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04-07-2009, 10:17 PM | #171 (permalink) |
daddy don't
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: the Wastes
Posts: 2,577
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sh*t-hot reviews, i'm checking out Mind Bomb, shame about the cover though (is that Matt Johnson on the front?) - they could have at least had a brain with a mushroom cloud coming out of it. Also I don't think you'll meet anyone anywhere who didn't think 'The The' wasn't a stupid name
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04-08-2009, 01:26 PM | #175 (permalink) | |||
why bother?
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: UK
Posts: 4,840
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Yep, I'm officially part of the 1k+ Crew For anyone who feels like checking The The out, Soul Mining is a great album too - not really in the same league as Mind Bomb but well worth a listen all the same. Thanks I probably used the words 'dark' and 'ambitious' about 70 times altogether, but I believe I've made my point. Thanks for the Soul Mining link btw - really enjoying that one. Quote:
As for the Kinks, it is an absolutely top-drawer album, but putting it in the #30-11 bracket (the upper echelon of musical genius) would've meant a headache over reshuffling the whole thing. It's in the list anyway, so at least I haven't completely ignored it eh. |
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04-12-2009, 10:52 AM | #176 (permalink) |
why bother?
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: UK
Posts: 4,840
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I could just copy and paste my old review of this here, but that'd be a cheap shot, so here's number 8 in all it's re-reviewed glory
8. Elvis Costello & the Attractions - Imperial Bedroom (1982)
1. Beyond Belief 2. Tears Before Bedtime 3. Shabby Doll 4. The Long Honeymoon 5. Man Out of Time 6. Almost Blue 7. ...And in Every Home 8. The Loved Ones 9. Human Hands 10. Kid About It 11. Little Savage 12. Boy with a Problem 13. Pidgin English 14. You Little Fool 15. Town Cryer Having released six studio albums and one live album in the space of about five years, you could forgive Elvis Costello and the Attractions for being a little jaded upon returning to Eden Studios to record yet another LP. At first, this was exactly how things went - for the first couple of weeks of recording the band simply pounded out a selection of sludgy, hungover and uninspired songs which sounded like little more than a pale imitation of their earlier work. It took a moment of sober reflection, the hiring of Geoff Emerick to sit in the producer's chair and the renting of Eden for a further six weeks to turn what could so easily have been one of Elvis Costello's worst albums into an absolute, horrifically overlooked masterpiece. From sounding like they were trying to beat the songs into submission, Costello and co took a much more overdub-heavy, considered and compositional approach to recording to produce a labyrinth of an album with shades of new wave, rock 'n' roll, 30s torch music and even classical and psychedelia. Overall, the album is a grim, mid-tempo affair and, as with the best album-openers, Beyond Belief reflects this nicely - a gloomy, bass-driven number, propelled by a fantastic drumbeat from Pete Thomas and featuring the kinds of alternating keys and notes in the vocal tracks which dominate this album's sound. The 'I've got a feeling - I'm gonna get a lot of grief - once this seemed so appealing - now I am beyond belief' chorus is another sign of what lies ahead on the record, with regards to the jaded, disenchanted lyrical theme. Tears Before Bedtime, while still coming from the same sort of grim manipulation of new wave area, is the first truly brilliant song on show, being slightly more upbeat musically while doing little to sacrifice Costello's pissed-off-young-man lyric. The following Shabby Doll is a bit of a standout. Despite carrying the musical and lyrical themes along nicely and not being a bad song at all, it doesn't go anywhere very interesting musically and is a tad overlong, and probably the weakest point on the album. The next six songs though are definitely among Costello's finest and more than make up for it. The Long Honeymoon gets by on the back of a wailing accordion, keyboardist Steve Nieve's jazzy piano flourishes (which are one of the common strong-points of the album) and Costello's occasional swathes of distorted guitar, and is the first true artistic departure here. Nieve shines again behind the keyboard on the monolithic Man Out Of Time, which is another example of how much the new studio approach benefited the songs (it's earlier recording is just a turgid, sludgy rock song). Nieve's given the space to shine on Almost Blue but this time in a very different way, as the Attractions show their versatility as a backing band by recording a slow, mournful and deeply affecting torch song. To mark the middle of the album though is an artistic u-turn which borders on the bizarre. For ...And In Every Home, over a sparse band performance Nieve and a certain George Martin compose a madly ambitious arrangement for a 40-piece string-and-horn orchestra for Costello to sing over, resulting in another absolutely superb song which doesn't sound too far removed from classical music. The Loved Ones and Human Hands delve into comparably accessible territory, both being terrific, uptempo piano-led tunes (the latter of which features one of Costello's best vocal performances) which wouldn't have made bad choices for singles. That said, they don't sacrifice the ambitious approach to studio craft which dominates the album one little bit. Over the next trio of songs, Imperial Bedroom takes a turn for the darker, starting with the jazz-styled Kid About It; another very fine song indeed. Little Savage bears the same resemblance to Costello's earlier new wave output as Beyond Belief and Tears Before Bedtime, being a dark and pretty miserable song (featuring a damn cool organ solo in the bridge). Boy With a Problem is a sister-song to Almost Blue, being a deeply emotional musical ballad with another superbly tight rhythm section performance and virtuoso piano track from Nieve. After which we move on to the last section of the album, this one being an excellent trio to put the lid on a brilliant record. Pidgin English is what makes Imperial Bedroom an album that warrants a rambling review in a nutshell - labyrinthine vocal overdubs, wonderful lyrics, fitting and non-intrusive orchestral arrangements, a tight rhythm section, an intelligent mid-song tempo-change, etc. Lovely Spanish guitar solo too. No idea what's with the video (it seems to fit somehow though). You Little Fool, driven by Nieve's work on the harpsichord, has the same kind of spine as Pidgin English, this time put through a psychedelic mangle (if you can imagine such a thing) with yet more sublime results. In fact, this is the closest Costello would ever come to writing a psychedelic song. The closer, Town Cryer, is up there with You Can't Always Get What You Want, Rock 'n' Roll Suicide and all the very best and heartstring-tugging curtain calls. Following a frankly perfect piano intro, it's a slow-burning, torch-lighting end to a brilliant record. The string arrangements (again composed by Nieve and Martin) which take the song to its fadeout are musical perfection as well. What we've got at the end of the day is one of the very best albums of the 80s which somehow so many overlook. The fact that, despite widespread critical acclaim, it didn't spawn any hit singles could possibly explain that, but who cares eh. What matters is that here is where fifteen songs come together to produce one of the moodiest, most intelligently written and composed rock albums from one of Britain's most overlooked talents. It's all about Costello's wordplay, Emerick's production values, the rhythm section's adaptability, the orchestral arrangements and Nieve's wonderful work from behind the piano keyboard when it comes to this classic. Bloody marvellous stuff. Last edited by Bulldog; 04-12-2009 at 02:56 PM. Reason: typos! |
04-12-2009, 02:46 PM | #179 (permalink) | |
why bother?
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: UK
Posts: 4,840
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Quote:
Good call sir Just upping it now. Could take about an hour, what with how crummy the connection is here and all |
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