pretazzo

Dearest captain, your original nickname makes me go wild (as a fan of Twisted Sister), but honestly, this review of yours has left me a bit disappointed... I'm not saying you should do a track by track analysis, but an album of such richness and variety deserved a more detailed treatment... Not asking for much, but at least mention that handful of masterpieces that makes this album so indispensable (especially for lifting one's spirits in dark times): "Everything Right" (perfect for the theme song of an old sitcom); "Don't Let's Start" (a masterful twist that, damn it, thousands of so-called pop bands would give their balls to write a song like that); "Hide Away" (a nice country tune to listen to as a sedative right after taking a dump, with one's backside still on fire); "Rhythm Section Wanted" (a festive romp) and above all, THE MASTERPIECE OF MASTERPIECES: "Hotel Detective" (with a crazy vocal duet and a backdrop reminiscent of Roger Moore in "The Spy Who Loved Me")... I mean, this band (cult in the States, ABSOLUTELY unknown here) has proven two things: 1) that in US colleges, amidst a shooting and an erotic photo book, now and then a genius emerges capable of coming up with 19 memorable melodies and 19 brilliant arrangements in the midst of an era of violence and darkness (who would have expected an album like this in the post-punk days?!); 2) that even pop, if it is truly great, remains niche... Anyway, thinking it over, I thank you, captain, for relieving me of the burden of reviewing this magical album…

I'm just kidding... the Giants are immense...

"I thank Pretazzo for reminding me of this Wonderful Group and I dedicate this Review to him." <<< OH I SWEAR I DIDN'T WANT TO MENTION THIS BAND YESTERDAY IN THE PORNOGRAPHY REVIEW TO AVOID SOMEONE STEALING MY REVIEW...........IT'S A NIGHTMARE!!!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Heard it! Truly amazing! Even better than the previous one (echoed in the concluding "God")... in fact, it really reminds me of English punk, especially The Clash and Sham 69 (particularly the vocals, the guitar riffs, the melodies)... the only thing that differentiates them from The Clash is the guitar sound, which here is completely devoid of distortion... it truly feels like a record from '77... the only thing that connects them to the era when it was released is the organ in "I Want To Kill You"... the only note I have concerns the sax in "Hey Mr Draft Boar": in my opinion, the comparison to X-Ray Spex is a bit forced... but apart from this divergence, I endorse everything written in this review and once again thank Lewis Tollani for revealing this unmissable gem to us...

"Are there any serious groups or at least somewhat serious (I’m not talking about U2) that have produced "cheerful" or naive works?" <<< naive maybe not, but cheerful definitely: Ramones, Kevin Ayers, Pere Ubu, They Might Be Giants are just the first that come to mind...

uh i therapy...they rock...when I hear about them, the first thing that pops into my head is Daieeeeen-Daieeeeeeeeen-Daaaaaaaaaa aaaien...

Dear Nibbio, I gladly give 3 stars to HV... I've never been crazy about AC/DC... great review anyway...

besides the usual Twins and Valentine, Slowdive remind me a lot of Galaxie 500 and late Talk Talk...some time ago, in a review about Galaxie, it was discussed that somewhere (perhaps on allmusic) the Boston band was classified as shoegazer...at first, many (myself included) frowned upon it, but upon reflection, that falsetto singing, that anemic and pasty sound, that calmness with which the songs are performed, and especially that sense of exhaustion and languor, connect the Galaxie to their English shoegazer counterparts...of course, since Galaxie lack the wall of guitars (or keyboards), to label Galaxie 500 as "shoegaze" does sound a bit forced...one thing is certain: by the late 80s, several bands (in the UK those dream and shoe; in the USA the various Galaxie, Cowboy Junkies, Mazzy Star, not to mention the post-rock scene in Kentucky) had seriously started to slow down the tempos a bit after 10 years of punk and heavy metal...with these bands, rock began to transform into something else, perhaps into ambient music (as Eno would say)...

painful record, it contains the (few) flaws that the Husker Du had, raised to the umpteenth power... no doubt about it: Mould and Westerberg belong to the 80s and in the 80s they gave everything they had to give... at the dawn of the new decade, the new wave of more sentimental independent rock has inherited the scepter, plagiarizing them now with decorum and now with cowardice...