The Album Review Club - Week #147 - (page 1942) - Blonde On Blonde - Bob Dylan

[mancity2012_eamo]

I recommended last week’s Josh Ritter album to a mate of mine knowing this may be his kind of thing.
Went for a pint or two with him and another mate last night and all the way down to the pub he was raving about it. He’s gone full on obsession, playing it three times in a row before calling down to me. He’d never heard any of his stuff before, like me, but he was just blown away by the lyrics and melodies.

I’ve given the two mates homework for next week. I gave Candy-O a glowing recommendation. They both like The Cars but haven’t listened to this.

 

[FogBlueInSanFran]

And the U2 revolution in the ….. no wait scratch that!

Have to say, I am really enjoying this pick. And for once I am in almost total agreement with Foggy’s review summation of Candy-O.
I love Heartbeat City and the debut album too, but never having heard any of Candy-O bar the opener, “Let’s Go”, I am loving this punchier birth of new wave, less commercial, feel to them. It’s unmistakably The Cars sound but the most impressive thing on it for me, is the fact that it isn’t fitting into any one niche of pop or rock. When you think it is conforming to one norm or the other it throws in a subtle curveball or swerve in the chord changes. And the guitar is perfect. Absolutely love where it lies between pop and rock and dare I even venture into some sort of pre grunge, before grunge was ever a thing. All mixed with an upbeat electronica.
It is uniquely The Cars and yet I can hear many diverse snippets from Jane’s Addiction, to Kraftwerk and even Zig Zig Sputnik, or where Sputnik wish they could have gone, had they not been manufactured shite. Yep, that’s what I hear in Shoo Be Doo.

Foggy wrote;

The opener (“Let’s Go”) is fun, and the two closers are strong, especially “Dangerous Type”. About the only weak spot is “Lust For Kicks.” “Shoo Be Doo” is a little odd (and less than two minutes long), but morphs right into “Candy-O” and “Nightspots”, two completely different songs (one rocks, one bounces) but my favo(u)rite 1-2 punch on the record.

Apart from Lust For Kicks being weak( I don’t agree) I totally get this. It’s the part that makes me sit up and take notice with each listen, and has me checking what the song titles are. Right from the end of Double Life where it goes into the driving industrial mechanics of Shoo Be Do and the transformation into Candy-O and beyond, it really is like the birth of something new.
This is very much an album, as I said earlier, rather than a collection of pop singles. As much as I love Heartbeat City, I really do see the attraction Foggy has for this and am feeling very similar myself.
There is no intellectual lyrics and pretentiousness about The Cars in general. They are what they are, but they are very good at it. The production on this album is spot on. It is clear and crisp, I can hear every instrument clearly without the overall affect being overly polished. Ocasek’s voice is still punk and raw enough to give even the poppier elements an edge.
What’s not to like about The Cars.

I was thinking another 7, that’s two weeks in a row, but I’ll hold off yet as I think I may be pushed to an 8 by Wednesday as this is really growing on me.

Glad you’re enjoying it mate! I don’t hate L4K, just find it a soft spot, but every record has at least one. In this case though it doesn’t cause me to skip it — unlike “Casual Conversations” on Supertramp’s “Breakfast In America” or “Mad Lucas” on The Breeders’ “Last Splash” which IMO are both so bad they fuck up the rest of the record, which in both cases would otherwise be personal top 100-level excellent.

 

[FogBlueInSanFran]

I've had 2 listens so far, and I'm sort of liking it but I have a feeling it's a weaker album than their first offering. That had 3 bangers to start with, this not so, and the last 3 or 4 songs are very dull...still, I'll keep on listening...it might creep up on me.

Well, I certainly do not find Got A Lot On My Head nor Dangerous Type dull — but I do think this wrestles with the first for supremacy. I like this one because the guitar is sharper, and probably because the first one had so many hits that it got a smidge overplayed. I wouldn’t at all gainsay anyone who preferred the debut, though — it’s great too.

 

[Mancitydoogle]

Ah, thanks goodness - not just for the '8', but I was worried that your ever-present record of contributions was coming to an end!

Glad your wife liked "The Curse".

Whilst I like the two albums you mention (and "Kathleen" from Hello Starling is certainly one of his career best songs) I think his best albums all come later.

Given you are a Jason Isbell fan, it might be worth you taking a listen to Josh Ritter's most recent album from 2019 - Fever Breaks - because not only does JI produce, but his band backs JR on the album.

Thanks for the heads up Rob, I’ve been listening to this a lot and I love it !
it’s definitely JRs country album so it’s no surprise JI is the producer.
You can hear his influence on ‘On the water‘ which could’ve been a JI song.,
likewise Steve Earle on ‘Blazing away from home’ Townes Van Zandt ‘ Silverblade’
and although not country ‘The Torch Commitee’ is definitely Leonard Cohen.
it’s my new favourite album of the moment.
Cheers.

 

[RobMCFC]

I recommended last week’s Josh Ritter album to a mate of mine knowing this may be his kind of thing.
Went for a pint or two with him and another mate last night and all the way down to the pub he was raving about it. He’s gone full on obsession, playing it three times in a row before calling down to me. He’d never heard any of his stuff before, like me, but he was just blown away by the lyrics and melodies.

I’ve given the two mates homework for next week. I gave Candy-O a glowing recommendation. They both like The Cars but haven’t listened to this.

Good to hear. It’s great when somebody has never heard of an artist and is suddenly blown away by what they hear.

Thanks for the heads up Rob, I’ve been listening to this a lot and I love it !
it’s definitely JRs country album so it’s no surprise JI is the producer.
You can hear his influence on ‘On the water‘ which could’ve been a JI song.,
likewise Steve Earle on ‘Blazing away from home’ Townes Van Zandt ‘ Silverblade’
and although not country ‘The Torch Commitee’ is definitely Leonard Cohen.
it’s my new favourite album of the moment.
Cheers.

No worries. I thought you’d like it. My two favourites from this one are the upbeat numbers “Old Black Magic” and “Losing Battles” but it’s a strong album throughout.

3 years since that album so he needs to get another out sharpish!

 

[OB1]

And the U2 revolution in the ….. no wait scratch that!

Have to say, I am really enjoying this pick. And for once I am in almost total agreement with Foggy’s review summation of Candy-O.
I love Heartbeat City and the debut album too, but never having heard any of Candy-O bar the opener, “Let’s Go”, I am loving this punchier birth of new wave, less commercial, feel to them. It’s unmistakably The Cars sound but the most impressive thing on it for me, is the fact that it isn’t fitting into any one niche of pop or rock. When you think it is conforming to one norm or the other it throws in a subtle curveball or swerve in the chord changes. And the guitar is perfect. Absolutely love where it lies between pop and rock and dare I even venture into some sort of pre grunge, before grunge was ever a thing. All mixed with an upbeat electronica.
It is uniquely The Cars and yet I can hear many diverse snippets from Jane’s Addiction, to Kraftwerk and even Zig Zig Sputnik, or where Sputnik wish they could have gone, had they not been manufactured shite. Yep, that’s what I hear in Shoo Be Doo.

Foggy wrote;

The opener (“Let’s Go”) is fun, and the two closers are strong, especially “Dangerous Type”. About the only weak spot is “Lust For Kicks.” “Shoo Be Doo” is a little odd (and less than two minutes long), but morphs right into “Candy-O” and “Nightspots”, two completely different songs (one rocks, one bounces) but my favo(u)rite 1-2 punch on the record.

Apart from Lust For Kicks being weak( I don’t agree) I totally get this. It’s the part that makes me sit up and take notice with each listen, and has me checking what the song titles are. Right from the end of Double Life where it goes into the driving industrial mechanics of Shoo Be Do and the transformation into Candy-O and beyond, it really is like the birth of something new.
This is very much an album, as I said earlier, rather than a collection of pop singles. As much as I love Heartbeat City, I really do see the attraction Foggy has for this and am feeling very similar myself.
There is no intellectual lyrics and pretentiousness about The Cars in general. They are what they are, but they are very good at it. The production on this album is spot on. It is clear and crisp, I can hear every instrument clearly without the overall affect being overly polished. Ocasek’s voice is still punk and raw enough to give even the poppier elements an edge.
What’s not to like about The Cars.

I was thinking another 7, that’s two weeks in a row, but I’ll hold off yet as I think I may be pushed to an 8 by Wednesday as this is really growing on me.

The production on Candy-O is worth a mention as the producer is Roy Thomas Baker, who made his name producing Queen’s best albums. Some of his trademarks are on display, including running tracks into one another and, most importantly, a great snare drum sound.

 

[mancity2012_eamo]

The wife’s away this weekend.
Watched the game with a mate then stuck this album on after.
Think we have a new convert. He knew some of The Cars, but was loving this.
We were on a roll, so put Panorama on afterwards. It is a bit of a continuation of the Candy-O theme. The second half of the album grabbed me more than the early part, but might give it another spin.

 

[FogBlueInSanFran]

A political commentator me and @SWP's back sometimes quote also regularly offers his (nearly always horrible) musical takes, but at last he came up with a good one (even though Ben Orr sang them both)!

 

[bennyboy]

Not for me.
Not one track I could say was good.The keyboards really annoying.
No real music production for me.
Sorry but the whole LP was as bad as it gets for my taste.
In a generous mood after yesterday.2/10.

 

[RobMCFC]

Candy-O – The Cars

It was good to get a chance to listen to a band whose only song I was familiar with was “Drive” (although “Best Friend’s Girl”, not on this album, does sound familiar). This album takes you through a right old journey in 36 minutes.

The opener “Let’s Go” is by far the best track on the album and this is followed up by two great slices of melodic rock in “Since I Held You” and “It’s All I Can Do”.

The reason I like the start of the album is the singing is good, the production is fantastic; a really nice blend of guitars and keyboards in the mix. There’s not a hint of that atonal singing that characterises so much new wave. Unfortunately, this comes to a juddering stop at the 4th track. It feels a like the singer has suddenly been replaced by a robot. Nice guitar break in the middle, but other than that, I didn’t like this one. If that was bad, it sounds like a masterpiece next to “Shoo Be Doo”, which is mercifully brief before Mr.Robot returns on the title track and hangs around to ruin “Night Spots” as well.

Although the next two tracks are an improvement, the album doesn’t recover the momentum until “Got a Lot on My Head”, which is really catchy and I enjoyed the keyboard part in this one. There’s also something about the vocal delivery here that just worked – “Got a lot” –PAUSE-- “on my head”, that little pause adds so much to the delivery. “Dangerous Type” brings the album to a satisfying finish.

It really is a mixed bag. I’m definitely not the target audience for this album. I can see why new wave fans might like it, but I just never did get that scene with all the electronics and robotic singing. Those 4 songs from “Double Life” really kill the album for me. It’s like the sales reps from Casio and Atari turned up and somehow convinced the band to jam their products into the songs, 70s plastic keyboards and 8-bit sound processors and all. A shame because I did enjoy the opening and closing sections. 5/10.