Advantages: It's not awful Disadvantages: Fairly poor
Ukraine has some awesome bands whether it be the reggae punk folk act Haydamaky or acoustic guitar acts such as Kontrabas. When you throw funky rock bands like VV thrown into the mix then you would imagine it wouldn?t be hard to come up with a decent folk rock band. Whilst there?s nothing technically bad about the band ?TheUkrainians?.
The band is made up of English born Ukrainian descendents and songs on this album are in Ukrainian. The folky style is too depressive and the punk not energetic enough, leaving the sound of the band a little lacklustre.
The arrangement of the melodies seems very contrived. Nothing jumps out and amazes and one song runs into another one. I?d been aware of The Ukrainians for ages but had never got round to giving them a listen, I finally decided to give their debut album a go and can say that I wasn ...
Advantages: Easy to read, funny, captivating Disadvantages: Too much in one story, some comedic devices stretched a bit far
Nadia and Vera are middle-aged Ukrainian sisters living in Britain and everything - form personality to politics - seems to divide them. But now they have to join ranks as their elderly widowed father Nikolay falls prey to Valentine, a silicone-breasted, bottle-blonded gold digger back from the home country who arrives in the UK with her teenage son and a belief that an old age pension of an engineer will be able to support her taste for brown cookers and posh cars. Many farcical events ensue and some poignantly moving ones too in a swiftly moving and often funny story.
But overall, 'Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian' is less wacky then the blurb on the cover would let you believe and it is, essentially, a simple family tale. The conflict between two sisters (very overt) and their difficult relationship with their slightly ...
Advantages: easy reading Disadvantages: maybe too simplistic
"Two years after my mother died, my father fell in love with a glamorous blond Ukrainian divorcee. He was eighty-four and she was thirty-six. She exploded into our lives like a fluffy pink grenade, churning up the murky water, bringing to the surface sludge of sloughed-off memories; giving the family ghosts a kick up the backside."
Nikolai has lost his wife after decades of faithful looking after and sticking to the rules. An eccentric old man, he decides to take a new one. A thirty-six year old from his home land of the Ukraine. After years of estrangement, this decision brings his two daughters back into contact with each other, and kick starts the warmly funny tale of 'A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian'.
Nadezhda (Nadia) and Vera have been raised in England by their war time refugee parents. They are as different as it ...
Product Information for "Respublika - Ukrainians (The)" »
Product details
Title
Respublika
Performer
Ukrainians (The)
Genre
Folk
Release Date
10/02/2003
Recomended Retail Price
13.99 GBP
Label / Distributor
Zirka / Proper
Pieces in Set
1
Format
Performer
EAN
5036865003677
Additional notes
Album Notes
'Respublika' is the fifth album from the The Ukraninians which started as a 'one-off bit of fun' by Wedding Present guitarist, Peter Solowka. The band play traditional Ukrainian folk songs in a punk rock style, featuring the legendary vocals of Len Liggins. The album also features two Sex Pistols covers, performed in the unique Ukrainians style.
Ciao
Listed on Ciao since
21/03/2005
Compare Respublika - Ukrainians (The) to other similar Folk & Country »
