Staple Swingers [Remastered] - Staple Singers (The)

Advantages: Totally OUT THERE....
Disadvantages: Gets a bit claustrophobic at times

...and tenacious Celtic approach. Morrison and Tucker were their background support, dark lieutenants in their grand scheme, never producing anything other than basic and quite orthodox backing, although the functional clatter of Mo Tucker’s work was always just right for the unbridled magic of the Velvets. If she’d been cleverer, or less naïve, or more challenging, it would somehow have disrupted their sound - the magic lay in the combination of the knowing, the cynical, the experimental and the amateur - it worked, yeah? It was Reed and Cale’s meeting back in 1964 that prompted the birth of the Velvets and it was always they who pulled the strings. They fell in early on with the Andy Warhol circus and it was he who suggested Nico as a singer. He was credited as producer on the first album with its distinctive banana... Read review

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Advantages: inteligent varied original
Disadvantages: their last record as a group

...Some are born great,as the saying goes ,others have greatness thrust upon them,and in the case of The Specials it seems not only did they achieve greatness with their debut album "Specials",but had even more greatness thrust upon them by an over expectant music press and ravenous fan base all eager for more of their punk/ska riotous rapture ,however in the spirit of true greatness and wanton defiance they delivered "More Specials" in the autumn of 1980,and in direct conflict to its title could well have been called "Less Specials " In the twelve months which had elapsed between their debut and this daring follow up the musical landscape had changed a great deal ,the fury of punk which gave rise to the groups foundations was now a fading memory as new sounds and movements splinterd into a varied buffet of sounds and movements... Read review

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Advantages: Probably their most innovative and imaginative work
Disadvantages: Short playing time and questionable value for money

...;, the song is a self-questioning piece about the dilemma of “fakin’ it, not really makin’ it”. Everything stops halfway through for an out-of-character touch of harmonica, footsteps approaching a front door and a very English young female voice asking brightly, “Good morning, Mr Leach – have you had a busy day?” Or could it be Mr Leitch, a subtle reference to Donovan; the guitar on this song sounds rather like that on his 1966 hit ‘Sunshine Superman’. ‘Punky’s Dilemma’ is inconsequential but likeable enough, rather eclipsed by what was at the time the record’s main calling card, ‘Mrs Robinson’. A US No. 1, a UK top three single, used as the theme for the Dustin Hoffman picture ‘The Graduate’ still a staple radio oldie more than 30 years... Read review

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