Hms Fable

Another British pop album so important that the only sentence under the Legacy tab in Wikipedia is the one noting that it is on the 1001 albums list. I understand that sometimes you need a bit of distance between an album and the review to gain perspective on it, but that's exactly why it shouldn't be on this list. It's a late 90s pop album that sounds like a late 90s pop album. It's fine, but indistinguishable from a hundred other albums that came out in the same era. It's not special or groundbreaking or technically outstanding in any way. Why not throw a couple of Days of the New or Stabbing Westward albums on here while we're wasting everyone's time? 2/5

Jesus, 1999. Were people still doing this in ‘99? Blur were forming The Gorilaz, Radiohead had moved on to Kid A, Kasabian were starting out… and Shack were making this. It’s fine I guess, it’s like a very good pub band but I can’t see any reason for it to be on this list. I got quite angry that this is included.

I think that the fact that this album is in the 1001 is the biggest joke so far. I went to dozen of record stores, I'm on Facebook group with more than 15000 music lovers, I'm digging music for more than 15 years now and no one, absolutely no one ever recommended me this. I had never even seen this poor artwork before. And you know why? Because this album is insanely generic and because it is NOT a monument in the history of music AT ALL. This 1001 thing doesn't even contains albums from artists and bands likes Phil Collins, Gentle Giant, Broadcast or American Football, but of course, SHACK IS HERE! THE QUINTESSENCE OF MUSIC. Thank you and goodbye.

Boy, Oasis really did a number on the Brits, didn’t they?

1001 britpop albums to listen to before you die by your own hand i hope the hms fable sunk with no survivors, this album was trash

Thought this was brilliant. Natalie's Party and Daniella are both superb and book end some absolutely brilliant 90's indie music.

"H.M.S. Fable" is the third album by the Liverpudlian band Shack and the first album after the band's reformation following their previous album "Waterpistol" and an album by an off-shoot band, The Strands. H.M.S means Her Majesty Ship which makes sense given the album cover and some of the lyrics. Yeah, I had to look that up. Shack consisted of Mick Head (vocals, guitar), his brother John Head (guitar), Justin Smith (bass) and Mick Hurst (drums). This is a very well-crafted and well-produced (Hugh Jones and Youth (Martin Glove)) album. Definitely in the pop (or Britpop) category but also has some pyschedelic and prog elements. This is one of the most happy and optimistic sounding albums given that some of the songs are about the Head brothers' struggles with drugs, which was no secret. The album starts extremely strong with two great songs. "Natalie's Party" is pop sounding and also reminds me of Cracker. Very optimistic. Guitar bridge. Strings. Chorus. Great lyrics about two lovers. "Comedy" is slower, with strings. Nice guitar outro. Again, optimistic about someone pulling him through. "When you cry it pulls me through." The next two songs "Pull Together" and "Beautiful" sound more like the pop-side of Oasis. Both songs soar. "Lend's Some Dough" may be the happiest song I've heard about drugs... kind of Beatles-esque. The second half of the album incorporates some pyschedelia and prog. In "Streets of Kenny" he's searching for drugs. Pyschedelic and prog, it kind of reminded me of the Moody Blues. Pyschedelic ending with dual lead guitars. " I Want You" moves back to more pop. Lyrical references to ships, kings, queens and Merlin. Very Love-sounding with the pyschedelic guitars. The album ends kind of sad with the song "Daniella," unlike the rest of the album. Acoustic guitar. He lost his friend Jack. Wow, I think I made the most band references in anything I've written but Shack created music that is their own. I've like everything I've heard from Mick Head both previous with The Pale Fountains and subsequently. This album is no exception. I can see why his music is revered by many.

2.6 - Another lukewarm Britpop entry. To quote Beavis and Butthead: "We've got enough crap over here in this country. Why do we need to go to Europe to get more?" The pretty "Daniella" ends this pleasant but forgettable record on a hauntingly mournful note.

After listening to the first song I had a feeling this was going to be a maximum 3 star, on its way to a 2. But the songs on the album changed genre a few times and the stories for a few of the songs were fairly unique. In the end I went and listened to it all the way through again.

Call the police! I'd like to report an album that's been criminally under-rated.

Bland and uninspired britpop. Wished I was listening to something else almost the entire time. No more of this, please

This one's a pleasant surprise. Never heard of Shack before but I enjoyed this a lot. I'll probably check out the rest of their catalog. Thanks generator.

Splendid

Never heard of this but it is brilliant

Mick Head is one of the greatest (unappreciated) songwriters from Britain in the last 30 years.

Great album. Very chill. I liked it so much I added it to my Spotify favorites. I especially liked the vocals / harmony.

First listen of this band. Loved this record

For some reason seeing this cover always made me think this was some kind of bad Alt Country record. Boy, I couldn’t be more wrong. This, is a very welcome surprise and the record pretty much hooked me. It’s in the vein of Oasis, very strong Britpop with great instrumentation and songwriting. I’ve got a feeling this record is gonna creep up very fast and become one of my favourites! 8,5 out of 10

Loved this, and never had heard it. I hear influences from the Beatles, the Who, the Byrds, maybe even a little Simon & Garfunkel. Will listen again.

I was very surprised by this album. I really loved it! Not only did I enjoy every song, but also how the album ties together. It has this very nice cool calm alt-rock vibe that feels modern but it is also very distinctively 90s.

Superb album!

Great album, combines the best aspects of Britpop with some Indie and Folk elements. Especially loved the harmonies and the catchiness of the songs

Don't know how that one passed me by, fantastic album

It would be hard to review this album without comparing Shack to Oasis, so I won't try. It's a band fronted by troubled brothers who sing soaring melodies about scoring heroin accompanied by strings. They're the Liverpudlian Oasis. In fact, the two bands had a sort of co-dependent relationship, even if one made it big while the other one opened for them years later. This certainly sounds like an Oasis album, but better; a glance at the lyrics reveals a song-writing talent that the Gallaghers could only dream of. Shack is one of those "what could have been" bands that nevertheless managed to pull it together long enough to make one memorable album, and this is solid stuff. Best track: Beautiful

Meh

Yeah, this is just typical britpop. The fact this album and this band are utterly unknown to me, someone who was a teenager in the 90s in the UK and bought in, at least a bit, to the britpop scene, speaks volumes.

disharmonious cross between blues traveller and oasis. it actively offends and i dont like it

This album is absolutely great. Loved every song!

From the name and album cover I thought this would be Irish jigs or something. This album is nice, it has a calming feel-good rock vibe. Definitely that late 90’s alt feel

Good stuff. I enjoyed this.

I really liked this.

The last classic album to come out of Liverpool?

Reminds me a little of All The Roadrunning or REM. Their songs are really good at both hitting all of the satisfying resolutions while also moving in interesting unexpected directions.

I liked how this album wastes no time and dives straight into the music—several great and lighthearted songs.

This was massive in the UK for a bit, but somehow it completely passed me by. It was better than I expected; the connective tissue between Oasis and Elbow.

Wasn't expecting to like it, but this is a gem of its genre! It sounds a lot like R.E.M. The strings were a wonderful touch throughout. I loved the songs that felt a little shanty-ish/adventurous/folksy, like Streets of Kenny or Daniella. At times a bit too cheesy, but it never was unenjoyable. The best songs I loved, and the worst songs were still very nice.

Some good easy listening - kind of distracting how often they changed time signature in many songs, but it felt like a precursor to Guster, so I liked it similarly.

Managed to listen to this without knowing anything about the band, and yet it was /instantly/ identifiable as a second rate Liverpool indie band, circa 1998-200. Not unpleasant at all - there's that late 90s sweetness or production polish, and there's maybe a little bit of the La's, a bit of The Pernice Brothers, a bit of the Cosmic Rough Riders, a bit of The Thrills etc etc etc. It's fine, but totally unexceptional. Probably a three star album, but tempted to mark it down because what the heck is it doing on the list?

Not sure how this one snuck in... Its good, its fine. I like the songs, some songs were better than others. I probably won't revisit, but I wouldn't be mad if it was on. I guess it was somewhat forgettable?

Didn’t change my life, but wasn’t bad.

Scouse britpop arriving at the fag end of the movement. Best Tracks: Natalie's Party, Comedy, Streets of Kenny

Not bad, but nothing that particularly stuck with me

As a brit born in 82, who loves britpop and music generally i couldn't be any more in the target market for this. But even i found this average. There are hundreds and thousands if albums more deserving of this list. Its not a bad album, but its certainly does not fit the brief.

sounds like every-other ~2000's brit pop band, but without the one or two good songs that make them worth listening to. I can see why this guy did heroin to make things more exciting, still not a terrible album 2/5

Sounds like a bad Coldplay cover band. It’s not miserable but wouldn’t pay the cover charge.

Why is this on the list? Who the fuck cares about Shack? Who even remembers Shack in 2023? Imagine the great album whose place on the list is kept occupied by fucking Shack

Pretty boring.

Good

Really good. Has that Stone Roses 90s britpop psychedelia feel that I really like. Added to my liked albums after the second song

This is a beautiful album and worth it for just Captain's Table.

Reallly good I enjoyed it thoroughly and I’ll look at more of their albums. It was just what I needed today

amazing???

This album was 🔥

listening to this on a train ride in april felt really good

i generated this album after a day of catching up on several albums i'd missed, so i was predisposed to not like it (even *more* music homework?). when i saw the album cover, i assumed it would be sea shanties, and i was even less enthused. but then i listened to it and it blew me away. i'm writing this without looking at the reviews or the wikipedia page, so i don't know what the story is or what genre you would even call this. but it was a joy to listen to. beautiful harmonies. a total surprise!

Really nice and pleasant music to listen to. It's a nice Britpop album. I thought that there would be pirate vibes based on the album cover.

It was pretty sweet. I don't really like how it's recorded for some reason but with a bit of bass boosting it sounds on point, tho tbh I'm against doing that

I’d fuck to this album

midnight icecream

Pop Genius. A wonderful collection of lived-in songs, celebrating real life, with sharp observations and great tunes, uplifting strings and heartfelt vocals. Streets of Kenny is one of many stand-outs, a story about falling back into drug use, aching, melancholic

This was very, very good! Loved it

Vraiment une belle découverte! je ne connaissais pas du tout.

Cool

i like this

I‘ve never heard of Shack before today. Before listening, a rudimentary glance at Wikipedia shows they’re from Liverpool, which is basically a 15 minute drive from where I live. Did Shack not get very big, or have I been living under a rock? Songs I already knew: None Favourites: Comedy, Lend’s Some Dough, Daniella Is it the familiar accent in the vocals? Is it the similar sound to other bands I like? Is it simply that one of the song titles is my name? The amalgamation of all these little parts, as well as the excellently orchestrated music, gave me goosebumps several times when listening to this today. As the guitar played out the final track, the goosebumps came back, I removed my headphones, and had to take a few moments to appreciate everything I had just heard. Truly, this was a phenomenal album that I thoroughly enjoyed today, and definitely something I’ll be returning back to a lot.

idk yet

Was dreading getting to a Shack album as it's a band I've never heard but everyone tells you that you would love. The first two songs did nothing to convince but by the fourth I was in.

This might be one of my favourite discoveries in this project so far. Looking at y'all's reviews, I guess that makes me basic and tasteless, but they had me from the first song and kept me for the entire 46-minute run time. This album scratches all my musical itches, from beautiful harmonies to lovely guitar tones and strings and la-las. Maybe it doesn't belong on the list over many other albums, but I'm thrilled I got the chance to hear it. 4.5

This was unexpectedly good! Neither my husband nor I had heard of this but we both really liked it. I’m saving this to listen to again later

Best nice

Seriously underrated band, noel wishes he had michael heads songwriting prowess.

This one was new to me. The sound was so familiar. Repeat listening opened it up to me. Willcheck out more Michael Head works

Really liked this one. It had some subtle hints of REM, but also reminded me of like Robbie Williams and Oasis a little bit. It was still it's own thing, but it sounded familiar at the same time.

I can see why some may dismiss this as Oasis lite Britpop. But I think it offers much more than the standard indy 90s music. Michael and John Head are able to write eccentric songs that span different genres. There are many influences here and Love, The Byrds, Beatles are definite inspirations. These are much better than Oasis could ever be.

Really good, solid Britpop. Like a bowl of mashed potatoes. Could’ve used a bit more seasoning and it would’ve been a 5. 🥔🥔🥔🥔 / 🥔🥔🥔🥔🥔

Gorgeous, Beatles-influenced anthemic rock from the 90s. Should have been bigger.

Well this is a weird one. This band/album completely passed me by, despite being released at a time when I was deep in to all sorts of music. As soon as it started I feared the worst but I was pleasantly surprised. It's such an easy, basic minded, probably American viewpoint to compare them negatively to Oasis. Good songwriting, good variety of sounds.

I liked it. Reminds me of more interesting Oasis

Well here's a band that's mostly escaped my radar, aside from a single, clearly unmemorable spin in 2014 according to my Last.FM stats. This was a great album. I love Britpop, particularly bands like James, Super Furry Animals, Oasis, Stereophonics, and Shack fit right in with this mix. Lend’s Some Dough was the standout track and has been added to my playlist of faves. I will explore more of their discography.

7.5/10. Yet another enjoyable listen.

Reminds me of something like The Proclaimers? Pretty standard alt rock sound for the era. Solid and enjoyed it.

Interesting, didn’t catch my attention the way I hoped it would. Natalie’s party was my favorite, a few standouts later in the album, but altogether maybe too long?

good

alright cool, nothing wrong with some british rock music. compared to some of the other britpop albums i've listen to, this one is a lot more softer and graceful in sound. blending soft rock sounds with chamber influences, this album is pretty chill. at times it makes me think of early music from R.E.M.. a true deep cut in this collection, and honestly i thought it was generally great. it's a bit controversial lately on the list, a lot of reviewers don't seem to like it but i think it's fine on its own.

This is a well-crafted brit-pop album that absolutely does not need to be on this list

jävligt bra, behöver lyssna igen.

very nice Manchester/Britpop album (yes, I know they are from Liverpool)

Thought this would be more heavy/punky based on the cover (just shows you shouldn't judge) but this was still pretty pleasant. Very 90s, almost like early Elbow?! Feel like my Dad would enjoy this

Never heard of this band ever. Sounds like the 70s more than the 90s. So far I like this. Ok. I’m halfway through and I really like this. The sounds capture me. Great album. 4 stars

I definitely didn't expect to enjoy this one as much as I did. A surprisingly beautiful album. Favorites: Pull Together, Re-Instated, Lend's Some Dough, Daniella

Not familiar with the band, though some songs ring a bell but I think I might be confusing them for something else. Still, I wasn't expecting a lot going un, but there's some very pretty parts throughout

good

Good music and a good voice.

I found this easy to listen to, and enjoyable.

Never even heard of the band before. Really great British 90’s rock. Can definitely hear the Oasis influence.

Never heard if them before this. Enjoyed it.

An absolute no-name for me, still i enjoyed this a lot

Aw, I really liked this one. Moved a bit sluggishly at first, but it grew on me by the end.

At first I'm like, "Meh, I like Toad the Wet Sprocket better." Then I keep exploring the layers and variety of this music. I am stunned by Streets of Kenny and Beautiful. Okay, this is a great album, worthy of many more listens. 4.5/5

In-Depth Review of H.M.S. Fable by Shack Shack's H.M.S. Fable, released in 1999, stands as a significant work in the landscape of British music, particularly within the jangle pop and alternative rock genres. The album is often lauded for its lyrical depth, musical craftsmanship, and production quality, all of which contribute to its enduring legacy. This review will explore the album's lyrics, music, production, themes, and influence while also addressing its pros and cons. Lyrics The lyrics of H.M.S. Fable are a poignant reflection of Michael Head's personal struggles, particularly his battles with addiction. The songwriting showcases a blend of raw honesty and poetic imagery that captures both despair and beauty. Themes of Addiction: Tracks like "Lend's Some Dough" and "Streets of Kenny" delve into the harsh realities of drug use. For instance, "Lend's Some Dough" vividly portrays the physical symptoms of withdrawal, using lines like "I've got a sore back and I'm itching," which starkly depict the struggles associated with addiction13. The song does not romanticize drug use but rather presents it as a painful reality. Narrative Quality: The storytelling aspect is prominent throughout the album. "Streets of Kenny," for example, juxtaposes a quest for drugs with the imagery of searching for joy, encapsulating a sense of desperation intertwined with hope34. This duality in the lyrics enhances their emotional impact. Cultural References: The album is rich with references to Liverpool's cultural landscape, grounding its narratives in a specific geographical and social context. Such references not only enrich the storytelling but also resonate deeply with listeners familiar with the region. Music Musically, H.M.S. Fable showcases Shack's ability to blend various influences while maintaining a distinct sound. Melodic Craftsmanship: The album features catchy melodies and harmonies that are hallmarks of jangle pop. Tracks like "I Want You" exhibit lush guitar work reminiscent of bands like The La’s and Echo & the Bunnymen, creating an engaging sonic experience14. Diverse Influences: Shack incorporates elements from various musical styles, including psychedelia and folk. For instance, "Daniella" presents a darker folk sensibility that contrasts with the more upbeat tracks, showcasing the band's versatility4. This ability to traverse genres without losing coherence is one of the album's strengths. Production Quality: The production on H.M.S. Fable is polished yet retains an organic feel that complements the songwriting. The instrumentation is layered effectively, allowing each element to shine without overshadowing others. This balance enhances the listening experience, making it both rich and accessible. Themes The overarching themes in H.M.S. Fable revolve around struggle, redemption, and the search for meaning amidst chaos. Personal Struggle: Michael Head’s experiences with addiction inform much of the album's emotional weight. The lyrics serve as a cathartic outlet for his pain and confusion, transforming personal turmoil into universal themes that resonate with many listeners35. Hope and Redemption: Despite its darker moments, there is an underlying current of hope throughout the album. Songs often oscillate between despair and moments of clarity or joy, reflecting the complex nature of human experience3. This duality invites listeners to find beauty even in difficult circumstances. Cultural Identity: The album also serves as a homage to Liverpool's rich musical heritage. By weaving local references into their narratives, Shack not only roots their music in a specific place but also connects with broader themes of identity and belonging13. Influence H.M.S. Fable has left a lasting impact on both fans and musicians alike. Critical Acclaim: Upon its release, it received significant acclaim from critics who recognized Michael Head as one of Britain's finest songwriters3. Its inclusion in various best-of lists solidified its status as a cult classic within alternative rock circles. Legacy: Over time, H.M.S. Fable has influenced subsequent generations of musicians who draw inspiration from its lyrical depth and melodic structure. Bands within the jangle pop genre often cite Shack as an inspiration for their own work45. Cultural Resonance: The album continues to resonate with listeners who appreciate its authentic portrayal of struggle and resilience. Its themes remain relevant in contemporary discussions about mental health and addiction. Pros and Cons Pros Lyrical Depth: The honesty and poetic nature of the lyrics provide profound insights into personal struggles while maintaining relatability. Musical Diversity: The blend of various musical styles keeps the album fresh and engaging throughout its duration. Production Quality: High production values ensure that each track is polished while retaining an organic feel. Cons Niche Appeal: While critically acclaimed, its themes may not resonate with all audiences due to their heavy nature. Commercial Performance: Despite its quality, H.M.S. Fable did not achieve significant commercial success upon release, which may have limited its exposure to wider audiences34. Dark Themes: Some listeners may find the subject matter too bleak or heavy for casual listening. Conclusion In summary, H.M.S. Fable by Shack is a remarkable album that combines lyrical brilliance with musical innovation. Its exploration of addiction through heartfelt storytelling set against a backdrop of rich melodies creates an immersive listening experience. While it may not have achieved mainstream success during its initial release, its critical acclaim and lasting influence underscore its importance in the annals of British music history. As listeners continue to discover or revisit this album, they are met with a profound reflection on human experience—one that resonates deeply across time and space.