The Album Review Club - Week #128 - (page 1587) - Pretty Vicious - The Struts

[FogBlueInSanFran]

Foggy, I’m definitely not trying to piss on your chips and I will listen to it and try to digest the lyrics more, as I do love a good turn of phrase. An image conveyed in one or two lines that a thousand words could do justice to, is right up my alley.
But that partly was the problem. I know it’s post punk but I thought the production on it was poor. I had to fiddle around on the playback option with the graphic equaliser to find acceptable levels of acoustic and bass and treble, so I could make out the singing and get any appreciation of the instruments. Maybe that’s down to my speaker but other stuff sounds fine.
I also get what you’re saying regarding American white arena rock etc in this era. I just couldn’t have anything to do with any of that genre at the time and haven’t mellowed to it nostalgically either.
For all the slagging I give Morrissey in here I was delighted with the likes of the Smiths and other such British bands changing the influence in music on this side of the Atlantic. I was getting into the likes of Talking Heads from your side of the water.
However, musically I heard everything from Lou Reed/Velvet Underground to Stiff Little Fingers to the New York Dolls and others in here, all done before and sounding better. That’s what I was getting at regarding innovation.
Now that is where I am being totally subjective while trying to sound objective, I suppose.

Anyway, I love a good lyric and will give it a proper second listen, but initially don’t get any comparison with Quadrophenia either, which I love.

I better get this in before the ban goes into effect for my Power Station post . . .

I don’t think you’re pissing in them at all, and you make great points about the Velvets and SLF, definitely the former and probably the latter who The Mats were in-part channeling along with good old fashioned rock like Kiss and, say, I don’t know, Sabbath. There’s REM in here too (Peter Buck played on “I Will Dare”) and a lot of twang (Conway Twitty?). I think it’s the blend that’s the innovation — it’s definitely not a narrow record IMO. The comparison with Quadrophenia is thematic — the challenges of disaffected youth — but Q is more rooted in a time and place while LIB’s theme is more universal.

Q is, by the way, one of only six records (I’m considering adding another soon so it might be seven) that I think are perfect.

I love these discussions so please feel free to let loose. Plenty of people dislike or think this record is overrated. If I make one convert to its appeal I’m happy, and if I make none, that doesn’t change how I feel about it.

That’s the beauty of these threads and why I’m thankful to @RobMCFC and @BlueHammer85 — to me there is nothing but upside to every interaction. :)

 

[Bill Walker]

That was my intention - I aim to disappoint!

No, when I added my album selection, I thought the thread title was long enough without the artist name so I kept the same format. However, I did have the same thought about attracting a few Beatles fans.

Darn....it worked on me Let It Be is a favourite of mine

 

[Bill Walker]

Loved T-Rex loads, big fan of glam rock. Absolutely fine to prefer a cover version - it was the ‘hate T Rex in general’ that was worthy of the ban for me

This reminded me of the Tarantino film Death Proof. Theres a scene where they play Jeepster, the song fits perfectly within the scene. I cant find that particular scene but love the song

 

[BlueHammer85]

Enjoying this one I have to admit.

 

[RobMCFC]

Teenage angst is one of the classic tropes of rock and roll but the fact that it often results in shouty music helps explain why this is not in my wheelhouse. It probably says more about me and my tastes than the music, but I was never into this kind of stuff, even when I was a teenager.

However, when the album opens with the jangly guitars of “I Will Dare”, I thought I was going to be in for a pleasant surprise. I really like this song and the mandolin featured as the song draws to a close was a nice touch. Unfortunately, the next four or five songs pretty much sum up everything I hate about punk or punk-influenced music – I can’t always make out the lyrics, when I can make out the words, I’m not really bothered about what’s being said and there’s too much shouty stuff (although I must admit, “Here comes Dick, he’s wearing a skirt” made me laugh – obviously, the choice of the guy’s name is just as critical to the impact as the statement itself, so kudos there).

I’m not a big fan of covers but I don’t know the Kiss original, so “Black Diamond” was OK, but after the surprise of the first track, there’s still not much to write home about – at least in the positive sense. But then comes “Unsatisfied”, Paul Westerberg having slowed down the vocal a bit and this is an excellent rock track. In fact, everything from this point onwards is very listenable (even if “Gary’s Got A Boner” takes us back to the purile lyrics, it’s a half-decent rocker). The album closes with “Answering Machine”, which has an epic electric guitar figure, over which Westerberg asks, “How do you say you’re okay to an answering machine?”

Just out of interest, I then listened to Westerberg’s 1993 solo album 14 Songs. This is much more up my street – he’s cut down on the shouty angst, slowed down his vocals and I can hear what he is saying (the production is much better too). What’s really funny is that if you read the review on All Music Guide, the reviewer bemoans how the producer, Matt Wallace, is ruining Westerberg’s music. Matt Wallace has then come back as a user reviewer and given the original reviewer a right dressing down – very funny and worth a read.

Anyway, back to Let It Be. To repeat, this is not my kind of album, but I found just over half of it an enjoyable enough listen. “I Will Dare”, “Unsatisfied” and “Answering Machine” are excellent tracks, so I’ll give it 6/10.

 

[OB1]

Well, I’m going to admit my darkest musical secret that will probably get me thread banned by both @BlueHammer85 and @RobMCFC . . . .

Here goes . . .

I like The Power Station’s version of “Get It On” better than the original.

There. I said it.

Note: I really like the original. But for some reason the cover just blew my doors off and is right up there in the top 5 of my guilty pleasures.

It was nice knowing all of you.

I'm a huge fan of T.Rex but I am also a big fan of the first Power Station album and their version of Get It On is mighty indeed; it's one of my favourite cover versions. I don't prefer it to the original but there's not much to choose.

 

[OB1]

This reminded me of the Tarantino film Death Proof. Theres a scene where they play Jeepster, the song fits perfectly within the scene. I cant find that particular scene but love the song

Jeepster was my first single (still got it). One of a string of absolutely brilliant singles from T.Rex; from the same album as Get It On, of course.

 

[GoatersLeftShin]

First of all, no one can play 20th Century Boy like T Rex. Some songs shouldn't be covered unless you do something different and every version I've heard is basically a copy. It's just a brilliant song, but then I'd say that as I love T Rex :)

As for the album, my overall impression is that it's very hit and miss (for me anyway). I really liked the opening song "I will dare" and I was looking forward to the rest of the album. However, until it got to "Androgynous", it washed over me as, whilst it's post punk, the songs weren't that good and it was a hard listen. I also don't particularly like that "middley/tinny" sound that some bands had in the 80s - The Smiths are similar in that I quite like the songs, but the production lets them down (for me).

"Black Diamond", "Unsatisfied" and "Seen your video" were decent songs and I really liked "Gary's Got A Boner" and the tracks after. Gary's was the kind of punk I like - it needs to have some "drive" from the guitars.

Overall, it's not an album I would probably not come back to although I've added a few songs to a Spotify playlist which I play quite regularly. Again, you can hear how they probably helped to link punk to what becomes an indie-style or even to grunge. I wouldn't be surprised if Nirvana etc liked them.

However, as we've said before, it's a great thread to find new music. I'd not heard of the band or album before and I'm glad I've heard it and I've found some new (well, old!) songs that I really like so thanks for that @FogBlueInSanFran!

Overall it gets 6/10 from me :)

 

[crublue1]

First of all, no one can play 20th Century Boy like T Rex. Some songs shouldn't be covered unless you do something different and every version I've heard is basically a copy. It's just a brilliant song, but then I'd say that as I love T Rex :)

As for the album, my overall impression is that it's very hit and miss (for me anyway). I really liked the opening song "I will dare" and I was looking forward to the rest of the album. However, until it got to "Androgynous", it washed over me as, whilst it's post punk, the songs weren't that good and it was a hard listen. I also don't particularly like that "middley/tinny" sound that some bands had in the 80s - The Smiths are similar in that I quite like the songs, but the production lets them down (for me).

"Black Diamond", "Unsatisfied" and "Seen your video" were decent songs and I really liked "Gary's Got A Boner" and the tracks after. Gary's was the kind of punk I like - it needs to have some "drive" from the guitars.

Overall, it's not an album I would probably not come back to although I've added a few songs to a Spotify playlist which I play quite regularly. Again, you can hear how they probably helped to link punk to what becomes an indie-style or even to grunge. I wouldn't be surprised if Nirvana etc liked them.

However, as we've said before, it's a great thread to find new music. I'd not heard of the band or album before and I'm glad I've heard it and I've found some new (well, old!) songs that I really like so thanks for that @FogBlueInSanFran!

Overall it gets 6/10 from me :)

Well thought out, fair review.

 

[Invisible Man's Bandage]

First of all, no one can play 20th Century Boy like T Rex. Some songs shouldn't be covered unless you do something different and every version I've heard is basically a copy. It's just a brilliant song, but then I'd say that as I love T Rex :)

As for the album, my overall impression is that it's very hit and miss (for me anyway). I really liked the opening song "I will dare" and I was looking forward to the rest of the album. However, until it got to "Androgynous", it washed over me as, whilst it's post punk, the songs weren't that good and it was a hard listen. I also don't particularly like that "middley/tinny" sound that some bands had in the 80s - The Smiths are similar in that I quite like the songs, but the production lets them down (for me).

"Black Diamond", "Unsatisfied" and "Seen your video" were decent songs and I really liked "Gary's Got A Boner" and the tracks after. Gary's was the kind of punk I like - it needs to have some "drive" from the guitars.

Overall, it's not an album I would probably not come back to although I've added a few songs to a Spotify playlist which I play quite regularly. Again, you can hear how they probably helped to link punk to what becomes an indie-style or even to grunge. I wouldn't be surprised if Nirvana etc liked them.

However, as we've said before, it's a great thread to find new music. I'd not heard of the band or album before and I'm glad I've heard it and I've found some new (well, old!) songs that I really like so thanks for that @FogBlueInSanFran!

Overall it gets 6/10 from me :)

Great review and very much mirrors what I thought about it.

I’d never heard of them either, which really surprised me as that era was just after my peak gig going and music listening time. Like you, I thought I Will Dare was the harbinger of a great album but it was slightly more miss than hit after that. That track is now on my Punk/New Wave playlist so that is a plus.

Overall very listenable so I will award it 6.5/10, with the extra half a mark being for the outtake of 20th Century Boy on the extended version comfortably knocking the T-Rex version out of the park.