I'll never understand the antipathy levelled towards North. It's such a moving and emotional record. If you've ever had your heart broken or have fallen in love when you shouldn't have, this record should be so easy to relate to.
and I agree, I found it moving in the extreme even in part of my most stable relationship ever - and I married Mrs Sulky partly because North made me realise there can be "no fear" sometimes and I didn't need an escape hatch like there had been in most of Elvis' pre Diana songs ( now I know that sounds far fetched that I based my matrimonial life on an album and it's obviously not true to a huge extent but nonetheless, it made me consider my relationship more deeply than I might otherwise have done)
Last great album - I would say Brutal Youth cos since then there's always been a flaw that I can't overlook on each album (like I would have done with Get Happy's Human Touch or Armed Force's Senior Service ). Perhaps because an awful lot of albums have been not made up of just a bunch of songs written in a certain time frame but have been elements dragged together into a whole such as Soul For Hire and Oh Well on WIWC, the Secret Songs tracks on SP&S (though most of that is awesome) and even The Scarlet Tide, which seems out of place on TDM, they all seem a little disjointed- to my ears- but what do I know - I only know nothing has ever matched Get Happy for me !!
Jackson Monk wrote:I'll never understand the antipathy levelled towards North. It's such a moving and emotional record. If you've ever had your heart broken or have fallen in love when you shouldn't have, this record should be so easy to relate to.
Agree! And the songs are so personal and emotionally raw...imagine making a recording of all that, for mass consumption. Amazing. Most people couldn't even manage to write such things in their secret diaries.
So I keep this fancy to myself
I keep my lipstick twisted tight
Last good album in my book is Momofuku. It didn't get much play on tour and EC then rushed into the studio to do Sulphur (which I am not a fan of). When I Was Cruel was very good as well. Again, both were rock albums with different sounds and capabilities. The last great album is really up for debate, but Spike had to be the last great album in my book. Similar to the other titles above, he created a different sound. The only challenge is that Momofuku and WIWC weren't as consistent as Spike and were kind of thrown on the album. I consider both those albums kind of watered down versions of All this Useless Beauty (again, good, but not great and thrown together!) "It's Time" and "You Bowed Down" are 2 of the best songs he has sung 20 years in my book and he never plays them in concert anymore.
ps. I never cared for North, but never gave it a shot either, nor Delivery Man, nor River in Reverse. Once again, I don't hate on these albums, but I never go crazy when I hear any of these songs in concert.
pss. Hands down...a better tour was WIWC because it sounded similar to a lot of the older stuff. Hence, they could be sandwiched between some older tunes and you grew to like those songs and performances more.
I'm in the small minority that considers WIWC a great album, and therefore for me, it's his last great album. And I agree that WIWC inspired a truly kickass tour. It felt so good to hear a live no-frills rock set again...
North is good but didn't stick to my ribs.
TDM was great, but I only listen to certain tracks repeatedly.
TRIR was a good effort.
Momofuku was v.good.
Secret, Profane & Sugarcane is v.good, but I'm still letting it seep in. I take my time with these things...
Everybody's hiding under covers... who's making Lover's Lane safe again for lovers?"
