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

FogBlueInSanFran said:
I have considered it and we have had several “obvious” picks — and I like obvious picks. Still one of my very favo(u)rite records. In my top ten or 20 of all time.
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I don't see the point of putting forward 'obvious picks'. Not as a thread, but as me, myself.

This thread to me is about 'sharing' and I don't feel I am sharing if I put forward something I consciously think most have already heard.

But that is just me. No issue with seeing them put up by others or listening to them. They still mean something to people, and that is as important a criterion.
 
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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The Lemonheads release a new album in October and Juliana Hatfield and J Mascis appear. Be interesting to see how it stakes up to this one.
 
Saddleworth2 said:
Just watching highlights of Live Aid. Jeez lots of it was dreadful. Up to u2. The only act that was watchable (and listenable) was the lovely Sade.
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I caught some of it and obviously the point of it was it was brought together at speed for a great reason but nonetheless it's interesting to see how 'amateurish' it looks at times compared to modern production values. I walked passed the TV when Phil Collins was doing a passable impression of his Spitting Image dummy, singing Against All Odds, the camera operator is on the other side of the piano and Collins is framed by the white stage curtain behind him; which rustles away for no obvious reason until a hand emerges and for a second looks like it's going to put us all out of our misery but then thinks better of it and withdraws. As you say several underwhelming acts who happened to be big at the time. At least most of them read the room and got on and got off quickly unlike Dire Straits who insisted on displaying their wares on Sultans of Swing in a way that I'm guessing 90% of the crowd didn't give a toss about.

The other thing that occured to me was how better dressed and healthy the Philadelphia crowd looked compared to the Wembley one !!!
 
threespires said:
I caught some of it and obviously the point of it was it was brought together at speed for a great reason but nonetheless it's interesting to see how 'amateurish' it looks at times compared to modern production values. I walked passed the TV when Phil Collins was doing a passable impression of his Spitting Image dummy, singing Against All Odds, the camera operator is on the other side of the piano and Collins is framed by the white stage curtain behind him; which rustles away for no obvious reason until a hand emerges and for a second looks like it's going to put us all out of our misery but then thinks better of it and withdraws. As you say several underwhelming acts who happened to be big at the time. At least most of them read the room and got on and got off quickly unlike Dire Straits who insisted on displaying their wares on Sultans of Swing in a way that I'm guessing 90% of the crowd didn't give a toss about.

The other thing that occured to me was how better dressed and healthy the Philadelphia crowd looked compared to the Wembley one !!!
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What were those haircuts like!
 
threespires said:
I caught some of it and obviously the point of it was it was brought together at speed for a great reason but nonetheless it's interesting to see how 'amateurish' it looks at times compared to modern production values. I walked passed the TV when Phil Collins was doing a passable impression of his Spitting Image dummy, singing Against All Odds, the camera operator is on the other side of the piano and Collins is framed by the white stage curtain behind him; which rustles away for no obvious reason until a hand emerges and for a second looks like it's going to put us all out of our misery but then thinks better of it and withdraws. As you say several underwhelming acts who happened to be big at the time. At least most of them read the room and got on and got off quickly unlike Dire Straits who insisted on displaying their wares on Sultans of Swing in a way that I'm guessing 90% of the crowd didn't give a toss about.

The other thing that occured to me was how better dressed and healthy the Philadelphia crowd looked compared to the Wembley one !!!
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I watched some of this last night. Sade was class and didn't seem to wearing a bra which I'm sure Sadds noticed but is too much of a gentleman to say. Taking about not reading the crowd brings me onto Adam Ant doing his latest single to the bemused crowd waiting to hear Stand and Deliver. Be interested to know whether Weller would agree to do it again because I'm sure he got stick for doing the Band Aid song
 
Out on blue 6 said:
I watched some of this last night. Sade was class and didn't seem to wearing a bra which I'm sure Sadds noticed but is too much of a gentleman to say. Taking about not reading the crowd brings me onto Adam Ant doing his latest single to the bemused crowd waiting to hear Stand and Deliver. Be interested to know whether Weller would agree to do it again because I'm sure he got stick for doing the Band Aid song
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I'd put good money on the fact Sadds noticed cause it was hard not to but as you say, a gentleman.

I don't remember him personally getting lots of stick directly but certainly the likes of the NME and bands like The Smiths had things to say about it that clearly encompassed him I seem to recall. He did express his own ambivalence at the time and it really wasn't his natural environment Wouldn't be surprised if the experience played into him becoming involved in Red Wedge a short while later.
 
I hope that I’m a gentleman and would only say she was icy cool when everyone else was clearly sweating buckets. Arenas are probably not the best backdrop for her but she did pretty bloody well to replicate her jazz/funk/soul sound topped with that voice. And she looked stunning.

Sheer class.
 
Anyway, back to the Lemonheads. My daughter reminded me today that she used to play this album and have a LH tee shirt when she was sixteen. She said she liked them because they sounded like a ‘school band’. Hmmmm.
She also reminded me that at the time I was listening to quite a bit of what my kids listened to and although I loved Nirvana and a little later Oasis I certainly didn’t take to the Lemonheads.

I have listened to it quite a bit trying to wring the last vestiges of enjoyment out of what I think is a very ordinary album.

It lacks the drive, hooks, song writing and energy of Nevemind. It lacks the beauty of some of the melody and precision of the playing on Automatic for the People. It sounds like listening to the soundtrack of a bad episode of Friends. It feels like having a tepid shower where the water pressure is down to a trickle. It’s wishy washy. It’s early REM lite. It completely lacks soul and emotional heft. Some of the melody’s grew on me. It’s a shame about Ray the track was probably my favourite but but but.
Some of the guitar work is risible. The drumming is straight out of year 4 music class. The vocals are bland. I wanted to like it but I’m afraid I really didn’t no matter how hard I tried.

3/10

5 being my average for an ok album.
 
It's June 1992, and an album had just come out that blew my tiny mind. Angel Dust. One of my favourite albums ever. Faith No More went in a completely different direction after The Real Thing, mainly due to Mike Patton actually having some influence on the music rather than just rushing out the lyrics like he had done for the previous effort. A mighty fine effort though it was.
Now we get soaring vocals, banging bass, samples and songs that move from the sublime, Midlife Crisis, to the ridiculous, the cover of Midnight Cowboy. You even got a cover of the 70's Commodore hit 'Easy' if you bought the re-release a year later. There's even a wee bit of country in there with R.V. It's an album that takes you to the highest highs before dropping you down to the lowest of lows. As a reinvention it's an absolutely stunning piece of work. As a stand alone album it's a work of genius.

Bollocks. You want me to talk about the other album from America that came out in June 1992 don't you. The one where the lead singer makes Liam Gallagher sound like a professional opera singer.
The one that could grace the closing credits of my most favourite tv show ever, you know, the one where they all stand around looking gormless until it's their time to utter their inane and drivelsome lines. The one where one of them got drunk and they all acted like it was the end of the world.
Or the time one of them started to smoke, no, not because of their excellent acting ability, but because it seemed so cool, and they all piled on.
Or that one where a big moustache got a studio audience to whoop and holler like they all had been handed 2000 dollars to leave. You really couldn't make it up. Oh, they did. Shit.
The band where the lead "singer" Evan Dando, probably through no fault of his own, was a media darling. Handy if you have a band to promote. Especially a band that really has no redeeming features. Guitar? Well it's there, I can hear it, though not loud enough to drown out the horrible singing. The drums. They keep time, mostly. And in Turnpike Down they nearly drown out dear old Evan. I wish someone would.
Songs? Shame About Ray has a pleasing guitar key change. Which Soundgarden nicked two years later for Black Hole Sun. Obviously a lie. But you heard it here first.

Score?

It's dire pish. A monotonous dreary offering. And this is from someone who quite likes stoner/ slacker rock.

2/10
 
BimboBob said:
It's June 1992, and an album had just come out that blew my tiny mind. Angel Dust. One of my favourite albums ever. Faith No More went in a completely different direction after The Real Thing, mainly due to Mike Patton actually having some influence on the music rather than just rushing out the lyrics like he had done for the previous effort. A mighty fine effort though it was.
Now we get soaring vocals, banging bass, samples and songs that move from the sublime, Midlife Crisis, to the ridiculous, the cover of Midnight Cowboy. You even got a cover of the 70's Commodore hit 'Easy' if you bought the re-release a year later. There's even a wee bit of country in there with R.V. It's an album that takes you to the highest highs before dropping you down to the lowest of lows. As a reinvention it's an absolutely stunning piece of work. As a stand alone album it's a work of genius.

Bollocks. You want me to talk about the other album from America that came out in June 1992 don't you. The one where the lead singer makes Liam Gallagher sound like a professional opera singer.
The one that could grace the closing credits of my most favourite tv show ever, you know, the one where they all stand around looking gormless until it's their time to utter their inane and drivelsome lines. The one where one of them got drunk and they all acted like it was the end of the world.
Or the time one of them started to smoke, no, not because of their excellent acting ability, but because it seemed so cool, and they all piled on.
Or that one where a big moustache got a studio audience to whoop and holler like they all had been handed 2000 dollars to leave. You really couldn't make it up. Oh, they did. Shit.
The band where the lead "singer" Evan Dando, probably through no fault of his own, was a media darling. Handy if you have a band to promote. Especially a band that really has no redeeming features. Guitar? Well it's there, I can hear it, though not loud enough to drown out the horrible singing. The drums. They keep time, mostly. And in Turnpike Down they nearly drown out dear old Evan. I wish someone would.
Songs? Shame About Ray has a pleasing guitar key change. Which Soundgarden nicked two years later for Black Hole Sun. Obviously a lie. But you heard it here first.

Score?

It's dire pish. A monotonous dreary offering. And this is from someone who quite likes stoner/ slacker rock.

2/10
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Keep meaning to ask, are you more of a Will and Grace man yourself?
 
BimboBob said:
It's June 1992, and an album had just come out that blew my tiny mind. Angel Dust. One of my favourite albums ever. Faith No More went in a completely different direction after The Real Thing, mainly due to Mike Patton actually having some influence on the music rather than just rushing out the lyrics like he had done for the previous effort. A mighty fine effort though it was.
Now we get soaring vocals, banging bass, samples and songs that move from the sublime, Midlife Crisis, to the ridiculous, the cover of Midnight Cowboy. You even got a cover of the 70's Commodore hit 'Easy' if you bought the re-release a year later. There's even a wee bit of country in there with R.V. It's an album that takes you to the highest highs before dropping you down to the lowest of lows. As a reinvention it's an absolutely stunning piece of work. As a stand alone album it's a work of genius.

Bollocks. You want me to talk about the other album from America that came out in June 1992 don't you. The one where the lead singer makes Liam Gallagher sound like a professional opera singer.
The one that could grace the closing credits of my most favourite tv show ever, you know, the one where they all stand around looking gormless until it's their time to utter their inane and drivelsome lines. The one where one of them got drunk and they all acted like it was the end of the world.
Or the time one of them started to smoke, no, not because of their excellent acting ability, but because it seemed so cool, and they all piled on.
Or that one where a big moustache got a studio audience to whoop and holler like they all had been handed 2000 dollars to leave. You really couldn't make it up. Oh, they did. Shit.
The band where the lead "singer" Evan Dando, probably through no fault of his own, was a media darling. Handy if you have a band to promote. Especially a band that really has no redeeming features. Guitar? Well it's there, I can hear it, though not loud enough to drown out the horrible singing. The drums. They keep time, mostly. And in Turnpike Down they nearly drown out dear old Evan. I wish someone would.
Songs? Shame About Ray has a pleasing guitar key change. Which Soundgarden nicked two years later for Black Hole Sun. Obviously a lie. But you heard it here first.

Score?

It's dire pish. A monotonous dreary offering. And this is from someone who quite likes stoner/ slacker rock.

2/10
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As a matter of interest what would your score be for Angel Dust - it would be a 9 for me
 
BimboBob said:
Fuck me no. Frasier is probably my favourite.
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Yeah that wasn't an overly serious suggestion on my part. At least Frasier had likeable characters, well Eddie at least.

People tell me I would like It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia because apparently it's an anti-sitcom, whatever that is.
 
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