The Album Review Club - Week #194 (page 1303) - Ants From Up There - Black Country, New Road

FogBlueInSanFran said:
I don’t know High Fade but I absolutely would have thought of AWB as funk!
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GornikDaze said:
Foggy has responded about AWB, to my delicate ears, are High Fade not more funk than soul as well? Still hoping to get to see them live at some point before everyone jumps on the bandwagon. Really like what I’ve heard and seen of them so far
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I mean, I did say as much already. But to me, the two do share inseparable underlying qualities imo, and while by no means interchangeable, are imo comparable in this context.
 
Out on blue 6 said:
Your last paragraph is why I would liked to have put Don't Stand Me Down up. Would have tested some of the preconceived ideas at to what it would sound like.
It's his best work in my opinion but critically panned at the time due to lack of a single or press.
Re-releases and critical re-evaluation has put it down as a bit of a lost classic.
Even so doubt it would change the minds of those who don't like him but would be interesting
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One of Those Things is basically a new lyrical overlay to Werewolves of London so maybe some would like that, although thinking about it, it might just enrage them more !

I agree it's a quality album, I much prefer it to the second one. Musically it shows some restraint which I like, though lyrically it's probably more cocksure of itself than ever. The irony is it sounds like a more relaxed album but by all accounts it really wasn't to make and it's lack of success seemed to cause loads of subsequent turmoil for him. I say it sounds more relaxed but then This is What She's Like morphs at various points into Geno and then Come On Eileen as if he's trying to reprocess in his head what went on with his two most success efforts to date, which doesn't suggest a sense of any sort of inner peace.

What that song does illustrate though, as does Geno from this pick, is that Rowland was a master of tempo changes. No clever fannying around with time signatures just a knack of being able to cleverly structure songs into sections through picking up and slowing down the pace.
 
Searching for the Young Soul Rebels – Dexys Midnight Runners

Not my cup of tea this. Kevin Rowland’s vocals sum up the era of British/Irish bands trying to be different but not really coming up with anything to rival what had come before. I think as we head into the 80s on the Rock Evolution thread, I’ll be tearing my hair out with similar nominations but fortunately there are enough rock/singer-songwriter fans to balance this out.

But back to Searching for the Young Soul Rebels, despite the strident vocals, there is generally something enjoyable in the background in the form of an organ or some brass. But when I’m praising the brass section, I really am struggling for compliments.

There is, however, one fantastic instrumental track on here that is well worth a listen. They must have tied Kevin Rowland up in the back or maybe they sent him out on a cake run whilst they recorded “The Teams That Meet in Caffs”, but either way, it saves the album and brings the score up to 6/10.
 
DEXYS MIDNIGHT RUNNERS SEARCHING FOR THE YOUNG SOUL REBELS

I was never Dexys or Kevin Rowland fan although they did give me an amusing lasting memory of playing their awful cover of VMs ‘Jackie Wilson Said’ to a background picture of the darts player Jocky Wilson on TOTPs.
If you going to do a white boy soul album at least have a descent voice which KR certainly doesn’t.Musically I like the brass section ,’Geno’ and ‘There There My Dear’ are catchy songs but the rest not for me.
The first track had radio snippets of songs that were far superior than anything on this album.
Southside Johnny and The Asbury Dukes did this type of thing much much better.


4/10
 
Another couple of listens and it is amplifying what others have said. Kevin just doesn't raise this album. He does add to it, but I think it could be so much better. I even started to wonder if Hannah from last week could have done a better job with the backing/brass. I also liked the odd bit of organ coming through, which did make me think of James Taylor Quartet at times. Besides Geno, one of my fave tracks

Whether it is his delivery or perhaps the production, it does take away from the overall product. I also questioned his need to swear (along with this delight in rolling his R's every chance he gets). Was it to simply demonstrate how committed he is and how much of an "artiste" he is.

I also thought "Love pt1" was a bit of self glorification that was simply lost on me. Certainly had my toes tapping and head nodding a damn sight more than last week.
 
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I’m not sure how this is a record about growing up when know-it-all, feels-so-sorry-for-himself-he-can’t-think-straight twat-in-residence Kevin Rowland sings, “Seen quite a bit in my twenty-three years” to open up “Tell Me When My Light Turns Green”. Sounds like he’s already grown up, and is already an embittered 60 year-old on much of the record. Well, he wasn’t then, but I am now, and clearly he wasn’t really that much of a hard-edged cynic about the universe when a bit after this record he invented overalls-without-a-shirt music and struck gold.

Of course I’m not especially embittered, and frankly can’t be if I liked anything at all on this record. I’ll get to that. But after several plays, I still can’t tell whether or not the world rejected him and this is a reaction to those experiences, or the world rejected him because so much of his music sounds like ass to begin with. Chicken, egg, etc.

I have to stand firm on my “singers don’t matter” take clearly on principle, much as I dislike his voice. And let’s face it — you can’t do slow ones very well if you can sing (cf. “I’m Just Looking” and “I Couldn’t Help It If I Tried”). But call him a neutral at best (or worst) and what are we left with? A series of brass three-notes and a periodic percussion lift that seem to somehow work on songs like “Seven Days Too Long” and “Geno”. I can even get behind “Burn It Down” despite its sledgehammer subtlety. But I think I’m in Rob’s (I think it was) camp that “The Teams That Meet In Caffs” shows the band off better without Rowland’s vocals strangling it. Hey, I have a certain fondness for Blood, Sweat and Tears, so if there are brief moments where my head picked up in recognition, good for the horn section.

In the end I suppose this is a good lesson in sticking with something because you have to, and while upon first listen I found this music noxious, I can now at least tolerate and maybe even feel a few tunes here and there. I’m still docking it points for extended bouts of whinging and prattling on, not to mention tunelessness and a cleverness vacuum. And as unfair as it is, this band must — MUST — be punished for “Come On Eileen” even though it’s not on the record. I know, I know — that’s not fair. But life isn’t fair. Just ask Kevin. 4/10.
 
FogBlueInSanFran said:
I’m not sure how this is a record about growing up when know-it-all, feels-so-sorry-for-himself-he-can’t-think-straight twat-in-residence Kevin Rowland sings, “Seen quite a bit in my twenty-three years” to open up “Tell Me When My Light Turns Green”. Sounds like he’s already grown up, and is already an embittered 60 year-old on much of the record. Well, he wasn’t then, but I am now, and clearly he wasn’t really that much of a hard-edged cynic about the universe when a bit after this record he invented overalls-without-a-shirt music and struck gold.

Of course I’m not especially embittered, and frankly can’t be if I liked anything at all on this record. I’ll get to that. But after several plays, I still can’t tell whether or not the world rejected him and this is a reaction to those experiences, or the world rejected him because so much of his music sounds like ass to begin with. Chicken, egg, etc.

I have to stand firm on my “singers don’t matter” take clearly on principle, much as I dislike his voice. And let’s face it — you can’t do slow ones very well if you can sing (cf. “I’m Just Looking” and “I Couldn’t Help It If I Tried”). But call him a neutral at best (or worst) and what are we left with? A series of brass three-notes and a periodic percussion lift that seem to somehow work on songs like “Seven Days Too Long” and “Geno”. I can even get behind “Burn It Down” despite its sledgehammer subtlety. But I think I’m in Rob’s (I think it was) camp that “The Teams That Meet In Caffs” shows the band off better without Rowland’s vocals strangling it. Hey, I have a certain fondness for Blood, Sweat and Tears, so if there are brief moments where my head picked up in recognition, good for the horn section.

In the end I suppose this is a good lesson in sticking with something because you have to, and while upon first listen I found this music noxious, I can now at least tolerate and maybe even feel a few tunes here and there. I’m still docking it points for extended bouts of whinging and prattling on, not to mention tunelessness and a cleverness vacuum. And as unfair as it is, this band must — MUST — be punished for “Come On Eileen” even though it’s not on the record. I know, I know — that’s not fair. But life isn’t fair. Just ask Kevin. 4/10.
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There's much I agree with there about the music but not the first time you've criticised the lyrics of a young person through the eyes, or is it ears of an erm older person (but still younger than me). This seems a tad harsh as at the time of it's release I don't think 60 plus year olds were his intended audience. I'm sure if we all thought back we might remember the world weary chips on our shoulders we had when we were young...

Rowland is still a bit of a twat though
 
sorry been out the game, been a busy couple weeks and now i have my 40th bashes this week/weekend and a holiday. will catch up with all the picks.
 
journolud said:
There's much I agree with there about the music but not the first time you've criticised the lyrics of a young person through the eyes, or is it ears of an erm older person (but still younger than me). This seems a tad harsh as at the time of it's release I don't think 60 plus year olds were his intended audience. I'm sure if we all thought back we might remember the world weary chips on our shoulders we had when we were young...

Rowland is still a bit of a twat though
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So I think my point was if you’re already world-weary because people don’t like your music (or you) at age 23, it’s difficult to take your complaints seriously. I mean, today I like plenty of music made by 23 year-olds, as I did when I was 23 . . . but it tends to be angrier, more introspective, warmer and/or funnier . . . and a lot more melodic. A LOT.
 
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journolud said:
There's much I agree with there about the music but not the first time you've criticised the lyrics of a young person through the eyes, or is it ears of an erm older person (but still younger than me). This seems a tad harsh as at the time of it's release I don't think 60 plus year olds were his intended audience. I'm sure if we all thought back we might remember the world weary chips on our shoulders we had when we were young...

Rowland is still a bit of a twat though
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In my defence, as a now 60 plus year old, I thought DMR were shit when I was the target audience. Maybe I’ve aged better than they have ;)
 
I wasn't taken by Dexy's back in the day and I'm not now. I'm not a fan of brassy numbers really which obviously puts it at a disdavantage to start with. To be fair a few tracks were listenable, mainly the more uptempo ones but the inflections in the vocals aren't endearing and the slower songs were pretty poor.

I did like the instrumental but overall nothing to raise this above a 5
 
It will surprise not one regular contributor that back in the day Dexys were the antithesis of everything I loved about music. I loathed them with a passion that has been reserved for a handful of acts. Kevin Rowland was deemed a complete wanker and it turns out - according to reviews of his recent autobiography - he literally was.

Time has softened my views on a lot of music and my tastes have widened. I have never been big soul fan, but the best of it, I do like and, to some degree always did, even if I may not have fessed up to that.

I have never listened to a Dexys album so it was with a degree of interest that I played this and I am happy to report that my instincts were as finely honed as I had hoped: it’s horrible and I still hate his vocals, and vocals do matter to me. The brass is also far too prominent for my taste.

The instrumental is the best thing on it.

I’ll give it 3/10 because the musicianship is passable. Bimbo said it was worse than Rush, and its fine not to like Rush - I don’t like them, I love them but at least their musicianship is exceptional and their popularity seems to actually keep growing, a fate that has not and will not befall Dexys.
 
OB1 said:
It will surprise not one regular contributor that back in the day Dexys were the antithesis of everything I loved about music. I loathed them with a passion that has been reserved for a handful of acts. Kevin Rowland was deemed a complete wanker and it turns out - according to reviews of his recent autobiography - he literally was.

Time has softened my views on a lot of music and my tastes have widened. I have never been big soul fan, but the best of it, I do like and, to some degree always did, even if I may not have fessed up to that.

I have never listened to a Dexys album so it was with a degree of interest that I played this and I am happy to report that my instincts were as finely honed as I had hoped: it’s horrible and I still hate his vocals, and vocals do matter to me. The brass is also far too prominent for my taste.

The instrumental is the best thing on it.

I’ll give it 3/10 because the musicianship is passable. Bimbo said it was worse than Rush, and its fine not to like Rush - I don’t like them, I love them but at least their musicianship is exceptional and their popularity seems to actually keep growing, a fate that has not and will not befall Dexys.
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Oh no I didn't...

That was bennyboy.
 
Despite KR coming across as a bit (a lot) up himself I think it is the overall up tempo, vibe of this that means I have to give it more than my low 4 score.

There are times when the lack of a quality voice can fit with the tracks/album and allow you to (try) to forget the shortcomings. However, on SFTYSR old Kev shoots himself in the foot by giving us the instrumental that only serves to highlight the issue.

That said, I still couldn't bring myself to really hate this or be as dismissive of it as I was of Hannah on the EG offering last week. Perhaps it was that the horns provided more ability to nod the head and tap the toes. I may also have given this more time and more credit for the fact that I can recall "Geno" from school and youth club discos.

Thanks to @shackattack for bringing back a few good memories with this weeks pick which results in a 6 from the Derry jury
 
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