The Album Review Club - Week #194 (page 1303) - Ants From Up There - Black Country, New Road

BimboBob said:
There are plenty of very good British soul artists. Unfortunately Dexi's are not one of them.
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I am not a fan of soul in general, and it’s all relative, and really this is narrow point of view I hold around 80s UK new wavers careening this direction. I can’t think of a Northern soul artist I like, though what came after certainly inspired much of what I like. I mean, even if these guys had titled this “Searching For the New Punk/Classical/Emo/Grebo/Jazz/Metal/Bluegrass/Disco Rebels”, I’d say the same about how this sounds. The title is a mere jumping-off point.
 
FogBlueInSanFran said:
Ok done. Go. I’m all ears :)
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The obvious one is Average White Band. But give High Fade's album Life is Too fast and some of their singles ago.

And I know both mix in funk as much as soul, but there is still enough there to imo like or at least appreciate.
 
threespires said:
You'll get no argument from me re the hideous Come On Eileen. However I think you're underestimating the power of Astro's toasting on the other one. All together now...Red, red wine you make me feel so fine, you keep me rocking all of the time...

A few years back the cheeky sods stuck their name on a 'Red Red Wine' Bordeaux for about £30 a bottle - didn't try it.
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I'm due to see UB40 live this weekend (first time because I'm really there for The Fixx), so let's not ruin the anticipated crowd sing-along I'm about to experience before my trip across the pond where it will be likely stuck in my head!

I won't be singing along to that one, or much of them, but I will report back either way.
 
bennyboy said:
Never liked their singles so first listen to an album of theirs..
I will keep it short and sweet.Shite.
Even worse than Rush.1/10.
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New lows being hit here I thought never possible.

Now I can't wait to start listening, but as you can tell, I am in no Rush into trying this one.
 
Coatigan said:
The obvious one is Average White Band. But give High Fade's album Life is Too fast and some of their singles ago.

And I know both mix in funk as much as soul, but there is still enough there to imo like or at least appreciate.
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Foggy has responded about AWB, to my delicate ears, are High Fade not more funk than soul as well? Still hoping to get to see them live at some point before everyone jumps on the bandwagon. Really like what I’ve heard and seen of them so far
 
FogBlueInSanFran said:
There can’t actually be a record nor artist worse than that Sleep Token thing, but you make a pretty good case for it.
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I tried again with Sleep Token recently. Their music should be more in my natural wheelhouse, but I really just don’t get it. I must be getting old, or just set in my ways (or both!)
 
Searching for the Young Soul Rebels by Dexys Midnight Runners is proof that if you can't be good at least be committed. The vocal performance from Rowlands will get some well founded criticism but when you take them away on instrumental track The Teams That Meet in Caffs the album suffers. Proof that if you can't be good you can still be great.

SFTYSR is an album about growing up and music but it also feels like Rowlands is a bit of hard work and is maybe a little resentful. At first glance Burn it Down feels like a celebration of the music that is played on the out of tune radio, a call to anarchy and the death of Max Bygraves or such. But after a few plays of the album it now strikes me as a response to being rejected. Punk is dumb anyway and if the mohawks don't want you then add some brass and the skin heads might embrace you. If I was much smarter I'd have written a joke with the punchline being "Sax Pistols" but sadly I'm as dumb as a patriot. they are also possibly having a pop at the Specials. So maybe everyone is rejecting them? Again if I was smarter there would be a joke similar to this "Rowlands vocals don't recall two tone as much as no tone". Maybe at a stretch "tone deaf".

Speaking honestly im a sucker for the trumpet which I realise is the opposite way of playing it. So I rate this highly and it was a pleasure to discover it having only been previously familiar with Geno from this album. A particular treat was I'm Just Looking which was my familiar refrain in Kingspot Chorlton when I was being followed around by security. It wasn't far removed from some stuff I like by IDLES and the Brummy soul of Big Special.

The second half of the album dials up the white boy soul to pleasing and catchy effect but what could have sounded like Jimmy Nail doing Jackie Wilson covers is given an air of authenticity by how poor yet committed the vocals are and how working class intellectual the lyrics sometimes seem. These guys sound like a band rather than a guy with some session players. Rowlands is the big personality in the band and without him the other musicians aren't making it big but he's so bad there's no way he's getting picked by a record exec by himself. Of course many members of the band left but I think that's largely because Rowland is a giant ass.

Best song on the album for me is the over played Geno. This song is maybe the least cynical and it swings with a joyous swagger. By itself Geno is a solid 10 but maybe because it's the most familiar the other songs are in its shadow somewhat. I spend the first half of the album waiting for it and the back half practicing rolling my R's. It has one of the worst sounding guitars ever recorded but it gives me hope that with a shoebox and enough elastic bands anyone can start a band. An easy 8 especially as I'll get to annoy my wife by going "ooo ooo aaaa aaaa" in a pointless falsetto and claim she's dumb and just doesn't get my art.
 
mrbelfry said:
Searching for the Young Soul Rebels by Dexys Midnight Runners is proof that if you can't be good at least be committed. The vocal performance from Rowlands will get some well founded criticism but when you take them away on instrumental track The Teams That Meet in Caffs the album suffers. Proof that if you can't be good you can still be great.

SFTYSR is an album about growing up and music but it also feels like Rowlands is a bit of hard work and is maybe a little resentful. At first glance Burn it Down feels like a celebration of the music that is played on the out of tune radio, a call to anarchy and the death of Max Bygraves or such. But after a few plays of the album it now strikes me as a response to being rejected. Punk is dumb anyway and if the mohawks don't want you then add some brass and the skin heads might embrace you. If I was much smarter I'd have written a joke with the punchline being "Sax Pistols" but sadly I'm as dumb as a patriot. they are also possibly having a pop at the Specials. So maybe everyone is rejecting them? Again if I was smarter there would be a joke similar to this "Rowlands vocals don't recall two tone as much as no tone". Maybe at a stretch "tone deaf".

Speaking honestly im a sucker for the trumpet which I realise is the opposite way of playing it. So I rate this highly and it was a pleasure to discover it having only been previously familiar with Geno from this album. A particular treat was I'm Just Looking which was my familiar refrain in Kingspot Chorlton when I was being followed around by security. It wasn't far removed from some stuff I like by IDLES and the Brummy soul of Big Special.

The second half of the album dials up the white boy soul to pleasing and catchy effect but what could have sounded like Jimmy Nail doing Jackie Wilson covers is given an air of authenticity by how poor yet committed the vocals are and how working class intellectual the lyrics sometimes seem. These guys sound like a band rather than a guy with some session players. Rowlands is the big personality in the band and without him the other musicians aren't making it big but he's so bad there's no way he's getting picked by a record exec by himself. Of course many members of the band left but I think that's largely because Rowland is a giant ass.

Best song on the album for me is the over played Geno. This song is maybe the least cynical and it swings with a joyous swagger. By itself Geno is a solid 10 but maybe because it's the most familiar the other songs are in its shadow somewhat. I spend the first half of the album waiting for it and the back half practicing rolling my R's. It has one of the worst sounding guitars ever recorded but it gives me hope that with a shoebox and enough elastic bands anyone can start a band. An easy 8 especially as I'll get to annoy my wife by going "ooo ooo aaaa aaaa" in a pointless falsetto and claim she's dumb and just doesn't get my art.
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Another entertaining review. That line about being a sucker for the trumpet had me chortling.
 
Black&White&BlueMoon Town said:
I'm due to see UB40 live this weekend (first time because I'm really there for The Fixx), so let's not ruin the anticipated crowd sing-along I'm about to experience before my trip across the pond where it will be likely stuck in my head!

I won't be singing along to that one, or much of them, but I will report back either way.
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I saw UB40 around about the height of their fame. I think I've mentioned this before, they were the least 'together' big band I've ever seen. It was genuinely all over the shop. But it made no difference whatsoever to their ability to put on a great show that everyone, myself included, had a thoroughly good time at. Aren't there at least a couple of versions of them now after the brothers fell out?
 
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threespires said:
I saw UB40 around about the height of their fame. I think I've mentioned this before, they were the least 'together' big band I've ever seen. It was genuinely all over the shop. But it made no difference whatsoever to their ability to put on a great show that everyone, myself included, had a thoroughly good time at. Aren't there at least a couple of versions of them now after the brothers fell out?
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2 versions with the 2 brothers. Think Ali had Astro and Brian Travers in his band but they both passed away recently.
The original singer was an older brother.
The first 2 albums are very good and respected

Regarding Dexys and Rowland they're as marmite as it gets as we are seeing.
If you like him you really like but as far as hating it's fairly obvious from the reactions
 
Out on blue 6 said:
2 versions with the 2 brothers. Think Ali had Astro and Brian Travers in his band but they both passed away recently.
The original singer was an older brother.
The first 2 albums are very good and respected

Regarding Dexys and Rowland they're as marmite as it gets as we are seeing.
If you like him you really like but as far as hating it's fairly obvious from the reactions
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I think I've said before that in addition to the first two albums that the Labour of Love series, whatever you think of the versions themselves, are mostly a really well curated set of songs that show they had pretty good taste.

Back on topic I've always thought Rowland is a frustrating but nonetheless interesting musician. He's become less abrasive in his later years which has helped his cause i think.

This debut album pretty much sets out the template for his career. I think it's interesting to compare him to Weller. At a simplistic level you could basically say both approached post punk from a revivalist perspective. But Weller gave himself a manageable job in terms of how and what he was reviving and putting a twist on. His band mates were also integral to pulling it off. Net result was he was hugely successful and became the Modfather.

In contrast Rowland decides he'll do something nice and simple like try and reinvent the Stax sound for post punk urban Britain. It's a bit like saying you are going to have a go at fusion cooking and that your first effort will be a Fugu Toad In The Hole.

He then makes the job harder again by adopting a my way or the highway approach. You could argue the whole thing is hubris fuelled but you probably need a bit of that to try something so dotty. The entire venture is neatly encapsulated in There, There My Dear which probably alienates lots of people but I can't help but like the ambition and conviction that he can realise his ideas. There's plenty of great moments on this album and he gets closer to pulling off his vision than he had any right too.

Probably my biggest issue with Rowland is that his restlessness means he's always flitted from one thing to the next. Hindsight shows he was never going to have a crack at refining the sound of the first album. Instead immediately moving on to exploring (less successfully in my opinion) another twist on soul with a mostly different set of musicians. Is that someone who is simply being authentic to himself and his restlessness or is it an artist who tilts at new windmills rather than risk hitting an artistic ceiling he doesn't want to accept exists for him? I don't know the answer to that but either way I think it's good to have artists like Rowland around.
 
Signing Off by UB40 is a great album and I saw them live around that time. Red red whine though is terrible.

As for Dexy's, my wife saw them at the Mosely Folk festival last year and said Rowland came across as a bit of a twat.

I've never been that impressed by them but I could be subconsciously psychologically damaged by being present at too many occasions where it was seemingly obligatory to dance, or something, to Come on Eileen.

I'll try and listen with an open mind but first listen just too much brass.
 
threespires said:
I think I've said before that in addition to the first two albums that the Labour of Love series, whatever you think of the versions themselves, are mostly a really well curated set of songs that show they had pretty good taste.

Back on topic I've always thought Rowland is a frustrating but nonetheless interesting musician. He's become less abrasive in his later years which has helped his cause i think.

This debut album pretty much sets out the template for his career. I think it's interesting to compare him to Weller. At a simplistic level you could basically say both approached post punk from a revivalist perspective. But Weller gave himself a manageable job in terms of how and what he was reviving and putting a twist on. His band mates were also integral to pulling it off. Net result was he was hugely successful and became the Modfather.

In contrast Rowland decides he'll do something nice and simple like try and reinvent the Stax sound for post punk urban Britain. It's a bit like saying you are going to have a go at fusion cooking and that your first effort will be a Fugu Toad In The Hole.

He then makes the job harder again by adopting a my way or the highway approach. You could argue the whole thing is hubris fuelled but you probably need a bit of that to try something so dotty. The entire venture is neatly encapsulated in There, There My Dear which probably alienates lots of people but I can't help but like the ambition and conviction that he can realise his ideas. There's plenty of great moments on this album and he gets closer to pulling off his vision than he had any right too.

Probably my biggest issue with Rowland is that his restlessness means he's always flitted from one thing to the next. Hindsight shows he was never going to have a crack at refining the sound of the first album. Instead immediately moving on to exploring (less successfully in my opinion) another twist on soul with a mostly different set of musicians. Is that someone who is simply being authentic to himself and his restlessness or is it an artist who tilts at new windmills rather than risk hitting an artistic ceiling he doesn't want to accept exists for him? I don't know the answer to that but either way I think it's good to have artists like Rowland around.
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Your last paragraph is why I would liked to have put Don't Stand Me Down up. Would have tested some of the preconceived ideas at to what it would sound like.
It's his best work in my opinion but critically panned at the time due to lack of a single or press.
Re-releases and critical re-evaluation has put it down as a bit of a lost classic.
Even so doubt it would change the minds of those who don't like him but would be interesting
 
Everything I don't like on this album, can be put down to it being 'of its time'

Everything I do like about this album, can be put down to being 'timeless'.

A decent mix of the two. Overall, a professioal and well executed album, solid strong component parts. And with so much going on, covers numerous bases so always something of interest and merit.

Another worthwhile oldie I wouldn't have otherwise listened to, can't complain about that. A solid 6.
 
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FogBlueInSanFran said:
I am not a fan of soul in general, and it’s all relative, and really this is narrow point of view I hold around 80s UK new wavers careening this direction. I can’t think of a Northern soul artist I like, though what came after certainly inspired much of what I like. I mean, even if these guys had titled this “Searching For the New Punk/Classical/Emo/Grebo/Jazz/Metal/Bluegrass/Disco Rebels”, I’d say the same about how this sounds. The title is a mere jumping-off point.
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Frankie Valli. How it should be done...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5wsT9StFS4
 
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