The Album Review Club - Week #145 - (page 1923) - Tellin' Stories - The Charlatans

GoatersLeftShin said:
I'd not heard of these before and it's always nice to listen to something new.

When I listened to the album, I found myself thinking that a lot of the songs reminded me of other bands. I think it was mainly the guitar/drums/production that did it. For some reason I was getting a ZZ-Top feel when the song started, Holiday Head had a Motley Crue vibe, Smash was Talking Heads etc. I did quite like the singers voice though! Feel free to say this is nonsense, but that's how it sounded to me! I wasn't a fan of the production either, it sounded very tinny to my ears, but I do appreciate that was the style when it was recorded. I do find that in the 80s the production either is magnificent, or awful. One by Metallica suffers from awful production with little bass and this has that same production and it really lets the album down for me.

In the end I think I spent more thinking about what the next song would remind me of and I think that's part of the problem I had with this album. I just think it sounded more like other bands than 'them'. That might sound bad, but I did enjoy trying to figure out who they reminded me of! :)

I didn't dislike the album and there was some decent hooks in there but a combo of the production and the similarity to other bands who I prefer mean I'm unlikely to come back to this one I'm afraid. That said, it's certainly not a bad album but just not quite my cup of tea.

6/10
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Interesting reading that on two points.

First of all, I have a very specific ZZ Top comment to make when I put up my review, so in that sense, we might be in agreement there.

Secondly, where I disagree is with the production. This sounds like a huge, deep, booming production to me, so whilst I know we all hear things differently, I nearly fell off my chair when I read the word "tinny"!
 
RobMCFC said:
Secondly, where I disagree is with the production. This sounds like a huge, deep, booming production to me, so whilst I know we all hear things differently, I nearly fell off my chair when I read the word "tinny"!
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Hah maybe it's my set up Rob ! :(

Yeah maybe Timmy might be the wrong word I guess but maybe "middle heavy" might be more accurate but I prefer more bass and treble.

I will have to tell the wife we need a better music setup now haha!
 
GoatersLeftShin said:
Hah maybe it's my set up Rob ! :(

Yeah maybe Timmy might be the wrong word I guess but maybe "middle heavy" might be more accurate but I prefer more bass and treble.

I will have to tell the wife we need a better music setup now haha!
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There are plenty of bass monsters on here, so I'll leave it to them to make the final call on this one.

FWIW, I've listened through headphones and my desk speakers.
 
RobMCFC said:
Interesting reading that on two points.

First of all, I have a very specific ZZ Top comment to make when I put up my review, so in that sense, we might be in agreement there.

Secondly, where I disagree is with the production. This sounds like a huge, deep, booming production to me, so whilst I know we all hear things differently, I nearly fell off my chair when I read the word "tinny"!
Click to expand...
Careful with the ZZ Top comment… no one ‘diss’s’ the good old boys from Texas! Unless it’s a positive comment which would clearly be understandable ;)
 
GoatersLeftShin said:
Hah maybe it's my set up Rob ! :(

Yeah maybe Timmy might be the wrong word I guess but maybe "middle heavy" might be more accurate but I prefer more bass and treble.

I will have to tell the wife we need a better music setup now haha!
Click to expand...

I was going to try and stop getting sucked into reading about and discussing the production of the nominations :-) I don't think it's tinny and the fact that he's using really heavy guage strings probably ups the richness of the tone but I have some sympathy with your view in that the treatment of the bass and guitar is quite different on different tracks so there's not a uniformity to it. I assume this was a deliberate recording strategy for each song because it's Vic Maile so it's not like he didn't know what he was doing. I do think there's a bit less brightness to the top end on a number of songs but again I'm assuming that's a function of deliberate choices too. To me you have to play a record like this loud so maybe turn it up to 11 ? ;-)

I think the biggest challenge with an album like this is how do you capture the vibrancy of the live sound in a studio setting and sometimes it simply isn't possible.

(Still none the wiser where it was I've seen these, it's quite annoying!)
 
My first Screaming Blue Messiahs purchase.
One of the greatest 12" recordings ever.
uk.rarevinyl.com

The Screaming Blue Messiahs Twin Cadillac Valentine EP UK 12" vinyl

THE SCREAMING BLUE MESSIAHS Twin Cadillac Valentine (1985 UK 6-track 12" vinyl EP, including 5 tracks recorded live at U.L.U. London - Good And Gone, Growing For Gold, You're Gonna Change, Someone To Talk To and Happy Home, picture sleeve YZ50T) Tracklisting & Info: 1. Twin Cadillac Valentine 2...
uk.rarevinyl.com uk.rarevinyl.com
 
No doubt this album rocks , to get such a opulent sound from bass drums and a blistering and angry lead guitar that just powers non stop and doesn't hold until it has to in such good sync with each songs rhythm that just flows majestically and cleverly track after track is no mean feat but they pull it off in spades.

There isn't a weak song IMO on this album and again IMO it stacks up against anything the often referred to The Clash came up with. This isn't just an imitation of the Clash there are more elements to each song which produces their own style and with Vic Maile involved in the production well this just tops it off as an album I will certainly be playing again and again.

Having seen them live I should have followed up and listened to this album back in 1986 but better late than never.

If I had to pick out a single moment where the album goes to another level when you least expect it, its the intro to Clear View my favourite track on the album.

There are plenty of drummers that are masters of their craft and I will have to add Kenny Harris to that list its simply spell bounding what he does on this album.

I cannot score it 8.5 and I am really tempted to give it a 9/10 but I with some reluctance score it an 8/10.
 
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