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Post by unomusette on Sept 6, 2014 23:06:21 GMT
First at this, I thought quite hard about what might appeal to fellow ELO fans and reckon the catchy tunes in this album could measure up. One of my chief delights in life is singing along as loudly as possible to songs and this album is stuffed with that kind of material for me. Great hooks, a bit of humour, some passionate vocals and sometimes dodgy lyrics, what's not to love? Some of you may already be familiar with Strawbs; Dave Cousins' voice can be a bit of an acquired taste so luckily there's some variation with Dave Lambert's contributions. Here's Burning for You, with my own track comments afterwards if anyone is interested, following which I shall hide under a cushion and await your opinions. I won't burble too much, it's your thoughts that count Burning for me - Moody. Lovely bridge. Maybe slightly too long? Jumps into Cut Like a Diamond - Wake up! Admit it, you were dozing off a bit. Fab deranged vocals at the end. I Feel Your Loving Coming On - Bit soppy, nice tune, great to howl along to. Barcarole (For the Death of Venice) - Venice gets a few mentions on this album. Dreamy. Alexander the Great - Fame can be a curse. Smiley lyrics. Shouty vocals <3 Keep on Trying - Uplifting. See "howling along" above. Back in the Old Routine - Sly nod to Part of the Union (probs their best known song) in here, happy lyrics, sing along with gusto. Heartbreaker - Best song for me, great riff, lovely build-up part towards the end, winner. Carry me Home - Dodgiest lyrics here but a pretty tune and angsty chorus. Goodbye (Is Not An Easy Word To Say) - Wallow shamelessly in misery here. Sniffle. Was a perfect end to the original album. Joey and Me - Strangely bolted on as bonus track following on from Goodbye.... Catchy though.
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Post by BSJ on Sept 7, 2014 17:43:53 GMT
Well, unomusette I knew you would pick a band that I’ve nooooo clue who they are. I will do some research (as usual with these strange ones) and, I guess, listen to the thing, and get back later.
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Post by Horacewimp on Sept 7, 2014 18:01:56 GMT
I only know Part of the Union, looking forward to listening to the album.
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Post by 88keys on Sept 7, 2014 20:08:50 GMT
My initial reaction is that it reminds me of an odd combo of prog and Dio! LOL.
I'll listen more, later.
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Post by unomusette on Sept 7, 2014 21:06:46 GMT
Aha! Combination of confusion and enthusiasm. I like this
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Post by jrmugz on Sept 8, 2014 0:01:58 GMT
OK, thanks for picking something outside of my familiarity, like BSJ I never heard of them either. Will check it out this week and send the feedback!
Jim
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Post by Horacewimp on Sept 8, 2014 13:44:56 GMT
Overall it was not a bad album, it had a good start, poor middle and ok end. The first four songs I liked, it then went down hill with the next three tracks, back on track with last four songs. Heartbreaker and Burning for Me were my favourites. I think it must be the singing/shouting style but for some reason while I was listening I kept been reminded of John Otway. Good album choice, thanks unomusette
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Post by queenofthehours on Sept 8, 2014 14:42:46 GMT
This is the most challenging album I've heard so far here (but in a good way!! ). I know Sandy Denny sung with the band way back in the early days but I've never heard a Strawbs album until now.
I'm not sure. I was expecting something a little folky but this album seems to be bringing out a prog side (I like prog, so this is good). However, I think this album needs plenty of time to sink in. I don't think I can make an opinion in as shorter time as a week but what I can say is that the musicianship very solid sounding.
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Post by unomusette on Sept 8, 2014 21:58:04 GMT
I'm really chuffed you both gave it a good go, thanks! They do have more folky output and also some pretty long-winded proggy stuff - this is somewhere in between I suppose.
As for John Otway - massive win! I still remember him doing Really Free on TOTP and both my Dad and I loving it. About the only music we ever agreed upon, heh!
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Post by jrmugz on Sept 9, 2014 17:29:28 GMT
I'm still playing it, I heard it through once, I think the last 3 or 4 songs are the best, and the title track is great.
For 1977, it doesn't sound like it was breaking any new ground, but there's nothing wrong with that.
I can see why they were billed with Supertramp for concerts around then, kind of the same style, though not as keyboard-oriented as Supertramp.
Jim
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Post by BSJ on Sept 9, 2014 19:23:26 GMT
I stopped by a used record store and I almost dropped to the floor! They had this album!! Great shape and of course I bought it, tsk. I love the cover. So cool that I can throw it on my turntable - old school!
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Post by unomusette on Sept 9, 2014 21:46:55 GMT
Thanks Jim, I suppose they sound very English in the same way as Supertramp. I think you're right about it being pretty typical fare for the late '70's too. They'd been going for years before this (and still around today) maybe just fulfilling a contract or doing the obvious to make money. On the other hand that's when OOTB came out,the late '70's were great! BSJ - I'm hugely impressed at you snapping up the vinyl, had you listened to it first? If not I'm even more impressed and am crossing everything including internal organs in the hope it will be up to scratch. Scratch! Heheee! See what I did there? * *vinyl related joke for oldies
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Post by Helmut83 on Sept 9, 2014 23:05:09 GMT
Hey there! How are you doing in this section? Today I found some time to take a whole listen to this CD. First of all, a disclaimer: I find it hard to take conclusions out of one or even a few listens. There are some songs which you like at first listen and others which take time to grow on you. There are even some which sound decent the first time and then you get easily bored about them. Just to give a couple of examples, I remember I didn't particularly like "One summer dream" or "The way life's meant to be" the first time I heard them and now they are favourites of mine. Now, my conclussions. I don't find it very proggy as some others have said. In fact, I found it quite "poppy", with some new-age influences on it. In the whole, I liked the album, but it didn't stand out to me as homogeneous in terms of quality. There are songs which I quite liked and other which I didn't like so much. I agree with others about the last part of the album being the best. "Heartbreaker" stands out being one of the best, if not the best song. It is very catchy, well-finished and has that powerful guitar riff. "Carry me home" is a great ballad that reminds me a bit of the "Discovery" ELO ballads. "I feel your loving coming on" is very catchy and has that descendant chords sequence on the chorus which are very effective; I can imagine you, unomusette, howling along to it. Ahm, and I think the bonus track should definitely have been included in the original album, it's really good. Of the others, "Back in the old routine" has some Kinks influence in it (sounds a lot like "Sunny afternoon"). "Keep on trying" is a feelgood song -kind of Journey's "Don't stop believing", but not as horrible- that has a good verse but in my opinion lacks a more forceful chorus to round it off. "Barcarole"... not my type, I never like those very slow songs. The ones I liked least are "Burning for me" (why open an album with that song when you have much better material on it?), "Cut like a diamond" (I found the verse part -"I was born..."- forced, like uninspired and unconvincing) and "Alexander the Great" (this is one is a bit proggy I think, but IMO it is the worst song of the album). I think they have placed the songs incorrectly. What happened to me is that the first two songs mined my enthusiasm for continuing to listen to the rest of the album, but luckily I did because then there was much better material and definitely worth listening.
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Post by 88keys on Sept 10, 2014 6:56:49 GMT
After listening to the whole thing, I'm pleasantly surprised. Lots of good stuff, some not so good, but overall it's worth a listen.
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Post by jrmugz on Sept 10, 2014 15:38:17 GMT
Hey Helmut, should I sign you up to feature the CD of the week for Sept. 21 -27? Since BSJ has next week.
Jim
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