The Album Review Club - Week #139 - (page 1815) - Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War Of The Worlds

I’ve got very hit and miss WiFi while travelling in India and have lost the long, thoughtful and interesting post I was going to make. I’ll cut to the chase while it appears the going is good and give this a 7. I’ll be giving it a more considered listen when I get home but too late for the scoring. There’s a chance it could have been higher
 
journolud said:
I’ve got very hit and miss WiFi while travelling in India and have lost the long, thoughtful and interesting post I was going to make. I’ll cut to the chase while it appears the going is good and give this a 7. I’ll be giving it a more considered listen when I get home but too late for the scoring. There’s a chance it could have been higher
Click to expand...
I am in the exact same boat — or, plane, rather — coming back across half the world from Rome first thing tomorrow. I listened twice and want to give a score now — also 7 — with a review to follow. Was different than I expected for both better and worse but overall I liked it.
 
Unfortunately never made it past the one listen, got pumped at work this week covering for colleagues away on october holidays. While I regularly listen to music, had to stick to familiar territory a bit more. Intend to revisit at some point with more time to see if there's anything there beyond the initial mix of intrigue and apprehension. But not enough to score.
 
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Not only was picking the Cocteau Twins a good choice, on reflection I think the selection of Head over Heels was a great shout too.

These days I don’t play as much of their music as I should do; but when I do, without realising it, I have drifted into focusing on the back end of their catalogue and in particular Heaven and Las Vagas and Four Calendar Café.

I was going to say this was a welcome reminder of their earlier albums, but it was more than that. It made me reappraise which of their albums I liked the most and what it was I really liked about them and for all the commercial friendliness of the later albums this one really does sum up what is good about them.

This album has a denser feel than their later better-known albums and though I might not have consciously thought it before this week, I think it’s better for it. Though there are elements of where they are heading in tracks like Sugar Hiccup, overall it’s a bit denser and has more drive to it. Though it’s quite dense it’s not at all muddied, the layers of sound that Rob was less enamoured with I love, and I also think they are really well knitted together. Garlands was good but this album showed quite how talented Guthrie and Fraser were. I don’t think they had any formal musical training (?) but between them with little support they created something both enduring and significantly ahead of it’s time.

When Benny mentioned them being down the road from him it occurred to me that I don’t really think of them as a Scottish band but equally Liz Fraser vocals are a modern take on the Gaelic tradition of mouth music and for me personally it works brilliantly. If I hear the likes of Karen Matheson or Rhiannon Giddens doing traditional mouth music, I think of Liz Frazer as much as I do anything else so she has definitely left her mark and as I’ve already said I wish she’d not had the challenges that have to some degree curtailed here career.

Though I do have favourite individual tracks such as When Mama Was Moth, Five Ten Fiftyfold, In our Angelhood and Musette and Drum, I don’t think there’s anything on here that lets the side down.

8.5 for the album and an extra 0.5 for getting me to re-evaluate it, relative to the rest of their catalogue.

9/10.
 
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I have to confess to a 4AD thing in my early years. Have a lot of Colourbox stuff, Cocteau Twins, TMC etc.
Hadn’t played this album for years and it took me back to some great times. I love Liz Fraser’s vocal and the ambient feel to the whole album is a nice place to be in. That said, musically I’ve moved to other places and it’s not something I’d jump to now but for old times sake I will play some of their other stuff.
This has done great tracks on it Sugar Hiccup being my stand out - solid 7/10 and a great choice
 
I knew nothing of the Cocteau Twins so a great pick.
Would say this is 'real' indie sound, so thick and layered.
If i ever get called up for war 'Musette And Drums' will be my anthem - such a incredible song. 'When Mama Was Moth' was similar but doesn't follow the same progression.
'Sugar Hiccup' and 'In The Gold Dust Rush' the closest to standardized Pop.
Really enjoyed discovering this band.

8/10
 
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