yesterday n bought a jumper and some earphones. the new eels cd came in the post. the colour gods aligned. on a wednesday.

Ha.

I used to live right next to this place.

I wanna be a punka too

A bitter tale from an unexpected source. Ends on a downer too, eh..

the january 'classic'

Gave; 'Black Holes and Revelations' by Muse.
Received; 'Crocodiles' by Echo and the Bunnymen.

*slides bunnymen disc into laptop*
*presses play*

First thoughts.......

That beginning bit would be good as a ringtone or mobile alarm......hang on its going more discordant now.....here come some guitars...this is 'of the eighties' earnest simple minds bono with a mullet milleu.

*live blogging while listening to music you don't know is a bit like writing wine tasting notes*

hmmmm...i'm getting notes of student union carpets....john peel session hnngh.....ahhh that sounds like a peter buck rem jingle jangle guitar bit.....

*track 2*

yes this is still 80s. Bit more focussed sounding. "i caught a falling star, it cut my hands to pieces". 

*track 3*

he's got a very powerful voice.

*tracks 4,5,6, reading liner notes*

"ah, that bloke from the KLF had something to do with this"..the end of track 4 moves on to the start of track 5 quite well. Track 5 is best so far. Line about getting the blues in your alligator shoes is good. Some of this reminds me of The Horrors...

Villiers Terrace. quite like that one. Blimey, i was 4 when this came out. Last track now of the album proper (there are some bonus tunes too)...bit of a wig out..and they go for a fade out at the end.

Summary
Well, this sums up the point of doing the 'classic' challenge. I would never have bought this for myself. It's not entirely my thing, but I found things to like in it. Bits of it sounded like early REM (and I know Echo et al came first). He's got a good voice. The middle part of the album was the bit i liked best. The bonus live tunes are quite good too, actually in places better than the studio versions.
So, do we do marks out of 10? Well I suppose it would be useful as a benchmark for future 'classics' so that you can gauge how the different cds compare. Bear in mind that I think that all of the numbers between 0 and 10 count, and that you shouldn't just use 6-10 with 6 being mediocre. I take 5/10 to be truely somewhere in the middle, neither loathed nor loved. I give..

Crocodiles by Echo and the Bunnymen a respectable 6/10.

The 2013 classic challenge

An idea for 2013 proposed by mr pryce and duly seconded by mr page. 12 months of the year. Each month.. 

[hang on, i know what you're thinking, "this is all sounding a bit like the lead up to that incident with the twiglet packet, but bear with me]

.... each month one side of the deal buys a cd for the other side. It must be a cd that the buying side regards as a classic album. The receiver must not already own it. Each side of the deal then blogs their thoughts on the album they have received. The cd must cost less than 10 pounds.

Pin back your ears, we'll try and make it last until at least march.