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

[bennyboy]

Not my scene this one so i was not looking forward to this round.
Surprisingly i quite liked it.
Stargazer being a great rock track.
The band itself great the only fault i have is the singers voice.
I can see why fans love him but i thought he just made most of the songs sound similar.
From the first 4 tracks i found Tarot Woman,Run With the Wolf and Do You Close Your Eyes all very samey due to the voice,not the music.Hope that makes sense.lol.
Never noticed until well in to my third listen.
If it wasn't for that i would have given it 8.
So a 7 it is.

 

[journolud]

For a bit of trivia and to demonstrate at least a tenuous connection to this album I'm familiar with Starstruck as it featured on the Sounds- Good for Nothing LP issued in 1977. What's that you say?

Sounds, the old music newspaper issued a number of albums, of which the cleverly named Good for Nothing was the first from 1977 onwards. All you had to do was collect the vouchers over a number of weeks and send them off with a postal order (probably) to cover postage and wait several weeks for it to arrive. I was an avid collector but they really varied in quality as you might imagine. The best was the third one which featured artists on the Stiff label. Anyway this was the first;

Various - Good For Nothing - The Sounds Album, Vol 1

View credits, reviews, tracks and shop for the 1977 Vinyl release of "Good For Nothing - The Sounds Album, Vol 1" on Discogs.

www.discogs.com

A few of the tracks on that album have stayed on my playlist (or rather made their way back on to my playlist since playlists became a thing) but Starstruck isn't one of them. Although to be fair I remember at the time thinking it was OK compared to some of the duller tracks on the album.

Rainbow though and their ilk are not really my thing and I didn't enjoy listening to this album. Even Starstruck grated with me a bit and although it's not particularly long I did wonder if it was a shorter version that had featured on the Sounds album. As for the rest of it, I can appreciate why it is so well rated as of it's kind it's not bad. It's pointless me trying to analyse it any deeper than that though as it really isn't for me and while listening to it I really wanted to go back to the previous pick of the Cocteau Twins. Too big a contrast.

As another not particularly insightful comment, am I the only one that thought the riff of A Light in the Black sounded very close to 10cc's Good Morning Judge? And did they adapt Kashmir for one of the others? Doesn't matter anyway. I'm not going to slate it just because it doesn't appeal and it would be insulting to give it less than a 6 as those scores are reserved for perfunctory or cynical releases. I can tell even though I'll never listen to it again that this is well crafted. A 6 it is then.

Record Mirror was very much the poor relation to Sounds and they also got in on the act with a couple of LP releases which were pretty gash. Music paper giveaways went up a notch or two with NME's C81 cassette. This was followed five years later by C86. Now we're talking...

 

[OB1]

For a bit of trivia and to demonstrate at least a tenuous connection to this album I'm familiar with Starstruck as it featured on the Sounds- Good for Nothing LP issued in 1977. What's that you say?

Sounds, the old music newspaper issued a number of albums, of which the cleverly named Good for Nothing was the first from 1977 onwards. All you had to do was collect the vouchers over a number of weeks and send them off with a postal order (probably) to cover postage and wait several weeks for it to arrive. I was an avid collector but they really varied in quality as you might imagine. The best was the third one which featured artists on the Stiff label. Anyway this was the first;

Various - Good For Nothing - The Sounds Album, Vol 1

View credits, reviews, tracks and shop for the 1977 Vinyl release of "Good For Nothing - The Sounds Album, Vol 1" on Discogs.

www.discogs.com

A few of the tracks on that album have stayed on my playlist (or rather made their way back on to my playlist since playlists became a thing) but Starstruck isn't one of them. Although to be fair I remember at the time thinking it was OK compared to some of the duller tracks on the album.

Rainbow though and their ilk are not really my thing and I didn't enjoy listening to this album. Even Starstruck grated with me a bit and although it's not particularly long I did wonder if it was a shorter version that had featured on the Sounds album. As for the rest of it, I can appreciate why it is so well rated as of it's kind it's not bad. It's pointless me trying to analyse it any deeper than that though as it really isn't for me and while listening to it I really wanted to go back to the previous pick of the Cocteau Twins. Too big a contrast.

As another not particularly insightful comment, am I the only one that thought the riff of A Light in the Black sounded very close to 10cc's Good Morning Judge? And did they adapt Kashmir for one of the others? Doesn't matter anyway. I'm not going to slate it just because it doesn't appeal and it would be insulting to give it less than a 6 as those scores are reserved for perfunctory or cynical releases. I can tell even though I'll never listen to it again that this is well crafted. A 6 it is then.

Record Mirror was very much the poor relation to Sounds and they also got in on the act with a couple of LP releases which were pretty gash. Music paper giveaways went up a notch or two with NME's C81 cassette. This was followed five years later by C86. Now we're talking...

I can see what you mean about the 10cc riff so maybe they ripped the Riffmeister General off: Rising came out before Deceptive Bends.

No they didn't adapt Kashmir.

 

[Black&White&BlueMoon Town]

This was a good album to get to listen to as I can honestly say I hadn't heard any of these tracks prior.

I'm familiar with "Man on the Silver Mountain" from the band's Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow (1975) album, but I am mostly a fan of Rainbow's Straight Between the Eyes (1982) and Bent out of Shape (1983) which were commercial successes in the US and more what I was listening to in my high school years.

@OB1 did a great job in summarizing the details of this album in his initial introduction, and there is no doubt this one has all the guitars one would want from a great 70's metal band. My favorite songs were:

Tarot Woman - starts off like a ELP song until that guitar comes in after a minute and makes you realize this is certainly NOT that band. No, no, no!

Stargazer - I believe, yes, I believe... a stunning song from start to finish, my favorite. I see a rainbow rising, indeed.

A Light in the Black - simply guitars, keyboards, and the drum pace overload here, an all out jam, I'm coming home.

Like last week's album, there's no question this one has all the chops to keep fans of this genre extremely happy.

I'm not as much a Dio fan on vocals as Joe Lynn Turner later on, but Blackmore and his band more than delivers on this album. This is a 7.5 for me, with the final songs being the stronger of the album.

 

[RobMCFC]

Rainbow Rising - Rainbow

I’ve listened to this three times now, and I can’t shake the feeling that the musicianship is better than the sum of its parts.

What I mean by this is that it is a very good album to listen to and enjoy. Richie Blackmore’s guitar is great throughout – as has already been mentioned, the way he creates that Eastern-influenced sound really adds to what you are hearing. Also, the keyboards, especially on “Tarot Woman” and “A Light in the Black” give the music a satisfying extra layer.

But each time the album finishes, I can’t say that there’s a standout track. Maybe it’s because there’s a consistent quality throughout, and that’s certainly true of the music. Dio’s vocals are fine, without being exceptional, but I can’t find that one track that I’d want to add to a playlist or hear regularly. But on the other hand, I’d be quite happy to listen to it all over again.

Once again, @OB1’s write-up was excellent, giving a nostalgic feel of why the album means so much to him. Interesting that this album has also snagged a few rockers to come on here and share their memories. One of my best friends growing up was a fellow city fan, and he used to like all the bands OB1 likes – I remember seeing all the patches on his demin jacket – Dio, Rainbow, Rush, Deep Purple, Status Quo etc. It was probably to his eternal frustration that I was a fellow city fan but wasn’t into music at the time so he couldn’t get any conversation out of me on the music front!

So whilst the album doesn’t yield any “singles” for me, it is certainly good enough for 7/10.

 

[threespires]

Rainbow Rising - Rainbow

I’ve listened to this three times now, and I can’t shake the feeling that the musicianship is better than the sum of its parts.

What I mean by this is that it is a very good album to listen to and enjoy. Richie Blackmore’s guitar is great throughout – as has already been mentioned, the way he creates that Eastern-influenced sound really adds to what you are hearing. Also, the keyboards, especially on “Tarot Woman” and “A Light in the Black” give the music a satisfying extra layer.

But each time the album finishes, I can’t say that there’s a standout track. Maybe it’s because there’s a consistent quality throughout, and that’s certainly true of the music. Dio’s vocals are fine, without being exceptional, but I can’t find that one track that I’d want to add to a playlist or hear regularly. But on the other hand, I’d be quite happy to listen to it all over again.

Once again, @OB1’s write-up was excellent, giving a nostalgic feel of why the album means so much to him. Interesting that this album has also snagged a few rockers to come on here and share their memories. One of my best friends growing up was a fellow city fan, and he used to like all the bands OB1 likes – I remember seeing all the patches on his demin jacket – Dio, Rainbow, Rush, Deep Purple, Status Quo etc. It was probably to his eternal frustration that I was a fellow city fan but wasn’t into music at the time so he couldn’t get any conversation out of me on the music front!

So whilst the album doesn’t yield any “singles” for me, it is certainly good enough for 7/10.

Think your comment about the musicianship not always translating into an equivalent whole is really interesting. Haven't done my review yet but it's triggered a thought that I haven't been able to articulate up till now.

 

[RobMCFC]

Think your comment about the musicianship not always translating into an equivalent whole is really interesting. Haven't done my review yet but it's triggered a thought that I haven't been able to articulate up till now.

I tried to write the review without stealing one of Foggy's favourite lines - the one about the need for "hooks". For me this is an album without interesting vocals, choruses or middle-8s, but it does have a lot of interesting things going on with the guitar, and to a lesser extent, the keyboards.

 

[Coatigan]

Probably repeating what I said when a Rainbow tracknwas put forward on the playlist thread. A highly skilled and rich album, with a lot going on. The sonic sounds are fun at times, tiring on occasion, but at 33 minutes in total they have managed to avoid the biggest risk here, in overdoing it and exhausting with it.

Nothing particularly moved me. But it was enjoyable, with a bit of pace and energy, and showcase guitar and vocals. In small doses, no problem revisiting. A solid 6.

 

[GoatersLeftShin]

If you like your rock a bit heavy with some brilliant riffs, OTT singing and great, catchy hooks then this is a great album. Luckily for me, I like this kind of rock and thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish.

Whilst I was listening to Stargazer, their 'Kashmir', I think I'd prefer Dio to sing Led Zeppelin tracks! His voice is something else - powerful but always in control.

Really good pick from a band I knew the singles, but not the albums.

8/10.

 

[LGWIO]

Rainbow were never one of the bands that I listened to when first starting gettign into music. However, I was aware of them as my brother would have had them blasting out of his room and would have had them painted onto the flap of his school rucksack.
So another album that was new to me and overall I actually enjoyed it. Think Rob said it, that nothing really grabbed me , but then I would be quite happy to listen to it again.
Tarot Woman....liked the intro and how it kicked in and how it was driven along. Its interestign how people pick things up differently from songs and from this I alsmost felt that Welcome the the Jungle had sort of ripped off this song, but maybe thats only me.
Run with the Wolf...Again abit of drive and funk to it to my mind and carried on from the first track
Starstruck... I got to this one and terrible as it sounds I just had the image of Spinal Tap come into my mind and little people dancing on the stage.
Do you close your eyes... Didnt jump out at me and thought not as strong as the start of the album/side.
Stargazer...I'm afraid that this one lost me abit. I wasn't a huge fan of this when it was in the knockout song cup and it didnt grab me in the same way as Kashmir did/does after a few listens.
A Light in the Black....To my mind the best on the album and a driving rock track to end with which I did enjoy.

Wasn't sure I would like this and had preconceived ideas about it being 70s old hat rock, but I did enjoy it far more than I did the last couple of selections and so its going to be a 7 from the Derry jury on this one.
Can't claim to have seen Rainbow live but did have the pleasure of seeing Cozy on drums for Whitesnake.