All Change - Cast
1995 was one year before I’d ever used the internet and many years before finding music on the internet, ripping albums to MP3 or streaming was ever a thing.
From my perspective, it was a year that was pretty thin on good albums. Early successes for Del Amitri and The Jayhawks, decent efforts later in the year by Bruce Hornsby, John Hiatt and Bruce Springsteen did not result in any top-rated albums. I mention this because I was scratching my head trying to remember why I bought
What’s The Story Morning Glory and
All Change. I think that we can agree that these albums are not typical Rob albums, but it was probably a sign of a desperate scratch around for new stuff to listen to.
Of course, I remembered “Alright”, “Sandstorm” and “Fine Time”, all very fine singles. I recently mentioned that Tom Petty’s “The Waiting” has as good a guitar intro as you could hope for but the same can be said for “Alright”, which is a fabulous opening to this album. The guitar in “Sandstorm” is superb – both the crunchy opening and the wah-wah solo in the middle.
The chord changes in “Promised Land” are exciting and dynamic. This was a song that I’d forgotten but it makes a welcome return this week. On the other hand, I definitely remember “Mankind” and “Four Walls”, the former a different, fuller sound and the latter an acoustic ditty, both good songs.
The guitar opening of “Back of My Mind” is another that I’d forgotten and whilst the song’s nothing special, the guitar carries it.
“Walkaway” is a bit lame, just like England’s Euro 96 performance. Didn’t have to play a game to qualify, nearly made a hash of the group stage, beat Spain on penalties and dumped out by the Germans. Terry Venables a genius? I think not.
“Reflections” – you’ve guessed it, another that I’d forgotten about but recognised it as soon as those opening chords started. Another good song. “History” is a bit different with that zappy sound, but not unpleasant.
I like the guitar chords throughout this album. It’s something that I miss in a lot of selections on this thread, but strong chords driving a song forward are definitely my thing. Whilst 1995 wasn’t a classic year for albums, it’s nice to have a bit of Liverpudliana to balance out all of that Americana that came before and after.
I bought the follow-up,
Mother Nature Calls, but it wasn’t in the same league.
Thanks to
@BlueHammer85 for this nomination. I did play it a lot back in 95/96 but it’s probably an album that I would not have got back to if it were not for this thread. I can live without “Tel It Like It Is”, “Walkaway” and “Two of A Kind” but every other song sets a high standard,
8/10.
PS: Fascinated by
@Out on blue 6 ’s comment about The La’s, I found this article on Lee Mavers and gave their one album a listen. Like everybody else, I know “There She Goes” (too well, it’s so overplayed) but I’d never heard the album. It’s pretty good. In fact, I know it’s already highly regarded, but to me this could be the album that everybody else thinks
The Stone Roses is. Whilst we could lament that it’s a shame that they never made any more albums, I think to write one killer song that can give you an income for life, settle down, raise a family and just be a normal, happy guy is actually to be applauded.
https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20210315-the-mystery-of-lost-rock-genius-lee-mavers
