bruns@wivax.UUCP (11/18/84)
I've been reading net.music for a few months now, hoping to read about great new (or recent) albums that I would never hear on the radio. Unfortunately most articles, such as the recent crop of D-D Debates, are worthless. At least we don't have to hear about people's favorite (old, burned-out) guitarists anymore! So here goes, two short reviews of albums from the last year or two. The Smiths (The Smiths): Debut album, as far as I know. One song, "What difference does it make?", was popular in L.A. about 8 months ago. The basic sound is a single lead vocalist in front of a couple guitars, bass, and drums, with occaisional organ thrown in. The vocalist has an unusual voice and (I think) a great sense of his phrasing. Of the ten songs on the album, about half are slow and moody, with layered guitar sounds. There's a slight folk influence on these tunes. The rest of the songs are in a rock vein, a couple would have to be put in the very catchy category. But the most interesting points are the lyrics, the vocalist, and the way that the vocalist seems to be doing exactly what he is trying to do while the band churns away beneath him. A good example of interesting and slightly off-beat "new" music. Soul Mining (The The) I believe this is also a debut album. In contrast to The Smiths, The The use mostly electronic instruments. The album appears to be the child of two people, one of whom plays all the instruments. I have never heard a The The song on the radio, and I can understand why. The title says it all, this guy is trying to find out what makes him tick, and doesn't seem to care what he finds out. The cover of the album shows a cartoon-like picture of a head with a bunch of hammers bouncing off it. The songs range from intense, jerky tunes to more measured sounding ones. In every case the (once again) unique sound of the vocalist and the unusual lyrics give the songs a somewhat neurotic quality. The vocalist also gets pretty sarcastic sounding at times. Well that's it. Both of these albums take some getting used to, but at least in my case, they can be listened to for a long time. To give you an idea of my basic tastes, I like Elvis Costello, Simple Minds, The English Beat (R.I.P.), and also a lot of trashy stuff. Hope these reviews were informative. Like I said before, please post to the net if you know of some good new albums. - Glenn Bruns
jeff@dciem.UUCP (Jeff Richardson) (11/20/84)
As someone who considers The The's "Soul Mining" to be one of the five
best new albums I've heard this year, I can say that bruns's description
of it sounds pretty accurate. I have a word of advice to Canadians who
may be thinking of buying the album: If you have a chance, buy an American
copy. After the exchange rate on your money, it may cost a little more,
but it has a better cover and contains one extra song ("Perfect"). The
American version has a lyric sheet, but I think the Canadian version does too.
--
Jeff Richardson, DCIEM, Toronto (416) 635-2073
{linus,ihnp4,uw-beaver,floyd}!utcsrgv!dciem!jeff
{allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!dciem!jeff