The Album Review Club - Week #191 (page 1286) - Harlequin Dream - Boy & Bear

BimboBob said:
So we have three of our five.

Along with FNM, there's the quite frankly very good Slippery When Wet and the very well produced ABC offering.

Last two are...

A DM album.
A British hair-ish bands album that sold by the millions.
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Bon Jovi?

We all have our weaknesses i suppose.

DM= Depeche Mode? I want to say Violator (Magnificent album) but i think it was a year too late?
 
Mr Grumpy said:
Albums can age badly, Violator isn't one of them. Awesome on a really good HIFI. The sound is pin sharp clean.
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Had it on yesterday, not a wrong note on there. Beautiful album. I nominated the one after it, Songs Of Faith, a while back as I think this thread is for albums you might not have heard rather than certified classics...but I might go for it next time out.
 
BimboBob said:
So we have three of our five.

Along with FNM, there's the quite frankly very good Slippery When Wet and the very well produced ABC offering.

Last two are...

A DM album.
A British hair-ish bands album that sold by the millions.
Click to expand...
Def Leppard - Hysteria
 
Coatigan said:
Was this when you worked as a sushi sous-chef? Or a lifeguard.
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Normally when you come up with one of these I can at least offer something adjacent or related but I've got nothing at all for these two. I feel like a failure; if I drown during an interview in the next couple of weeks it'll be your fault :-)
 
threespires said:
Well there is a way to find out ;-)

Yikes, last time anyone referred to me as 'valued' I'm pretty sure I got fired at the end of the discussion.
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We can list the 5 things you accomplished last week after we finish the 5 albums BimboBob was listening to.

And I'll get my coat (in despair).
 
Bon Jovi murdered Americano Hair-Rock for me.
Hated the band, him, his hair, the music, the whole thing and this poisoned any other music that could be placed within a country mile of the genre.
I did have the Hysteria album. It was about the only thing that could get past my JBJ firewall.

It all goes in the same trash can for me. Europe, JBJ, Van halen (i know),
US Glam metal i think it's properly called.

Eurgh.
 
Black&White&BlueMoon Town said:
Are we allowed to pick another one from the five to review? Asking for a friend... ;-)

On a serious note, I need to give A Broken Frame a proper listen to as I've only heard the singles from that one.
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It's considered their worst album by critics and themselves. Weirdly liked by fans though. First album without Vince Clarke. And it has "The Sun and the Rainfall' on it. Which has a special place in my head.
 
GornikDaze said:
Def Leppard’s drummer only has one arm.
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You know, I always respected that they wanted him in the band after that car accident and kudos to him for soldiering on too. But they were much better when he had two arms. Pyromania I thought was a very good record ("great junk" in my parlance); after that, not so much. And that had nothing to do with the drums.
 
The Real Thing – Faith No More

This is more like it. No poncing around; a proper band who aren’t afraid to get out the guitars, keyboards and drums and use them.

Some of the bridges between chorus and verses on “From Out of Nowhere” simultaneously reminded me of Journey (before them) and Black Mountain (after them), which is not a bad old/new combination. A suitably epic opening, speaking of which …..

“Epic” was the only song of theirs that I’d previously heard, and it was good to hear it again here. A rap-like delivery from the off, ala Extreme, but a simple, memorable singalong chorus. Rap it may be, but for me they get away with it because of the muscular musical backing – none of that Casio, drum machine programming and fake record scratch bollocks.

The title track works with its aggressive parts complemented by some subtle clicking percussion and almost spoken chorus.

By the time I got to the third listen, I was hearing some of the subtle differences from track-to-track: the organ that powers “Underwater Love” is great and the middle-eastern opening of “Woodpecker From Mars” makes for a suitably, errr, epic opening (second time I’ve used that line in one review). Overall, the chunky guitars and the layered keyboards create a satisfying wall of noise that blows the cobwebs off the last few weeks. For balance, there is a bit of shoutiness in here, but for some reason it really doesn’t bother me because the music is so good.

There’s no Ritchie Sambora guitar solo that would push things up a notch but it’s generally a sound that I like. 8/10.

Thanks to @BimboBob for a great nomination and another nostalgic write-up. Maybe there’s a good thread in “If you were forced to travel around Europe with only 5 albums …..”
 
RobMCFC said:
Thanks to @BimboBob for a great nomination and another nostalgic write-up. Maybe there’s a good thread in “If you were forced to travel around Europe with only 5 albums …..”
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If we were obliged to have this as one of the 5 I would be doing my best to get out of the trip.

On first listen it’s ugly music, the only track I came close to enjoying was the instrumental Woodpecker from Mars. I hope subsequent listens reveal some of the nuance
 
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