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

Rob I have to admit to being close to giving up. I can only listen to free Spotify which means it interrupts with adverts after every track. What I did hear didn’t do much for me really. I will persevere as I want to give it best chance.
 
Rob I have to admit to being close to giving up. I can only listen to free Spotify which means it interrupts with adverts after every track. What I did hear didn’t do much for me really. I will persevere as I want to give it best chance.

Sign up for spotify ya tight bastard! :)
 
Ok, the only song I’d heard before was like others BAB and unfortunately I didn’t like it ,mainly because of the vocals, so I thought this was going to be a difficult listen.However a number of songs are very good, I particularly like ‘My Country’
and ‘Truganini’.I’ve been doing a lot of driving this week and it’s been a good album to listen to in the car, I found the music excellent,a bit Doorish in parts due to the organ and Harmonica ala ‘Road house blues’I’ll definitely be putting those two tracks on a playlist.Sadly the vocals started to grate after a bit so I disliked a lot of the quieter songs.
MO have a very distinctive sound so I can understand if your a fan how this would be a favourite.

6/10
There’s definitely a theme developing with poor old Mr Garrets’s pipes! Like I said, no surprise really.

Rob I have to admit to being close to giving up. I can only listen to free Spotify which means it interrupts with adverts after every track. What I did hear didn’t do much for me really. I will persevere as I want to give it best chance.
I was going to say that it’s on YouTube but I guess you are up against the same adverts issue.

I’m surprised this album isn’t on a paid music service like Amazon, but I guess they can’t carry everything.
 
I've been listening in bits and pieces and it is different than their other stuff, which I always thought was decent. This so far is janglier and quite listenable. We have a long weekend coming up in the US so I'll have time to concentrate soon! Yet another interesting choice Rob!
 
What constitutes a fair listen? It's fair to say that some of the most "immediate" music can quickly lose it's appeal after a few listens and it reveals it's hidden shallows. Conversely some of my favourite albums I really didn't like at first but somehow they've wormed their way into my consciousness.

Music isn't an endurance sport for me, that's why the classical music I listen to is melodic, recognisable as music and there are certain composers just by reputation I'm not going to listen to. I'm probably missing out but what the heck My favourite albums haven't become so by me forcing myself to listen to them but somehow Astral Weeks for example has gone from something I found excruciating to my go to in certain situations and moods, it's a thing of beauty.

All of which is another barely relevant preamble to writing about this album. It doesn't evoke extreme's in me, being neither instantly terrible or setting my feet tapping and my jaw dropping in wonderment. I warmed instantly to the opening of the first track and stayed with that right up to the guitar joining in and until the slightly jarring first vocal utterances. Having cleared his throat though that settled down to my ears and it was listenable.

My Country also has a great opening and is a decent track...

There's been some comment about the politics of this band. Cards on the table, I'm quite happy to have my music and politics mix, in fact I can be a bit strident, it's why I won't listen to Eric Clapton but that's another story.

Gradually though this album and truth be told the vocals did begin to wear me down a bit. As usual there were bits of interest but not enough and I felt myself yearning for something familiar. Having read Rob's intro and done some other reading I like the sound of Midnight Oil, just not particularly sold on the sound they make. It's a 5 from me.
 
What constitutes a fair listen? It's fair to say that some of the most "immediate" music can quickly lose it's appeal after a few listens and it reveals it's hidden shallows. Conversely some of my favourite albums I really didn't like at first but somehow they've wormed their way into my consciousness.

Music isn't an endurance sport for me, that's why the classical music I listen to is melodic, recognisable as music and there are certain composers just by reputation I'm not going to listen to. I'm probably missing out but what the heck My favourite albums haven't become so by me forcing myself to listen to them but somehow Astral Weeks for example has gone from something I found excruciating to my go to in certain situations and moods, it's a thing of beauty.

All of which is another barely relevant preamble to writing about this album. It doesn't evoke extreme's in me, being neither instantly terrible or setting my feet tapping and my jaw dropping in wonderment. I warmed instantly to the opening of the first track and stayed with that right up to the guitar joining in and until the slightly jarring first vocal utterances. Having cleared his throat though that settled down to my ears and it was listenable.

My Country also has a great opening and is a decent track...

There's been some comment about the politics of this band. Cards on the table, I'm quite happy to have my music and politics mix, in fact I can be a bit strident, it's why I won't listen to Eric Clapton but that's another story.

Gradually though this album and truth be told the vocals did begin to wear me down a bit. As usual there were bits of interest but not enough and I felt myself yearning for something familiar. Having read Rob's intro and done some other reading I like the sound of Midnight Oil, just not particularly sold on the sound they make. It's a 5 from me.
I think you can definitely like the sound of a band or artist by reading about them but change your mind when you hear the sound they make. That's happened to me on more than one occasion, although I can't recall a specific example. Thanks for giving it a listen all the same.
 
I'd only heard Beds Are Burning before so it was nice to hear that they'd done quite a bit more than that. I had a listen to this tonight whilst working and I can't make my mind up about it!

I liked the intro track, thought that was very good and I enjoyed hearing his voice. It reminded for some reason of Mick Jaggers and maybe that's why I quite liked it. I was hoping that the rest of the album would be like it to be honest.

There was a few other tracks on the album I liked - Outbreak Of Love, Renaissance Man and Truganini were the stand out ones for me. I thought his voice worked well on them and they are well made songs.

However, over the course of the album, I did find the faux-Jagger sound got too much. If I wasn't keen on a song it got too much and couldn't wait for it to end.

Overall, I've taken a few songs for a playlist but I don't think I'd listen to the album again.

6/10
 
Good stuff this - funky upbeat jingly jangly political Pop!

stand outs -
Renaissance Man, has a Beatles vibe this - especially the chorus - good funky track.
Trugnani- the biggest hit here, has a real manic street preachers vibe here, really does sound like a few of their hits.
In the valley - this one stuck with me the most, real catchy chorus and a sweet harmony. In the valleeeey I walk !
My Country - similar to ‘in the valley’ really, rousing chorus, another strong political anti patriotism theme
Feeding Frenzy - the coolest track on here, really like the vibe, people moan about his voice - this track he is a ringer for Mick Jagger - his voice fits the music just fine.
Drums of Heaven - another very good song. Guitars in this are good.

all in all, really enjoyed and my first time hearing any of their stuff apart from ‘Beds Are Burning’ which if that was also on this Album would have pushed it to a 8. I’ll go with a very solid …

7/10
 
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I'd only heard Beds Are Burning before so it was nice to hear that they'd done quite a bit more than that. I had a listen to this tonight whilst working and I can't make my mind up about it!

I liked the intro track, thought that was very good and I enjoyed hearing his voice. It reminded for some reason of Mick Jaggers and maybe that's why I quite liked it. I was hoping that the rest of the album would be like it to be honest.

There was a few other tracks on the album I liked - Outbreak Of Love, Renaissance Man and Truganini were the stand out ones for me. I thought his voice worked well on them and they are well made songs.

However, over the course of the album, I did find the faux-Jagger sound got too much. If I wasn't keen on a song it got too much and couldn't wait for it to end.

Overall, I've taken a few songs for a playlist but I don't think I'd listen to the album again.

6/10

mental. Both could hear the jagger in Garrett and both posted same time.
 

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