It’s landed! On first listen, I liked it. On second listen, I liked it a lot. Just finished my third time around and I think I LOVE it.
Various critics and fans have called this their best album in over 40 years and I can’t argue with that assessment. The band is tight, the songs are strong, the production is loud and clear and Jagger’s vocals are remarkable for an 80 year old.
This is not Stones-by-the-numbers. I can get satisfaction!
James do the rousing, anthemic stuff very well. I’ve always thought where they really shine though is with the more subtle slow burners. This one’s a belter…
It has been too long since l heard that song.
It’s a great album - comfortably their best for mine…
This is my favourite of theirs, although of course Laid is awesome.
I get into arguments about what is and isn’t ‘Western’ (as in country and).
I maintain this is and will not be taking notes.
I do like that song but I’ve gotta say it’s one of my least favourite albums of theirs. A handful of good tunes, but the rest is just OK.
Here’s another thing of beauty… unbelievably it was relegated to B-side status! This recent rendering of it (pretty close to the original B-side, but augmented with strings and harmony vocals) is quite lovely…
That’s really nice.
No need to go into acts it reminds me of.
And once again, you surprise me Wim.
What sort of mental gymnastics did you perform to come up with the idea that this is a “Western” song?
lol.
Honestly, it’s mostly about feel.
There’s…strumming pattern, a soaring instrumental doesn’t hurt…I think maaaybe the chords might have something to do with it, but I really have not investigated any of that, and also…the feeling of movement/travel…and…an easily imagined horse.
I mean…obviously it’s indie/Britpop, so perhaps it would be more accurate to say Western-influenced.
But if you want to play a quick game of yes/no, along with this, three songs that come to mind are
Kingdom of Rust - The Doves (and if you think this is, then I’d be interested to hear why you think the James track is not).
Isobel - Bjork
…and also to me , Nights In White Satin - Moody Blues although I accept this is a stretch.
There are plenty of other examples that don’t come readily to mid.
Thank you for asking.
I love Hunters and Collectors’ first album and every time I put it on a different song stands out. This time it’s the menacing penultimate track.
I mean… it’s no Holy Grail…
Imagine Mark snarling out this track at half time in the granny!
It would’ve been far preferable to what we got…
The first three H&C albums were one of my workdays’ background music a couple of months ago. Still enjoy them, especially the first one.
Challenging in parts, and very, very different from what came later (their evolution into yob-rock then Triple M rock and finally into pedestrian alt-rock).
I lol’d.
Big Birthday Party influence but paying close attention to UK stuff like Gang Of Four, Shriekback, 23 Skidoo. The bass is brilliant throughout. Actually, this might predate some of that stuff.
A thread running through a lot of my favourite early-mid 80’s Aus music is a really strong, melodic bass element. Almost tribal sounding, almost funky. Very Gang of Four influenced.
Think early H&C, early-mid Models, early Boom Crash Opera, early Machinations, even The Oils up to and including 10…1… love that sound!
I love it too, that muscular punk-funk sound.
A ‘new’ beatles track possibly dropping in the next day or so.
The cover art is equal to my expectations…meh.
Likewise… based on Real Love (which was reasonable, though far from essential) and Free As A Bird (which was poor… essentially a Jeff Lynne song).
I’d be happy for it to exceed my expectations, but I’m absolutely not counting on it.
Just on the PVC sleeve = bad thing for vinyl records…
I stumbled upon a Youtube video made by an Aussie guy, in which he claims to remove vinyl misting by using two (what appear to be car cleaning) products - PlastX and ScratchX, which are both readily available from Repco and Autobarn.
Have to say, I’m super skeptical though the results appear to be impressive. I’m gonna give it a crack. I wouldn’t take the plunge on anything of monetary or sentimental value, but I just happen to have a couple of copies of a 12" single (not particularly valuable), one of which has noticeable misting on one side of the vinyl. It will be the perfect guinea pig, and I won’t be bothered if I ruin it.
I’ll report back…
I’ve also read about Autoglym Bumper and Trim Gel supposedly doing the job… again, skeptical…
