The Album Review Club - *** Christmas Break Playlist (next album 7/1/26) ***

threespires said:
It strikes me there's a reason shitloads of competent and entertaining musicians stick to being in cover bands and that's because doing anything more is really quite difficult.

You can get round the difficulties of producing a debut album in a few ways:

'Cheat' by having the ability to bring fully formed musicians together around your vision (Fripp).

Or getting lucky with a lightning in a bottle combination (Ian Curtis's inner world meets Martin Hannet's soundscape obsession).

Or you can simply be so driven and pathologically obsessed with being famous that the actual content of your album is irrelevant to you anyway (Madonna).

For everyone else (even the posh and connected kids) it seems to me it's a much harder process and it's often just too hard. Or maybe it takes 5 years to come up with something pretty underwhelming (Rush). If you are lucky/persistent you get a second chance via new personnel (also Rush).

So to English Teacher who I imagine have had to walk a variety of fine lines in forming a band and trying to record their first music. Such as...

Portraying enough confidence that you're engaging without seeming up yourself.

Writing something interesting without it coming off as pretentious nonsense you have no experience of.

Having the instincts to edit down ideas to those you can actually execute competently. Don't undersell but don't overeach is easy to say but harder to do.

Staying together long enough to complete the process without killing each other.

I would say they've done a pretty good job of the above, much more so than many. Don't know what their dynamic as a band is as I've never seen them perform live; but this was good enough to make me think I would go and see them to find out.

Whether they'll build on this promising start who knows? But given that bands, though not an endangered species, remain much thinner on the ground than they were in their heyday it's worth celebrating when a new one comes along and makes a decent fist of it. They're no fully formed SY yet but they might be one day and they've already got further than most ever do.

7.5/10
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What I e joyed most about that review is the symmetry and pattern of so many 3 line paragraphs.

Next review, in the format of a haiku!
 
Sorry I've not been around much but been away on holiday and had some DIY to do as well.

I've had a listen to this today and, of course, Baker Street is the absolute stand out track. It's a masterpiece and is a song I will always love. I remember waking up one Christmas Day morning as a youngster and putting the radio on my clock radio on and this song was playing on AM. I couldn't get back to sleep due to the excitement and to this day, whenever I hear this song I can still picture that off-white clock radio with the red numbers telling the time and playing these 60s/70s songs in a tinny but familiar manner.

Anyway, leaving Baker Street to one side, I liked the rest of this album. It's very much of it's time, but it's an era I love so I am quite happy with that. I wouldn't say that the tracks stood out really but it had a nice 'vibe' to it. In some ways, Baker Street spoils the album as it stands out as being so good that it leaves the other tracks looking a bit limp. That said, it's not bad at all and one I'll happily put back on - and probably skip BS! :)

8/10
 
BimboBob said:
Thanks for posting up Rob, first...erm...'City' has been reached.
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First off, safe travels this next month.

Second, a sincere thanks for picking an album I'm well familiar with as I probably need an easy one for this next week.

Third, as strange coincidence would have it, I'll be following in a few of your destinations in early September as Alnmouth, Edinburgh, Glasgow, and yes, even our own Manchester is on our City to City destinations.

I might even see a few of you while I am out and about. I recall I owe one of you a beer. ;-)
 
Black&White&BlueMoon Town said:
First off, safe travels this next month.

Second, a sincere thanks for picking an album I'm well familiar with as I probably need an easy one for this next week.

Third, as strange coincidence would have it, I'll be following in a few of your destinations in early September as Alnmouth, Edinburgh, Glasgow, and yes, even our own Manchester is on our City to City destinations.

I might even see a few of you while I am out and about. I recall I owe one of you a beer. ;-)
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Will a visit to the Etihad for a game be on your agenda?
 
Black&White&BlueMoon Town said:
First off, safe travels this next month.

Second, a sincere thanks for picking an album I'm well familiar with as I probably need an easy one for this next week.

Third, as strange coincidence would have it, I'll be following in a few of your destinations in early September as Alnmouth, Edinburgh, Glasgow, and yes, even our own Manchester is on our City to City destinations.

I might even see a few of you while I am out and about. I recall I owe one of you a beer. ;-)
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No one goes to Alnmouth! Where are you staying?
 
Super smooth country-rock MOR, occasionally tinged with country elements. Unremarkable vocals, functional lyrics. Music for the kind of people who think a glass of room-temperature chardonnay and a trip to the garden centre is a wild way to spend a Saturday. Probably tap their foot along to this while they manage their stock portfolios. Thank god punk came along to eviscerate this soporific shite from the public consciousness. 2/10 (would have been 1/10 but for Baker Street).
 
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