Rock & Pop > 1970 to 1979 Rock & Pop > New Wave

They're nuts

Advantages: Some great stuff here
Disadvantages: None really

...familar obsessions, as its title, More Songs About Buildings And Food, mockingly suggested. Eno’s influence on the album was relatively subtle. He fed the sound of the band through his synthesiser, and then mixed the treated sound in with the original. The result emphasised rather than altered the band’s style. Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz were developing into a powerful, funky rhythm section, and the overall sound of the record was a bigger, ...
...contained a surprise hit single, a cover of soul singer Al Green’s Take Me To The River. Sung with all the intensity Byrne could muster, the single entered the US Top Thirty, reaching number 26. The Heads were a band that was clearly going places and were proving their ability to progress with each album. ...

dave27 10.10.2000 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of More Songs About Buildings And Food - Talking Heads

creepiest album ever made

Advantages: timeless
Disadvantages: none

...ever made about paranoia and fear - everything about it just seems right : the simplicity of the one word titles, the sparseness of the musical arrangements, Brian Enos production, Byrnes haunted and haunting vocals. The most accessible tracks here are Heaven and Life During Wartime - the latter is the one that mentions CBGBs in the chorus and tells of a survivor/spy? of WWIII. And the former, at first listen seems like a really nice song with ...
...are murkier and deal with fear of the atmosphere and oxygen (Air - "people say not to worry about the air, some people have never had experience of air"), how someone is controlling us for music for sinister reasons, (Electric Guitar - "never listen to electric guitar", "someone controls electric guitar") and how animals can't be trusted (Animals) and aren't as cute and innocent as they make out. The album opens with the nonsensical world music ...

tilly77 29.04.2005 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Fear Of Music - Talking Heads

Distinctive pop

Advantages: Cool for cats, up the junction, other strong songs
Disadvantages: A bit patchy

...track of Squeeze’s second album Cool For Cats (1979), produced by John Wood, along with the likes of Slap And Tickle, It’s Not Cricket and the ambiguous It’s So Dirty (actually a put down of sexist attitudes) continued Chris Difford’s obsession with nights out with the lads looking for birds and booze. Cool For Cats and Up The Junction both made number 2 in the UK charts, the latter a sad tale of young marriage doomed to failure sung by Tilbrook ...
...Tickle also made number 24 when released as a single, confirming Squeeze’s new found popularity as pop’s heirs to Ian Dury’s Cockney crown. The album also included The Knack, Slightly Drunk and Revue amongst others and was a very strong set, a distinctive step forward from their first album. ...

dave27 15.10.2000 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful
Review of Cool For Cats - Squeeze

Perfect Blondie

Advantages: To get the best of Blondie without having to get the "Best of Blondie"
Disadvantages: None

One of those few albums that I would call "perfect". Every track a winner, from those you may know to those you should know. Thankfully, now that we have CD versions of this album, we have eliminated the only bad thing about it. Having to turn the record over halfway through. The rawness and originality shine through. The sound of past rock 'n' roll, the punk era and some future sounds, make this seem as modern as the day it came out. I've got ...

Darron1967 22.03.2008 · Read full review
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Review of Parallel Lines [Remastered] - Blondie

ADVENTURES IN POP ART: THE FOURTH ALBUM

Advantages: Still effortlessly cool
Disadvantages: Dodgy bonus tracks and a couple of weak songs

What do you do to follow a groundbreaking album? That was the problem facing Blondie in 1978/79 following the massive success of 'Parallel Lines', their third album, one which had spawned a slew of single successes in the form of 'Hanging on the Telephone', 'Picture This', 'Sunday Girl' and, perhaps most famously, 'Heart of Glass'. The importance of 'Parallel Lines' cannot be understated as an album which brought punk into the mainstream and gave ...
...Chapman was back on board, an important figure in Blondie's drive for pop perfection, and the line-up had settled with vocalist Debbie Harry, lead guitarist Chris Stein, rhythm guitarist Frank Infante, bassist Nigel Harrison, keyboardist Jimmy Destri and drummer Clem Burke. Following up such a monster album as 'Parallel Lines' would be a difficult task and at times it does seem like the band were working against the clock to rush-release a follow-up ...

Ryan74 01.04.2001 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Eat To The Beat [Remastered] - Blondie