I don't think there's a duff track on the album and the keyboard crescendo of Down In The Sewer finishes off an excellent album, IMO of course and I therefore give it 9/10.

Have a listen and tell us what you think of it. Hope you enjoy and thanks for listening: )
Click to expand...

Not sure you’ve got the hang of this pal, it’s normal etiquette on this thread to let
Rob tot up the scores for the current album and then invite the next nominator to
post clues to his choice, once it’s been guessed you then post your nomination and write up.Its usually after 1pm we also rarely score our own picks.
However great choice, one of my favourite albums of that era and had the album with the free single,which I still own.
 
bennyboy said:
Is the Stranglers this weeks nomination
Click to expand...

BlueMoonRisin’ said:
I nominated an album to Rob several months ago and was invited to review the following album a while ago but was too busy at the time so here goes...

The Stranglers released their debut album Rattus Norvegicus in April 1977. They formed around 1975 as The Guilford Stranglers starting out as a pub rock band but soon dropped Guildford prefix. They soon started getting a following that grew and saw them playing bigger venues.

Hugh Cornwell was the main singer/lead guitarist, JJ Burnell was singer/base player, Jet black(Brian Duffy) was the drummer/ band founder and Dave Greenfield was on Keyboard and his wizardry gave the band a distinct sound.

I got into the Stranglers in 1978 as a 14 year old at a mate's house and we'd play Rattus Norvegicus for hours after school. I really liked Cornwell's angst in his singing and Burnell's heavy base playing, but Dave Greenfield was the bands unsung hero on keyboards, he developed a unique style having been influenced by Ray Manzarek-The Doors, Rick Wakeman-Yes and Jon Lord of Deep Purple.


Rattus Norvegicus contained 2 singles - Get a Grip On Yourself
Released: 28 January 1977, and Peaches - released: 21 May 1977.

A1Sometimes4:50
A2Goodbye Toulouse3:12
A3London Lady2:25
A4Princess Of The Streets4:34
A5Hanging Around4:25
B1Peaches4:03
B2(Get A) Grip (On Yourself)
Tenor Saxophone – Eric Clark (3)
3:55
B3Ugly4:03
Down In The Sewer(7:30)
B4aFalling
B4bDown In The Sewer
B4cTrying To Get Out Again
B4dRats Rally

They also gave a free 7" single with the first 10000 albums
which contained the tracks - Peasant in the Big Shitty" (live)
and Choosey Susie on B side.



I don't think there's a duff track on the album and the keyboard crescendo of Down In The Sewer finishes off an excellent album, IMO of course and I therefore give it 9/10.

Have a listen and tell us what you think of it. Hope you enjoy and thanks for listening: )
Click to expand...

I think this is the easiest set of clues we've had so far. :)
 
bennyboy said:
Is the Stranglers this weeks nomination
Click to expand...
Yes it is. @bluemoonrisin' sent me a PM this morning asking when he should post it and as I've only just seen it and replied, he probably decided to take the plunge. Hopefully we can all forgive him this breach of protocol as it's his first nomination.

I'll do the round-up in a minute.
 
RobMCFC said:
Yes it is. @bluemoonrisin' sent me a PM this morning asking when he should post it and as I've only just seen it and replied, he probably decided to take the plunge. Hopefully we can all forgive him this breach of protocol as it's his first nomination.

I'll do the round-up in a minute.
Click to expand...
Nothing to forgive.
 
It seems that @Saddleworth2 has returned to the nominators fold with a very popular album. Not only did Hats by The Blue Nile become the 26th album to reach the gold standard 7.00 average, it attracted 19 reviews, which is very good going indeed. The exact rating is 7.15 which is enough for 17th place in the table.

Next up is a nomination that has been brewing a long time and I'm glad that @BlueMoonRisin’ has finally been able to take his place in the nominators list. As you may have seen, this week's album is Rattus Norvegicus by The Stranglers.
 
Mancitydoogle said:
Not sure you’ve got the hang of this pal, it’s normal etiquette on this thread to let
Rob tot up the scores for the current album and then invite the next nominator to
post clues to his choice, once it’s been guessed you then post your nomination and write up.Its usually after 1pm we also rarely score our own picks.
However great choice, one of my favourite albums of that era and had the album with the free single,which I still own.
Click to expand...
Sorry guys, didn't know the thread etiquette.
 
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