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

[JRockBlues]

They got more mellow as they evolved. The latter albums are very different from Rattus Norvegicus. I had every album till Hugh Conwell left, Dreamtime was the last album he played in. After that I had no interest in the band when Paul Roberts became frontman.

JJ Burnel even got involved with an anime soundtrack. Good series too (Gankutsuou (Count of Monte Cristo adaptation)).

 

[Deepest Blue]

Prog Punk

Angry Psychedelic Pub Rock for me ;)

 

[GornikDaze]

JJ Burnel is a 7th degree black belt (nanadan) in Shidokan Karate and is head of Shidokan UK. In the early days of the band they had a fight with The Clash and The Sex Pistols and guess who won?

The Law?

 

[Saddleworth2]

The Law?

Or maybe Harry Hill.

 

[OB1]

It is a modern classic. Pity they have never come close to doing it justice on film. I'm bloody sure Peter Jackson could have made a good fist of it as a trilogy.

I’d like to see that. Funnily enough, LotR is a book I rank alongside The Stand.

 

[daveoswald]

An absolute masterpiece from one Britain's most under the radar, unfashionable bands, very marmite, for me they would be up in the British pantheon hall of of fame alongside the Beatles, stones, pink Floyd. Led Zep, Queen, the Pistols and the clash, their next four albums weren't to shabby either. the lyrics, melodies, Jean Jacques bass and the magnificent key boards of Dave Greenfield, the whole album is sublime.

 

[PinkFinal]

Greenfield wasn't aware of the Doors when he joined the band.
He was a Yes fan.


It's not particularly easy to pinpoint their influences.
The Doors influence accusations I always found rather lazy.
I'd say a definite Lou Reed vibe on Cornwell's vocals
And a slight Turtles kind of pop influence is evident on songs like Duchess.
Never a punk band but definitely liked by a lot of punks.
Having a similar energy to punk bands, edgy lyrics and emerging at the same time they predictability got lumped in with the new wave.

 

[tonea2003]

pretty much a perfect album for me, love every track, they were way better musically than any of their contemporaries
seen them countless times always magnificent
could of been bigger if it wasn't for jj insisting on weird choice of singles i.e dont bring harry and la folie, pretty much commercial disasters

 

[mancity2012_eamo]

I’m getting twelve songs on my version of the album on Apple Music.
TBH I can see where Sadds is coming from with this album.
Having listened a few times now, I’m finding much of the album very ‘samish’. The chief difficulty I have is with what now sounds like contrived vocals on a lot of the songs.

For me the album started at ‘Hanging Around’ although on second listen, the opener ‘Sometimes’ had kind of grown on me.

Ugly? Not sure. It does sound kind of ugly and misogynistic when you examine it by todays standards.

I’m taking it that ‘Down in the Sewer’ ends the original album and I would say, that is where it should end.

Although of the three songs after on my version I have to say, I quite like ‘Go Buddy Go’. A really good driving rock n roll crowd pleaser I would say. That would be great live.

It’s a pleasant listen for a diversion from what I’ve been listening to lately, but I do think much of it has dated and it’s a nostalgic look at the 70’s for me.
6/10.

 

[threespires]

Greenfield wasn't aware of the Doors when he joined the band.
He was a Yes fan.


It's not particularly easy to pinpoint their influences.
The Doors influence accusations I always found rather lazy.
I'd say a definite Lou Reed vibe on Cornwell's vocals
And a slight Turtles kind of pop influence is evident on songs like Duchess.
Never a punk band but definitely liked by a lot of punks.
Having a similar energy to punk bands, edgy lyrics and emerging at the same time they predictability got lumped in with the new wave.

I can see what you mean about Greenfield and Yes, but Burnel did say that LA Woman was a bit of a life changing album for him so I'm not sure you can dismiss The Doors impact that easily.

A very hard band to categorise, you can hear all sorts, apart from the stuff already mentioned I hear echoes of Love and Roxy too, so we can add art rock into the mix with the psychedelia. Real musical magpies which I think is to their credit and works well especially on individual songs but has probably counted against them commercially. It also means they sometimes feel like they lack a specific identity; I actually like bands that don't feel constrained by genres etc but I've still found myself confused as many times as I have engaged by them over the years.