The Album Review Club - Week #191 (page 1286) - Harlequin Dream - Boy & Bear

Oh Aye?

Add best excuse to spires awards' list too!

(That has happened to me before though, so I believe you)
 
Dando was one of those pop stars for whom the column inches were way out of kilter with what he'd actually done. Early celebrity culture stuff. That said, I like this album in the way that I think Foggy was saying he likes SITR. This pick will prompt me to have a listen to some of Juliana Hatfield's back catalogue that I haven't heard.
 
threespires said:
Dando was one of those pop stars for whom the column inches were way out of kilter with what he'd actually done. Early celebrity culture stuff. That said, I like this album in the way that I think Foggy was saying he likes SITR. This pick will prompt me to have a listen to some of Juliana Hatfield's back catalogue that I haven't heard.
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Agree, I think he was "the next big thing" and was a bit of a darling with the music press, but then they would fawn over anyone for the sales and if it was "cool".
At the time I seem to recall there was as many column inches devoted to whether Evan/Juliana were an item or not. Perhaps thats a comment on the album as a whole as the focus was taken away from the actual music?
 
LGWIO said:
Agree, I think he was "the next big thing" and was a bit of a darling with the music press, but then they would fawn over anyone for the sales and if it was "cool".
At the time I seem to recall there was as many column inches devoted to whether Evan/Juliana were an item or not. Perhaps thats a comment on the album as a whole as the focus was taken away from the actual music?
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The indie prom king and and queen as they were once caustically called I think.
 
Hi all — thanks to everyone for all the kind words about my friend. In the end, a reminder to live our best lives all the time.

This week’s record is one I have considered nominating several times. In fact I have even considered clues for it. Like Moving Pictures, I don’t even need to listen to it I’ve heard it so often, but I will anyhow, as my wife and I have an 8 hour drive Friday and she loves this record too. It’s going to get a big score and a positive review from me. Well done @LGWIO !!

Similar to Jim Kerr, there is a bit of an “Evan Dando is a twat” dynamic I expect to get brought up, but once again, I will overlook this in deference to the remarkable set of hooks.
 
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Black&White&BlueMoon Town said:
Ah, tracks I don't know.

It's a Shame I only knew Ray, and that wasn't ever going to be enough. ;-)
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I was going to do a picture of Ray Charles’ funeral, and for the band, the candy without the wrapper.

The title actually comes from a newspaper headline in Australia if I recall correctly.
 
Sorry everyone, work again has been crazy - luckily I start a new job next week though! Fed up of having to work nonsense hours on crap stuff! :)

Funnily enough, we were talking about The Lemonheads at a friends party a few weeks ago and we couldn't quite remember if they were good but the Mrs Robinson cover was awful, or whether the album was duff and the cover quite good. We all agreed that the cover was 'ok' but not a patch on the original and when we put the album on we ended up skipping a lot of the tracks. When I was learning to play the guitar, Paul Simon was a 'god' to me - what a guitarist and songwriter he is so I guess anyone who covered one of his songs had to do it well and differently. To be fair, The Lemonheads did but it just highlighted to me how good the original was.

Rightly, or wrongly, as someone who loved the grunge scene The Lemonheads were seen as 'fake'. They didn't have the authenticity of a Nirvana, Pearl Jam etc. The lead singer seems to want to be a pretty Kurt Cobain (from memory) and it just didn't feel right. So I guess this album was always going to land on tough ears. The Mrs Robinson cover probably made them even less authentic and maybe we saw them as a grunge band for people who didn't like grunge.

I had a listen to the album and to be honest, it's ok. It's not bad by any measure but I still can't help but compare it to the great grunge albums by Nirvana (Nevermind, Blech, In Utero, Incesticide), Pearl Jam (10, Vs), Stone Temple Pilots (Purple), Soundgarden etc etc and it's just not quite as good. However, it's a perfectly listenable album once I shrug off that 'grunge snootiness' I once had! :) the tracks still feel like ones for a party and background music but overall it was better than I remember.

7/10
 
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