 |
| org. vinyl cover |
release date: Jul. 1986
format: vinyl (207817) / cd
[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,12]
producer: John Williams
label: Go! Discs / Chrysalis- nationality: England, UK
Track highlights: 1. "Happy Hour" (5 / 5) - 2. "Get Up Off Our Knees" - 3. "Flag Day" - 4. "Anxious" - 5 "Reverends Revenge" - 6. "Sitting On A Fence" - 8. "Over There" - 11. "Lean On Me"
Studio debut album by The Housemartins consisting of founding members Paul Heaton (credited as P.d. Heaton) on vocals and Stan Cullimore on guitar, with Norman Cook on bass and Hugh Whitaker playing drums. This was, however, not the initial line-up, which was nothing more than a duo with Heaton and Cullimore playing together from around 1983. Later on, other members were recruited and again replaced until these four guys made up the band at some point in 1985. The album title refers to Heaton's assertion that the Housemartins only was the fourth best band in Hull, i.e. Hull now had four great bands compared to none from London (the three other and better bands, apparently were: Red Guitars, Everything but the Girl, and The Gargoyles).
I no longer recall when I was introduced to the band, but I acquired the album shortly after its release. I guess, I was looking for other bands playing like Aztec Camera, Everything but the Girl and / or The Smiths, and the cover art suggested a style of alternative pop / rock, indie pop and / or jangle pop. The music is not similar, although, one may call it jangle pop and not unlike Aztec Camera and The Smiths. This is just in a much more positive spirit and played on buckets full of charm and tongue-in-cheek humour. Just take a look at the front cover of the cd version, which contains four extra tracks, and a small subtitle argues that the album contains a total of 16 songs - but 17 hits... Perhaps hinting at the abundance of great music or that the band itself aside from the great tunes is but another hit. However, they don't even need the great lyrics, as one of the most potent tracks, "Reverends Revenge", is an instrumental just blasting off on sheer energy and fine harmonies.
Enlisting the highlights of the album should basically enlist all tracks, that's how good this is. The album was actually so great that they could only disappoint with a future follow-up, which they... then did. Anyway, I was immediately hooked, and the album became one of my absolute favourites of 1986 and of the entire 80s.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5, Record Collector 4 / 5, Sputnikmusic 3,5 / 5 stars ]
<
alternate cover >
