The Album Review Club - Week #138 - (page 1790) - 1956 - Soul-Junk

I almost feel likes thats..."go on, I dare you"......and for a split second I was tempted. As amusing as it may have been, that pleasure would have been short lived and I would probably have been blocked or tarred with the brush of being WUM exiled from RAWK.

As for this weeks selection giving images of dirty squats, I must contradict that any of the squats I stayed in briefly or visited were kept very well. Although not recalling listening to this whilst in one, it may well have taken place.

It actually received a positive response (as opposed to their view of Idles) from wife and son in the car this morning.

It's odd as although I think many of the tracks do tend to blend into one, there is also so much going on in the background of each track, the variation in the drum sounds, the organs etc.

All joking aside it's easy to forget how big they were, at least before they were eclipsed by The Beatles. First band to go to number 1 with each of their first 3 singles. Then had a bit more success and then just fell off a cliff, probably suffered in comparison to their stablemates?

I think some people can let Dummy wash over them, but I've never been able to. As you say there's too much going on, yet in many ways it's sounds quite austere.
 
I’ve really gone down the rabbit hole here but I suspect there are very few in this thread that could possibly appreciate let alone enjoy Sugar. I’ve thought about nominating FUEL (or Copper Blue) a number of times but know it would end up in the bottom of the ranking with complaints about how loud it is. Gift is quite probably my favo(u)rite opening song on any record ever, and if it isn’t that, it’s the title track of New Day Rising. Of course I wouldn’t even consider Husker Du because we all know how that would turn out here. Bob Mould remains one of rock music’s greatest ever guitarists and songwriters — he’s the king of alt/punk hooks — but because he fed his genius through Marshall stacks so potent he got tinnitus at age 25 or whatever, plenty of lilt-lovers find him too “angry” or something. Anyhow, I agree 94 was a great year for music but more for Goaters list (he stole a lot of good ones I’m sure you’d have included).

Meantime I’ve tried many times to get into Portishead given the rapturous words many have spilt on Dummy over the years and I will dutifully try again but honestly folks I am hungering for a record with some zip and energy and humo(u)r and at this rate I’m about ready to shove some Chappell Roan down all of your gullets when it’s my turn and call it a day.
I did own Copper Blue but ditched it, not sure why as it wasn’t a bad album.
 
OK, so the review is great but for me the album is so, so.

It didn’t exactly grab me. I’m afraid it got a couple of spins on consecutive mornings while I was working (on the most boring repetitive work I have ever had the displeasure to do) and it could have had more but I preferred to put my iTunes on shuffle.

It tries out a lot of things and is very much a studio album. It does what it does well enough and is not without some interest. Some of the Hop effects were a bit intrusive.

Probably telling that I liked the last so tracks best, the penultimate one had a bit of a John Barry vibe.

I didn’t love the vocals but didn’t hate them either.

Whilst I do not regret buying it back in 94 (and I do have a fair few of the albums mentioned form that year, Wildflowers probably being the favourite), I do not regret buying this although I might have kept it in the collect ion if I had.

So I’ll give it 6.5/10.
 
Think my brother owned Copper Blue and I recall thinking it wasnt bad, Hoover Dam sticking in my mind from all those years ago.
Interesting also how the Spotify algorithm drops tracks in. Never heard of "Wax Tailor" before but really liked "Ungodly Fruit".
 

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