The Album Review Club - Week #146 - (page 1935) - Ocean Rain - Echo and the Bunnymen

[mancity2012_eamo]

The Struts - Pretty Vicious

I’ll throw some more comparative names in the ring - Def Leopard, Primal Scream, Toploader and Feeder.

I understand the generic argument and lyrically it’s all pretty simple and harmless - but found myself nodding along to pretty much most of this, there’s a lot of backing (Horns/Piano) sounds which help the tracks move at a good pace. It’s upbeat and catchy, all songs sounds like they could be singles.

I think they suffer from producing this in 2023 - it’s all polished and clean and lacks the rawness and authenticity of rock in previous decades, I’m not sure if it’s there fault we’re all FOC that have heard it all before.

Anyhow. I’ll go with 6

Pretty good summation for the same score I gave it. You could have written that for me.

 

[mancity2012_eamo]

INXS at their best are a higher level than The Struts. The Struts are still developing though.

I like Bon Jovi - at their best - better than both. Slippery is a classic :)

I’m not overly bothered about how many points my nominations score but I obviously hope more people will enjoy than not, or that it promotes some discussion.

Not sure what I am going to nominate next.

It definitely is a case of know your audience, if it’s just scores you are after. I don’t get the impression it is, with you @OB1 but what do I know.
I’d say with most of us it’s wearing your heart on your sleeve in a generally anonymous setting.

I think the consensus with most on The Struts, and Pretty Viscious, seems to be that they are Pretty Decent, Pretty Good, but not not Damned Hot enough to make most of us fOC’s sit up and take notice. Notice the use of the small ‘f’ there. I’m in training since January.

I like the nomination as it is totally new to me and that’s one of the main reasons I’m back in the music threads. Something new to try on for a week or two. Whether any of it sticks with you or not it’s a healthy exercise in my book.

 

[OB1]

It definitely is a case of know your audience, if it’s just scores you are after. I don’t get the impression it is, with you @OB1 but what do I know.
I’d say with most of us it’s wearing your heart on your sleeve in a generally anonymous setting.

I think the consensus with most on The Struts, and Pretty Viscious, seems to be that they are Pretty Decent, Pretty Good, but not not Damned Hot enough to make most of us fOC’s sit up and take notice. Notice the use of the small ‘f’ there. I’m in training since January.

I like the nomination as it is totally new to me and that’s one of the main reasons I’m back in the music threads. Something new to try on for a week or two. Whether any of it sticks with you or not it’s a healthy exercise in my book.

I’ve generally gone with albums that are very special to me, which basically equates to my favourite albums.

This latest was an exception but does have some sentimental value and JJ Cale, which was about the artist rather than the album.

 

[FogBlueInSanFran]

Two things:

On the back of your lamentations I went back to the King Swamp album. It was imho harshly dealt with and irrespective of genre preferences there was quality on show.

Deffo nominate Bon Jovi at some point, they've sold bucket loads of records and are loved by many. I can't abide them but they will form a good topic of discussion if we can all keep it civil.

I’m not a Bon Jovi fan but like these guys and like Oasis they aren’t faking anything — their ambition is obvious in their music. I don’t see anything wrong with that except that such a pursuit doesn’t usually lead to art that is as “meaningful” message- or innovation-wise, but we’re talking about pop music here, so that’s fine.

 

[FogBlueInSanFran]

It is interesting looking at the overall ‘charts’ to see what is popular and what is not. There are definite themes if you start to categorise albums. Some real surprises as to where some classic albums end up. Red for example.

Were you surprised it was as high as it was or as low?

If there’s one thing that’s a musical truth, it’s that over 50 some-odd years, no matter the context or iteration, Robert Fripp has made music that, whether you like it or not, is a complete pain in the ass to listen to. It’s complex, difficult, egotistical and dense. These CAN be good things. But they aren’t easy things.

 

[Black&White&BlueMoon Town]

Minus an insanely catchy riff of course.

Absolutely, I said it reminded me of that song, especially in the beginning and through the verses.

I don't think this is anywhere near INXS's level - I'd put money on even @OB1 agreeing with that.

I would agree with that too. Making the note on a reminding comparison for me was not to put it on the same level either.

However, there is an interesting observation here (from my perspective at least). INXS got caned on here, so I fully accept that one of my favourite bands is generally not well liked in our group. No problem with that, it probably happens to all of us.

Going back to LLT, I liked the songs I knew, the issue was with the other tracks that I didn't think held up to the hits, giving me a similar score to this one. This for me was a new album I had not yet heard (unlike the 4-5 LLT hits) and had that going for it, even though as many have noted the material covered similar sounding songs most of us have heard over our lifetime.

I've seen another band I put up for review, King Swamp, described as INXS-lite or INXS-wannabes in the press of the time, and that album got a good pasting as well. So I am definitely learning that whatever I think of a band, there's a certain type that is definitely not be worth nominating on here.

I wasn't around for that, so now I have my next blast from the past to visit this week if the album nominated is one I know.

Still tempted to nominate Bon Jovi at some point though :)

Careful, there... ;-)

 

[RobMCFC]

Pretty Vicious by the Struts got 14 votes at an average of 6.00. It joins a group of albums on the same score that we judged not quite as good as Sly and the Family Stone, but just a bit better than the Pixies. I think this just shows us what an wide range we have covered in this thread!

Thanks to @OB1 for this week's nomination. Whilst still in the rock arena, it felt different because of the modern pop sheen and I think it's good to have that variation. As Coatigan noted, it is also the most recent album on our list, having been released in November 2023. There's a challenge for somebody.

Next up, we are celebrating the return of @Saddleworth2 to the list of nominators.
Whilst we are busy with that celebration, he's swanned off on his holidays so I'll be posting the clues to this week's album shortly.

 

[RobMCFC]

 

[BlueHammer85]

Blue Nile - Hats

 

[mancity2012_eamo]

Looks like some tributary act.
A copy of the originals.