The second release form Chalk Circle is as good as the first. I can't figure out why this band wasn't bigger. They wrote some solid tunes and they had a great sound. Two years later, the band released As the Crow Flies. I might be wrong, but I think that I have never heard any songs from that record.
Chalk Circle's debut six-track EP was later released on CD with the original back cover photo as the front cover of the CD. I prefer the vinyl cover better. The Canadian Chalk Circle shouldn't be confused with the American Chalk Circle, of whom I know very little. TheGreat Lake is a really solid pop album, I mean EP.
This record, which I originally owned on CD, was hugely popular among my friends and acquaintances. I probably heard it too many times. Still, I didn't tire of it. I think it's a really amazing debut, solid throughout. The only track that I have never liked is Behind the Wall, though the lyrics are OK. Good luck finding this for $7.99 today.
Herein, we have 10 tracks recorded live in 1985 during a tour of America, and by that, they mean the United States. The British are so imprecise. The 1985 release was on cassette, with the vinyl following in 1986. Oddly, no version of this album was released outside of the UK on any format. Even the CD releases were only dropped in the UK. What's up with that?
I think that this is a really solid live record with really fine live versions. I've embedded the studio version of Shack Up. It's really hard to find clips from this tour, but the entire album in on Youtube.
"Looking for a certain ratio
Someone must have left it underneath the
carpet
Looking up and down the radio
Oh-oh, nothing there this time
Looking for a certain ratio"
- Brian Eno, The True Wheel
It took me some time to figure out if this band should be alphabetized under A of C. It goes without saying that I would never alphabetize something that began with the under T, unless the band was The The. A, being an indefinite article, I opted to put this under C.
By the mid 80s, A Certain Ratio had shifted from a sort of post-punk to a more dance-oriented band with some funk influences. I liked the former better, but this is cool. There is some really cool bass work on this EP.
This is a heartbreaking and harrowing record. It's epic, powerful, painful, beautiful, transcendental, and maybe even a masterpiece. But, there's so much emotion and anguish that I find it difficult to listen to.
Parts of Cave's delivery remind me of some of John Cale's work.
The band name gets an asterisk on Discogs because the full word and is used rather than an ampersand on previous releases. Seriously!
Original 1996 pressings of the record are a bit pricey, but there are other options, even unofficial options. I have an official US repress from 2015, which is on heavyweight vinyl and came with a download card. My copy has dog-eared corners, regrettably, but the price was impossible to pass up. This is a great record, but I think I have yet to hear a Nick Cave song that I did not like. This record has a mixture of original and cover versions, including a couple of traditional tunes, all of which sound really great.
Is it wrong that I prefer the Johnny Cash version of The Mercy Seat? I mean, it's a killer track under Rick Rubin's direction. The overall sound of the record is bizarre, it you ask me. I can't really put my finger on it, though.
Obviously, I do not have the original pressing. This is 2014 repress. It sounds good, despite that I wrote above.
The last six Johnny Cash records are absolute genius. I have them all on CD. The rest of his catalogue ranges from great to mediocre. This record aggregates some of his more well-known tunes, but inexplicably leaves off Ring of Fire and I Walk the Line. On the plus side, the collection excludes Cats in the Cradle, one of my nominations for the worst song ever written. I recall not buying a couple of Cash collections on CD simply because that train-wreck of a song was on it.
It looks like Andrew Cash never left this boomtown after all, opting to stay and be a really great MP. Of course, I am assuming that the Boomtown in the song is Toronto and not some other mythical boomtown.
I guess I liked the first album better, but this is still a good record. I have never heard any tracks from the third record, Hi, which was a CD-only release.
Just look at the outfit the Honorouable Andrew Cash is wearing! It certainly suggests a time but maybe not a place. As a member of parliament, his wardrobe seems to have undergone a change.
Time and Place is a solid album. He wore the same outfit to the filming of the video for the lead-off track. I guess he was trying to project a consistent image:
Wow, this photo is seriously crooked. Maybe I had a glass of wine before I took the photo.
Today, Andrew Cash
is my Member of Parliament. Back in the
1980s, Mr. Cash was a musician, first spending time in the band
L'Étranger with another future MP (but more on that later). I have spoken to Mr. Cash a few times. I think he makes a
really fine politician and he is obviously passionate about social
justice.
Tim Vesely, from the Rheostatics, is the bassist on this EP. A couple of these songs show up on Mr. Cash's first full length album.
"Missing from the album is the usual Cars chemistry, made up of Ocasek's crisp vocals and Elliot Easton's animated, hook-infused guitar work. Instead, tracks like "Go Away" and "Double Trouble" yield to murky instrumentation and subpar rock formulas." [source]
It's hard to disagree with this view. Certainly, You are the Girl, is not so good. Other tracks seem to take their cue from metal, is some ways. The album is probably the weakest record from the Cars. The interesting thing about this record is that my copy is sealed. I heard it many times back in the day, and then I acquired a copy and never opened it. I suppose that really says a lot about the record.
The truth is that I hate the song Drive. It's insipid, boring, and irritating. Generally speaking, I prefer earlier Cars, but there are some good tracks here. It's a fun album.
Album #4 from The Cars is pretty good. The two big songs are Shake it Up and Since You're Gone. The good news is that Cars records are not that expensive. You should be able to find used copies of this record for $5-$6, which is probably less than it cost new in 1981. Some records sell for multiple times their original selling price, but not the Cars.
The third Cars record has been described as more experimental and less straight-up pop. That may well be true, but it's still a great album. The opening track - Panorama - sounds oddly like it could have fit on the Cure's Boys Don't Cry album. It works for me. Touch and Go, I think, was the only single.
she's laughing inside 'cause they can't refuse she's so beautiful now she doesn't wear her shoes
I bought this record at the same main street record store in my hometown. While it is perhaps not quite as good as the first Cars record, it is still pretty awesome, and the cover, by Vargas, is great too. Even as a boy, I knew who Vargas was, because my dad had a backdoor subscription to Playboy. In other words, he bought a subscription for someone else each Christmas, and then that person would pass the magazines along to him. It was a win-win.
you've got your nuclear boots and your drip dry glove and when you bite your lip it's some reaction to love
In my small hometown, there used to be a record store and it lasted for a while. A newer one replaced the older, but eventually, it too died, but I am not sure when. There used to be lots and lots of records stores all over the place, but now they are few and very far between. I bought lots of records in that tiny record shop in my hometown, including this one. For some reason, I have a crystal clear memory of buying it. The shop was only so big, and the stock was rather provincial, so I had to make treks to urban places farther afield to find more interesting items.
The Cars appealed to a wide range of tastes, and I think the songs still sound fresh today.
"Back home we were listening to Catholic Boy
And I got hung up on the people that died"
- Rock Problems, The Hold Steady
Jim Carroll was a poet, and it showed in his song writing. Sadly, he passed away in 2009.
I'm not sure how to define his music. I guess it's part punk, part new wave. His memoir, The Basketball Diaries, was made into a film that I actually saw. This album, as the title suggest, touches on Catholicism in many places, especially in the title track, Catholic Boy:
"I make angels dance and drop to their knees
When I enter a church the feet of statues bleed
I understand the fate of all my enemies
Just like Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane"
But, for me, the song that captivated me was People Who Died. It's a tour-de-force. Carroll always made me think of Lou Reed, and if you are a fan of both, you should check out this clip or Lou and Jim. Sadly, they are two more People who Died.
Here's a vid of People who Died that was released with the movie, I think.
On the first casual listen, this might seem to be something of a light goofy album, which seems strange for a chap who was a founding member of UK punk band, The Damned. The two most recognizable tracks are probably Wot and the cover of Rogers and Hammerstein's Happy Talk, lending some credence to the idea that this is purely a quirky album. Both of the aforementioned tunes got plenty of play in my circles back in the day. I would say that there are some serious compositions here, but I still like Wot the best of the album.
