Bill Walker
Well-Known Member
Bang on the button Rob, to call INXS a manufactured teeny pop act is 10 mile wide of the mark :). They well and truly earned their success, and I agree they had a very good front man who sadly died way too soon.
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The Album Review Club - Week #128 - (page 1587) - Pretty Vicious - The Struts
- Thread starter RobMCFC
- Start date
journolud
Well-Known Member
I’ve heard the album many times before, it used to be a favourite. Not so sure it stands the rest of time having played it today for the first in a long time but not going to commit to my review or score yet. To answer your question though, sort of, I love Swift as the Wind, my favourite song on the album and it often makes my playlists for travel or whatever. I find it the opposite of disturbingTo those that have listened to the album so far, a question: was I the only one to find "Swift as the Wind" genuinely disturbing? I mean, we can all laugh and joke about throwaway pop acts or thrash metal or rap or whatever being like nails down a blackboard and finding this or that excruciating. I know that music is supposed to be emotional and prod and poke at us, but something on the vocals on that song really got to me.
I am not saying this for comic effect, I really mean it - I was sitting at my desk working and I actually felt like shrinking into the chair a bit, worried some lunatic might pop out behind me or something. I kept checking how long was left on the track and felt relieved when it had finished. Sounds stupid writing this but I really felt something there.
RobMCFC
Well-Known Member
Wow. I guess it just shows that we all hear things differently then.I’ve heard the album many times before, it used to be a favourite. Not so sure it stands the rest of time having played it today for the first in a long time but not going to commit to my review or score yet. To answer your question though, sort of, I love Swift as the Wind, my favourite song on the album and it often makes my playlists for travel or whatever. I find it the opposite of disturbing
OB1
Well-Known Member
Fairport album released 1999.
ISB influencing for over 30 years!
“who knows…” is a stunningly beautiful song and very poignant for us FOCs.
Sandy Denny has a lovely voice.
Citizen of Legoland
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- 15 Jan 2013
- Messages
- 9,491
I tried a second full play-through but I couldn't take it, so I'll rank it based on my first listen - 3 / 10.
Some of the songs are okay in isolation and I quite liked Waltz of the New Moon and the sitars throughout but it's a tough listen for me as an album.
Some of the songs are okay in isolation and I quite liked Waltz of the New Moon and the sitars throughout but it's a tough listen for me as an album.
Mancitydoogle
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- 7 Aug 2017
- Messages
- 1,392
I was really hoping for ‘Dixie Chicken’!
but the great thing about this thread it takes you out of your comfort zone and make you listen to albums and genres you might not normally.
Having said that and no disrespect to DLBH after listening to this, had I been at Burnage Grammer in 1968 I would definitely have been in the Tyrannosaurus Rex camp!
I don’t mind folk music, Ive got the odd Richard Thompson album albeit his heavier stuff, but this unfortunately this is something else
I’d heard of the ISB and remember the Album cover but never listened to any of their music.
I really couldn’t take to any of the tracks, ‘the Minotaurs’s song ‘ reminds me of Monty Python’s lumberjack song, ‘Swift as the Wind ‘ although I didn’t find it disturbing was just so hard to listened to.
If I was forced to listen to any track again it would be ‘A Very Cellular Song’
We all have different tastes so I respect DLBH‘schoice , but if the object of the exercise is who can get the lowest rating I’ve a feeling this may win.
unless of course I get a chance to nominate an album, in which case I give you
Lou Reeds ‘Metal Machine Music’!
sadly it’s 2/10
but the great thing about this thread it takes you out of your comfort zone and make you listen to albums and genres you might not normally.
Having said that and no disrespect to DLBH after listening to this, had I been at Burnage Grammer in 1968 I would definitely have been in the Tyrannosaurus Rex camp!
I don’t mind folk music, Ive got the odd Richard Thompson album albeit his heavier stuff, but this unfortunately this is something else
I’d heard of the ISB and remember the Album cover but never listened to any of their music.
I really couldn’t take to any of the tracks, ‘the Minotaurs’s song ‘ reminds me of Monty Python’s lumberjack song, ‘Swift as the Wind ‘ although I didn’t find it disturbing was just so hard to listened to.
If I was forced to listen to any track again it would be ‘A Very Cellular Song’
We all have different tastes so I respect DLBH‘schoice , but if the object of the exercise is who can get the lowest rating I’ve a feeling this may win.
unless of course I get a chance to nominate an album, in which case I give you
Lou Reeds ‘Metal Machine Music’!
sadly it’s 2/10
journolud
Well-Known Member
A sad realisation that I don't like this album as much as I used to. It's been with me for years, as LP, then CD and more latterly download. I'm currently gathering a new vinyl collection but space is reserved for old favourites that still resonate and new indie stuff, given how much artists are stiffed by the streaming services.
It's not that I look on this like I do my first ex-wife and wonder what did I see in her but it's more a case of the little quirks that used to be so endearing are now, well you know how it goes.
I've found myself on many an occasion when browsing through my music when there is nothing in particular I want to listen to and looking for inspiration hovering over this before deciding on something else. Led Zeppelin incidentally are in the same category and if I'm having any sort of rationalisation process both face the chop (apart from Led Zep 1).
Not that this is all bad, there's lots of bits I like, I love Swift as the Wind but then I'm a bit of a sucker for unintelligible wailing when words have run out, something Morrisey managed pretty well in the Smiths as well. A Very Cellular Song has some lovely parts but overall I find it disjointed, a bit too "hippy" (I'm really over my pagan phase by about30+ years). Interestingly there are a few Christian references but I don't know that the ISB were particularly religious.
I can see why people don't like it but I can also appreciate some of the purer folk elements although that particular genre isn't high up on my list of likes.
To go back to the earlier tortured similes, or whatever they were, if this came on the radio or a random shuffle I wouldn't kick it out of the metaphorical bed but I'd probably be thinking of something ese while listening to it. Or something like that.
It's a 5 out of 10 for me
It's not that I look on this like I do my first ex-wife and wonder what did I see in her but it's more a case of the little quirks that used to be so endearing are now, well you know how it goes.
I've found myself on many an occasion when browsing through my music when there is nothing in particular I want to listen to and looking for inspiration hovering over this before deciding on something else. Led Zeppelin incidentally are in the same category and if I'm having any sort of rationalisation process both face the chop (apart from Led Zep 1).
Not that this is all bad, there's lots of bits I like, I love Swift as the Wind but then I'm a bit of a sucker for unintelligible wailing when words have run out, something Morrisey managed pretty well in the Smiths as well. A Very Cellular Song has some lovely parts but overall I find it disjointed, a bit too "hippy" (I'm really over my pagan phase by about30+ years). Interestingly there are a few Christian references but I don't know that the ISB were particularly religious.
I can see why people don't like it but I can also appreciate some of the purer folk elements although that particular genre isn't high up on my list of likes.
To go back to the earlier tortured similes, or whatever they were, if this came on the radio or a random shuffle I wouldn't kick it out of the metaphorical bed but I'd probably be thinking of something ese while listening to it. Or something like that.
It's a 5 out of 10 for me
Excellent song writers in the band and always rated in the top few bands to come from Australia to make a mark over seas.Bang on the button Rob, to call INXS a manufactured teeny pop act is 10 mile wide of the mark :). They well and truly earned their success, and I agree they had a very good front man who sadly died way too soon.
the Australian music scene is much underrated IMO which had a number of bands that were far more than just poor attempts to mirror what was happening in the UK and the US as far back as the 50's and 60's.
Bill Walker
Well-Known Member
Agreed.Excellent song writers in the band and always rated in the top few bands to come from Australia to make a mark over seas.
the Australian music scene is much underrated IMO which had a number of bands that were far more than just poor attempts to mirror what was happening in the UK and the US as far back as the 50's and 60's.
The Angels, Divinyls, Cold Chisel, Crowded House, Icehouse, Nick Cave. Easybeats were all great imo.
I am sure Bill you and I go back much further to The Masters Apprentices , Axiom , The Twilights , The Group , Blackfeather etc albeit the Easybeats were certainly pioneers and yes those bands produced some good stuff.Agreed.
The Angels, Divinyls, Cold Chisel, Crowded House, Icehouse, Nick Cave. Easybeats were all great imo.
I went to school with Nick Cave and tried out for the band on drums only because my best mate Simon not listed on Wiki was Mick Harvey's brother but came up short and was in the choir with Mick.
Nick was a real asshole back then and in a way despite his career which I am very pleased for he has kept in touch with his school mates despite living overseas for much of his adult life.