The Album Review Club - Week #195 (page 1310) - A New World Record - ELO

journolud said:
It’s a great single but no idea if it’s representative of his usual output.

I was abig fan of Aztec Camera but can’t really remember ever listening much to Orange Juice. Looking forward to this
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Haha, when Shack mentioned Postcard records it reminded me that when I suggested in my review of Janes King and the Lonewolves that one of the tracks was good enough to be a Roddy Frame song, someone declared the idea the most ludicrous thing they'd seen on the thread or something along those lines. I was trying to think of who it was, I suspect it was your good self! Frame very good buddies with Collins I believe.
 
RobMCFC said:
A bit of thread news: I'm off to Florida for 2 weeks on Saturday (and my wife has told me to keep my mouth shut about Ukraine and say that the only Donald I'm prepared to talk about is Donald Duck).

In my absence, @Coatigan has once again kindly volunteered to step in. Please make it easier for him in being ready with your nominations and write-ups. The next two weeks are planned to be:-

26/03/2025 @Mancitydoogle
02/04/2025 @GoatersLeftShin

Then we finish off the round as follows:-

09/04/2025 @Big Joe Corrigan
16/04/2025 @Kippaxpete
23/04/2025 @Mr Grumpy

i.e. two members who have put less appearances in than the Loch Ness Monster so Mr Grumpy might as well be ready for 9th April, just in case.
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Thanks @RobMCFC - I'm still really busy with work so could I be pushed down the list at all?
 
bennyboy said:
Sums it up for me as well but i liked it a lot more than i thought i would.
The vocals reminded me of Depeche Mode.
Chokehold a decent enough start.
Then all the songs not really doing anything for me.Slow starts and then a big dramatic finishes.Bang average at best and all very samey but i can understand why folk like them.
Begining to wonder if i will ever like a so called metal/rock album record again.
Still listen to Thin Lizzy to this day and the live Whitesnake album but that's about it.
5
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So a bloke/ voice modulator who can't sing reminds you of a bloke who can?
 
Mr Grumpy said:
Initially thought "Oh no, its that one hit wonder Ezra ."
But, no, it's not.

I remember the hit single (who wouldn't? It was played to death).
Wasn't really a fan of it back then but this is now. I'm suspicious that the single is an outlier and that I'll prefer the album.

Interesting pick.
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Immediate impression is that i don't like the recording.
Sounds cheap and tacky.
Too much overdrive, Too much echo on vocals and instruments buried + recessed on the busy tracks.

Hmm.
 
Mr Grumpy said:
Immediate impression is that i don't like the recording.
Sounds cheap and tacky.
Too much overdrive, Too much echo on vocals and instruments buried + recessed on the busy tracks.

Hmm.
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You think this is busy? I've done a couple of listens and still waiting for something to happen other than smug digs at people more successful than him.
 
mrbelfry said:
You think this is busy? I've done a couple of listens and still waiting for something to happen other than smug digs at people more successful than him.
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It's a bit like a huge bowl of Sonic Porridge.

I got too full half way through and have taken a breather.
 
Gorgeous George – Edwyn Collins

A short review today after a few listens because I wanted to get this in before I go on holiday.

"The Campaign for Real Rock" is a bit long and also a bit of a downer. On the one hand, I do like the different phases the song goes through – the slow-burn guitar solo, the keyboards before all that repetitive rubbish about the summer festival, which ultimately kills the song. The “trick” of being annoying by repetition is repeated on the final track, “Moron”.

"A Girl Like You" - everybody knows this song, right? I must have heard it hundreds of times over the years and as a result it becomes hard to judge it as just a song. I think that despite it being overplayed, I’m generally positive about it. It’s certainly catchy and lodges nicely in the memory.

Tracks like "Out of This World" and "Make Me Feel Again" are lively numbers that get the feet tapping, the latter starting with a nice bit of acoustic guitar.

Whilst the arrangements and mix are good with instruments clearly heard, the big single aside, the songs themselves are lacking something – hooks, middle-8s, something memorable to grab me. Better than some of the recent screechers and oddball offerings but it all feels a bit humdrum. 6/10.
 
Gorgeous George by Edwyn Collins

None of us approach these reviews ex nihilo – we listen in the context of our lives and other things we are listening to. I initially approached this favourably after the last few weeks of nominations. I knew the guys name and for whatever reason felt quite warmly towards him in the same way I might feel warmly to an Elvis Costello nomination. I know very little about either person or their music so I can’t really articulate why that’s the case. Obviously I had heard A Girl Like You a lot when it came out and enjoyed it and I thought this album might be one of those forgotten gems. So I spun it up on spotify and pondered for a moment why no one had noticed that Edwyn has his willy out on the album cover and why it was hanging so weirdly to his right. So caveat 1 is in place – I was feeling warmly positive about this album and even the sun came out in Manchester.

I’ve been listening to Black Country, New Road’s first two albums a lot the last couple of weeks. I tell you this so that you know that they make music full of anxiety and self loathing which is a little reflective of my mood right now. Caveat 2 is now established. Recap: I expected to like Gorgeous George and I’m listening to load angsty music. All this is possibly colouring my impression of the album. Which I will now begin to articulate in a way that is reflective of the album ie too long and pointless.

Gorgeous George feels like an album that is very precise and considered. I feel confident that Edwyn Collins has good taste and he’s able to articulate his tastes and write songs that he thinks are good. I’m sure he likes this album and I should be clear that I think this is a perfectly pleasant listen. But I’ve spent a few weeks listening to BC,NR – I’m not craving pleasant right now.

This is not Edwyn Collins’ fault – he can’t write an album to suit a mood that I might be feeling 30 years later. What he is responsible for though is cashing the cheques his mouth is writing. He starts and ends the album with songs criticising the predictable and soulless music of his contemporaries. In between he fills the rest of the album with one paced fancies that quite frankly are a little dull.

So has Edwyn Collins been too ambitious and just failed to deliver? I don’t think so – again it feels very considered and precise. There are no missteps or jitters. It feels like what’s on the tape is what was intended. In that case does Edwyn massively overate his ability OR is he blaming the audience for not getting what he’s doing? I dunno but the impression I’m left with is smugness.

For some reason Spotify has this album as being released in 2011 but it did come out in 1994. There are a few electronic noises that would come to be an indie staple in the coming years but he’s touching on a few genres that make this not a stereotypically indie album. For example I’ve Got It Bad is Hendrix styled guitar ballad with added piano and Out of This World has a whiff of Leonard Cohen about it. Make Me Feel Again seems desperate to be a Rod Stewart song and there are plenty of easy country inflections as well. This makes me feel like it might have been a quietly influential album that I’m underrating and there is plenty of enthusiasm for this online but it typically goes like “I love this album I played it for one entire summer”.

Probably my favourite song is the closer Moron even though it is close to the smuggest. I enjoy the background vocals that almost add a little dissonance but that may just be because it’s the only hint of anxiety on the album and that’s what I’m into right now.

With the caveats I’ve listed I’m going to play safe with the rating and give it an unconfident 6. There is nothing I particularly disliked about it except the line saying “they suck” about Guns & Roses – that’s the only place I feel like should have had more attention. But equally there is nothing that makes me want to return. It’s more of a pleasant listen to Sleep Token but where that is pretentious this is smug. There is more to explore in the pretentious so in that respect this is a lesser album but if I was going to pick one to listen to it would be this so in that respect it’s a better album. But if I was in the car and I only had those two cd’s I’d put the radio on.
 
Hmm now I'm thinking about it a bit more I'm wondering if the reason that this album that had a short self life was because The Bends came out the following spring (happy belated birthday to that album by the way). They are kind of in the same marketspace. Gorgeous George contains a few hints that Collins considers himself to be an underappreciated genius so may prefer to consider himself unlucky rather than just mid. I dont care with the ignorant haters on this thread will say The Bends is an incredible 10/10 album :)
 
mrbelfry said:
Hmm now I'm thinking about it a bit more I'm wondering if the reason that this album that had a short self life was because The Bends came out the following spring (happy belated birthday to that album by the way). They are kind of in the same marketspace. Gorgeous George contains a few hints that Collins considers himself to be an underappreciated genius so may prefer to consider himself unlucky rather than just mid. I dont care with the ignorant haters on this thread will say The Bends is an incredible 10/10 album :)
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If you are out in the internet wilds fishing for bites by referencing RH in the same breath as this album, I'll take the bait, hook line and sinker.

How very dare you!?
 
Mr Grumpy said:
If you are out in the internet wilds fishing for bites by referencing RH in the same breath as this album, I'll take the bait, hook line and sinker.

How very dare you!?
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I'm saying they are incomparable :) just trying to figure out if it was an early proponent of adding some electronic textures to indie songs which might make it influential but also why I wasn't all over this in 1994? It seemed to come and go very quick from public consciousness (including my own) and im speculating if its because The Bends came out soon after and changed the game
 
mrbelfry said:
I'm saying they are incomparable :) just trying to figure out if it was an early proponent of adding some electronic textures to indie songs which might make it influential but also why I wasn't all over this in 1994? It seemed to come and go very quick from public consciousness (including my own) and im speculating if its because The Bends came out soon after and changed the game
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Actually with two seconds further thought it was probably Definitely Maybe coming out that made Gorgeous George seem old hat. Unfortunate timing (but to reinforce my point Oasis were definitely not adding texture to their songs so what's influencing all those early 2000 indie bands?)
 
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