Chuchu Reviews #19: Badly drawn Boy, Knower, My Life Story & The Sundays
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- Опубликовано: 18 окт 2024
- Chuchu reviews, rates and ranks The Hour of the Bewilderbeast by Badly Drawn Boy, Knower Forever by Knower, Loving You is Killing Me by My Life Story & Reading, Writing and Arithmetic by The Sundays.
All good this week. Happy with the winner.
Would like to put forward Non Stop Erotic Cabaret by Soft Cell 1981
04... My Life Story - Loving You is Killing Me (2024)… I'm A God, Numb Numb Numb, The Urban Mountaineer, Wasted… It’s a good enough album, I would cherry pick my favourite tracks… 3. 5*
03... Knower - Knower Forever (2023)… Nothing to add to what you said, not mad about her voice though, a really good album… 4*
02... Badly Drawn Boy - The Hour Of Bewilderbeast (2000)… As stated previously, it's a 50/50 album for me, and the 50% that I like, I really like... 4*
01...The Sundays - Reading, Writing And Arithmetic (1990)… Here's Where the Story Ends , Joy, Can't Be Sure , I Kicked A Boy, My Finest Hour,A very good album and an underrated band… Harriet Wheeler has a beautiful voice, ‘Here's Where the Story Ends’ is probably their most famous song and it’s a long standing firm favourite of mine… I like it a little more now than I did then... 4.25*
Considerations… The Zutons - Who Killed… The Zutons (2004) or Catatonia - International Velvet (1998)
At the start of your Chuchu reviews journey I listed about 50 albums that I would put forward should you continue with the series, not all those albums are out and out loved by myself but I wondered what you would think about them... One or two have been chosen by others; Crowded House - Together Alone & Prefab Sprout - Jordan The Comeback are two of them... One or two I thought better of when I re listened... Funnily enough I did not like the BDB album at all in 2000 bar 'Pissing In The Wind', I heard it again at a mates house several years ago and several of the tracks resonated much more, unfortunately I like some that you don't 'The Shining' & 'Camping Next To Water' but 100% agree with some of the others that you named... Never mind!!...
I really like the variety of Chuchu Reviews. Even the stuff I end up not liking is fun in it's own way. It's all part of the great smorgasbord of music!
@@tokyochuchu I like Chuchu reviews also, some weeks I'm hearing three albums that I am unaware of, some are well outside of my wheelhouse, some I will never listen to again... Mainly I just want to expand my own music library... I have had periods, especially since the millennium when I get totally fed up with my own library... 2000 - 2010 was a bit of a black period for myself, many of the bands that would usually float my boat, just didn't and at times I can't explain why, some of those bands you have covered on your channel... I have had periods when I just can't listen to artists and bands that I adore, Morrissey, The Cure and even the Beatles have all had to suffer long spells on the sidelines... So few don't seem to suffer this fate, Rick Nelson is probably the only artist that I never seem to drop... Is he a better vocalist that Roy or Elvis... No!!... Does he have the instrumental or lyrical talent of Holly, Berry or Cochran... No!!! but I love nearly everything the guy did... He could play guitar, piano, drums and sax good enough to record but just like Bowie, when you have some of the best musicians working with you, then you utilise their talents, OMD & David Sylvian don't seem to get dropped too often either... The only thing they all have in common is, I never tire of their voices, they are medicine to me, not to everyone's taste I know but I like the exclusivity... As you know I have expanded my playlists a fair bit since following your channel and have even found a few lifers... Looking forward to more, I always watch even when I don't like the subject too mch... Sorry for babbling...🙂🙂🙂
@@ste.6026 A lot of my absolute favourites also spend lengthy periods on the sidelines. Well... Definitely now, because of the RUclips channel. All my music time is mapped out like a work schedule these days. But even before then. I would go through phases. Like; I'd listen to Morrissey intensely for a month. But then I wouldn't listen to his music for an entire year after that. And it was the same for most artists. For me, the bizarre outlyer was Royksopp. There was always time for Royksopp.
@@tokyochuchu Glad that others do that too...🙂
I actually gave some proper listens this week!
That said, I still feel like a few of these (particularly the bottom two) need even more listens... which is probably a good sign for them!
Right now, I'm feeling...
4. Badly Drawn Boy - The Hour of Bewilderbeast (no "the" - I know! I could've sworn it was there...), 3.5* - This one's been sitting on my shelf for *ages*... I've dabbled in it over the years, and my opinion seems to be an amalgam of yours and Ste's - some absolute stunners scattered throughout, but this is an album that can't hold up under it's massive runtime, I think (unlike, say, El Oso! 😁) If this were trimmed, I'd rate it higher immediately. I think "The Shining" & "Everybody's Stalking" are the perfect opening pair - "chef's kiss" as you say - the rest of the first half is pleasant, and this time I gave more attention to the latter half and agree that that late album triptych is a highlight.
3. The Sundays - Reading, Writing & Arithmetic, 3.5* - This one's also been sitting in my collection for years - in fact, so has the whole Sunday's discography, which I dabbled in simultaneously. Similarly to BDB, there are some great highs here - or at least one in the classic-for-a-reason "Here's Where the Story Ends" - the others I seem to have a hard time differentiating, honestly, but they are starting to stand out after the 4th listen or so. I'm having a very similar experience with their 3rd LP Static & Silence ("Summertime" is *spectacular* 😍), although strangely that album seems to be growing on me faster than this lauded classic...
2. My Life Story - Loving You Is Killing Me, 4* - Very enjoyable, sturdy pop album! Just the sort of record I needed this last week... thanks! No weak tracks, imo... And I misheard "I'm a God" as "I'm a Gun" this whole time - which... I kind of prefer? "A left-wing, Marxist, Stalinist gun" - I know it definitely isn't the intent, but, hell yeah, I'm going with it! ✊😆(Although you can keep your celibacy, Jake - which I misheard as "son of a gun" anyway, haha...) "Naked" hits a sweet spot for me with that falsetto breakdown at the end... Liked it so much, I bought the CD!
1. KNOWER - KNOWER FOREVER, 4.5* - In my Top 2 last year, might upgrade to 5 stars eventually... Well put in your review! Absolutely love the breakdowns in every song as you mentioned... "Nightmare"'s in particular, really elevates the song. Love that epic orchestrated opening title cut... sets the stage for the coming adventure perfectly. A few more all-time highlights besides those you mentioned: the wonky funk of "Real Nice Moment", the hyper, Mario Kart-keyboard-propelled "It Will Get Real" - and the totally infectious "Ride That Dolphin" which never fails to make me want to bug out dancing... Woo!
As for considerations... I think it's time to wade into some Phish... Let's go with... Billy Breathes, baby!!
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I think Knower needs time to grow with me and I'm sure it will... Every album will rise or fall given time but still it's great to listen to something new even if it doesn't suit... So many bands/artists that I passed over initially only to ene up liking years later and the opposite can apply to some that I used to worship many moons ago... Nicely done with you Rankings, no complaints from me...🙂🙂
I recommend trying to make time for The Boo Radleys' discography ranker if you can. That's too interesting an experience to pass up!
@@ste.6026 Yeah! It was actually a bit of a grower for me as well (the Knower was a grower, heheh) - but the highlights kept me coming back for more, and pretty soon I found the whole thing addictive. And I even kind of know what you're saying about her voice - in certain songs maybe it's slightly grating? - but that grew on me too...
I think the BDB and Sundays' albums will continue to grow as more songs show themselves... although I still think Bewilderbeast is a bit long. And The Sundays don't seem to have a lot of traditional "hooks", so it's taking me a bit longer to appreciate...
I'm gonna try to be a bit more on the ball with listening to all the Chuchu Reviews contenders - the newfound extra time between episodes will help with that I'm sure! I'll try to participate in the Battle of the Decades as well...
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Yeah!! That BDB album is way too long, it's always unfortunate for overly long albums when it has too many skippers... I like BDB but I would just take the tracks I like from all his albums and make my own playlist... Hope you find the time to take part, you have another angle to give... 🙂
@@tokyochuchu Nice! 8 albums - that should be manageable, I think! I'll have to get started on that, read about them for years... and I see St. Vincent is coming up... only familiar with one album of hers, will see if I can toss in a couple more...
I'm actually 8 (almost 9) albums in on Alabama 3 out of 14(!) - 12 of which seem to be available on your preferred streaming platforms, unfortunately excluding two of their best, 2005's Outlaw & 2007's M.O.R. 😩
Heck, I might try my hand at a RUclips discography ranker one of these days! :D I do love a good listing, as you can see...