Another good and needed lead in. Given I've listened to the album this week for the first time on YT, this was a good back-story...
London 0 Hull 4 - The Housemartins
Three things stood out to me on this album in my listens:
- the sameness of most (but not all) of the songs on this and the fast-paced tempo that others have noted
- Paul Heaton's vocals and overall range. On a few of the songs I really liked, it worked quite well. The band backing vocals I found were also especially strong and complimentary
- the stellar bass playing of Norman Cook, and this prior to his later success as Fatboy Slim (I only know from his unfortunate Woodstock '99 halted performance from the documentary)
Hearing this British Indie Rock band from the mid-1980's, I was not surprised that I hadn't heard them on the radio at the time, even college radio back then, and I was listening heavily in 1985 when this album was released.
However, it hit me on track 1 that I remembered "Happy Hour" from the playlist review thread (
Alcohol). At times on that track, Heaton's vocal humming after the lyrics reminded me just a bit of Morrissey (like on "Bigmouth Strikes Again"), but maybe that's just me.
"Get Up Off Our Knees" had the same fast tempo pace to it. I liked that song too. After hearing the lyrics "bankers will be bankers", knowing what I know about English football chants, I wasn't expecting "tankers" next, but surprises will sometimes happen.
Then comes the track that probably has me mostly giving the overall score to this. I know I've never heard this song, but just what a masterpiece "Flag Day" is. It really had it all, the leading vocals were amazing, the backing vocals were powerful, and the piano and harmonica really made it. Heaton's vocal range at the end was really something to hear. I've not tired of hearing that song one bit, and repeated listens with the lyric aid has me appreciating it even more.
By the time “Axious” started playing, it hit me who the Housemartins reminded me of
musically – very early R.E.M., and “Moral Kiosk” off of 1982's
Murmur to be specific. And to be clear, that’s not a bad thing, it’s just something I was trying to place musically, and given the similar timeframe, it finally clicked and made sense for an alternative band on their early sound/first album. Granted, the vocals are quite different, but again, there’s backing band harmonies to the pace of the music, and then I couldn’t shake it. Some of the next few tracks just reinforced it for me, especially “Think For A Minute”. The bass, pacing, and lyrics in “Sitting On A Fence” worked quite well too.
“Lean On Me” worked the best towards the end of the album as a changeup gospel-like track, with guest pianist Pete Wingfield showing he was more than up to compliment the vocals and carry that song. The last song on the YT feed was “Freedom”, whose beginning reminded me of the song I nominated in the 1964 playlist yesterday, “Everybody Needs Somebody to Love”. Uncanny, almost.
A shame I can’t listen to them on Spotify, but if I could, I’d probably try out their compilation
Now That's What I Call Quite Good for more of theirs (and I like "Build" thanks to Out on blue 6 from another playlist). Kudos to
@LGWIO for another good curveball of music I missed, and generally enjoyed, especially “Flag Day”. Based (mostly) on that song alone and a few of the early tracks I highlighted, this is a
7/10 for me from the quite-far-from-Derry-and-Hull Jury.
