How does it compare to the artist's other releases
Value for Money
Advantages:
Great songs, good live feel, varied instrumentation
Disadvantages:
Didn't include Dizzy - though they make up for it
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
The Wonderstuff to many of you may have been a band who made, as their lead singer Miles Hunt comments on this album, "cartoon pop songs", of which you're probably most familiar with their biggest hits Dizzy (with Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer), The Size Of a Cow and Welcome To The Cheap Seats. The band are far more than that though, as this live album shows.
The band is mainly guitar driven, especially with their earlier post-punk songs. However, there are keyboard, mandolin and violin parts interwoven into the songs at times, and the songwriting ranges from funny and witty to angry and bitter, but always enjoyable.
The album is taken from 5 sell-out shows which the band reformed for(having split 6 or so years ago). Most of their hits are included, and are played with great energy, but also many of their album tracks and the odd B-side is played, which adds a great variety to this album. The songs range from the fast, despairing opener Can't Shape Up to the slow but lovely acoustic Room 512, All The News That's Fit To Print.
The lyrics are great on the album, featuring lines such as "Forget your heart its your bank I'm gonna break" (in Its Yer Money I'm After Baby), "This house is not my home, I choose to sleep alone and I'm not waiting for the telephone" (in Sleep Alone) and "How easy would it be to be home in time for tea and stop feeling like a sailboat rocking on the sea?" (in The Size Of A Cow). The lyrics aren't always the most politically correct, but they're honest and at times humorous, which I love.
For those that are easily offended I feel I should say this album does contain a fair bit of bad language. There's the odd bit of swearing in the lyrics and between songs, but its not explicit or gratuitous. And I couldn't give a s**t if it was anyway. (sorry, couldn't resist the pun!)
Overall, this is a great double CD live album and is worth checking out if you were a fan of the band, or even if you just love good live music. It beats a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, as my mum might say.
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