Crossing the Red Sea With the Adverts

Buen punk

This is an interesting early British punk album. It came on the heels of the first slate of punk albums that were released in 1977. This album is more melodic and poppy than the Sex Pistols, though not quite as fun and strange as the Ramones. Overall, it's a really good early punk album. The Adverts share a lot of sonic similarities with the Buzzcocks, though the Advert's lyrics are a little more in the traditional punk mold. Overall a really fun album that slipped through the cracks of history while the Sex Pistols and Clash went on the become mega-famous 4/5

I can't figure out why this is even on the list. It's instantly ignorable and forgettable, nothing interesting at all, not even in a bad way really. It's just nothing.

It was not what I expected. Love the thought that some kids made it big and now are doing normal jobs. Or working in the music industry as titans of pop.

this album was completely average. i liked some of the songs but nothing totally stood out to me that really made me enjoy

Surprising. I'm not a fan of punk and had definite trepidation on getting this, fearing truly one chord wonders with lofi production. Wrong! There's a ton of melody here, with frequent unexpected rhythmic twists and turns. Is it...crazy to say that maybe some very early Iron Maiden took some cues from this album? Seriously - there are hints of the Paul Di'Anno era of Maiden here and hey, who arrived first? It's raw without sounding garage-y. I like the twin guitar spread and simple yet effective and not distracting mix. I'd say the second half falls off from the excellent first - nothing bad, but suffers from a bit of same-ness. 7/10 4 maybe generous stars but this is an album that is a big crossover for me that held my attention

6/10 average punk rock album

7/10. Just the right amount of punk

Solid punk. 7/10

Great english punk, kinda repeatable but the album wasn't too long

Bored Teenagers would have been a great song as a bored teenager. Gary Gilmore’s eyes, woof. Safety in Numbers maybe birthed new wave? Fun stuff.

Very Ramones in a very good way. SHIT these songs are catchy.

3, not familiar with, enjoyed it!

This gets 2 stars because it's one of the most listenable punk albums we've had from this list. And with most listenable I mean that's it's still actually quite bad, but it's not completely unlistenable.

Aaaannd it's another punk record! But wait ... what do I hear? Could this be ... real songs, and not merely screams over badly tuned and inadequately played instruments?!? Granted, these songs sound simple, but I am pleasantly surprised how I can listen to quite a few of these without skipping or fast forwarding. I most like "One Chord Wonders". This alone isn't enough to make this a relly good record, but it isn't as horrible as I thought it would be either. 2.5/5

Nothing noteworthy. 5/10

Punk je suis pas trop fan ça s'écoute correct 2.95

This was honestly pretty forgettable for me: Nothing objectionable but nothing particularly pleasing here either. Fave track: Gary Gilmore's Eyes. Catchy melody, solid harmonies. I appreciate it. But overall a solid meh for this album. Respectable meh.

70s punk, feel like we've had a lot of 70s punk and it's fine but I'm getting a tad bored of it

What a great punk rock album. It really captured and embodied that teen/early adulthood angst. With shredding distortion and punching lyrical delivery, this is one I wish I had heard earlier. Best: No Time to Be 21 Worst: Bombsite Boy Note: Spotify had all the 2002 release with Single Edits & Live performances. I only listened to the original 13 tracks.

Authentically punk and believably angry (e.g., they sound like “Bored Teenagers") and even kind of substantive, but so narrow as to be one note.

Cool punk sounds from l that era

Leuk album, maar heeft me niet kunnen overtuigen

Sprightly, zingy post punk. Surprisingly clean sounding but plenty of bounce and bite there.

Album is just too long.

Punk doesn't often make for great albums but I liked this having not heard them before. Some decent tunes

Awesome! I LOVED this! Such great songs, such great lyrics and melodies. So sophisticated for seemingly simple punk music. Brilliant. How did I ever miss this band?

They sure were angry back then. By today’s standards, they’re mostly noisy.

Crossing the Red Sea with the Adverts by The Adverts (1978) This is highly evangelical and evangelistic Britpunk, summoning the listener to join in all the punkness. The Adverts sing, “We're just bored teenagers, looking for love or should I say emotional rages . . .” Actually, they were no longer teenagers. But the rage is relentless. They’re relying on the new church of strength, not the old Church of blindness and weakness, delivering a passionate altar call (“New Church”). Assertive, aggressive, ambitionless, and angry “subterranean vandals” drowning mutant freaks (“Drowning Men”) have harsh judgments in store for those who are content to embrace the permanent things. They want to chew up their culture and spit it out. And (this is key) they want the listener to join them. They are not content to suffer their nihilities alone. And they express gratitude to God for their superior perception and fortitude (“Bombsite Boy”). They acknowledge and even celebrate their lack of musicianship (“One Chord Wonders”) and they “don’t give a damn”. Somehow that seems to fit. The most interesting track is “Gary Gilmore’s Eyes”, in which Advert considers what it would be like for a patient to have his sight restored by a cornea transplant from the eyes of recently-executed murderer Gary Gilmore (a murderer whose penultimate words were “Just Do It” [inspiring the Nike advert], but his final words were “Dominus vobiscum.” The Catholic priest ministering at the execution duly replied Et cum spiritu tuo. Advertise that.) There are some intriguing arrangement innovations (“On the Roof”), and the performances throughout are competent enough, but these musical pluses fall far short of compensating for the drearily antagonistic lyrics. I suppose this album could have a cathartic effect on the listener, but after catharsis the wound needs to heal. May I recommend Gregorian chant? 2/5

3.5

Not my style

Nisam očekivala da će mi ovaj punk album biti toliko slušljiv. Većinom mi nije žanr od kojeg bi slušala albume jer mi nakon duljeg slušanja postane malo iritantno, ali je ovo bilo iznenađujuće dobro i ne naporno.

Don't get me wrong, nije ovo loš album za one koji su u ovoj glazbi, meni je ta glazba ono hit or miss. Dobar album, možda dvije pjesme su mi ostale u pamćenju, od čega jedna uopće nije na albumu gledajući po official track listi (Gary Gilmor's Eyes) kvrapcu! Sve u svemu solidno, ali forgettable for me.

U svom tom loopu DawnFM-a što imam 2 dana sad, stigo sam poslušati ovo i sviđa mi se dosta, kao bend ću ih nastaviti istraživati, no ovaj album ne opet cijeli nego samo neke pjesme.

Not bad, but pretty generic punk rock in my opinion. All blends together, nothing really sticks out. 3

i like it very oldie vibe to it

Ok punk record

I was familiar with "Gary Gilmore's eyes" but hadn't heard the rest of the album. I feel like the Adverts are underrated in the history of punk rock and new wave.

Really nothing all that interesting....definitely the most generic out of the "formative late 70s British punk bands" we have listened to before. Had never heard of them prior to this listen and nothing I heard made me felt I should have... 1.5/5

Not good. A song about Gary Gilmore? Really?

This was good fun.

121225 14:18 4 / highlights: great british mistake, one chord wonders, new church

Schön schrabbeliger first wave punk mit genug Spaß am Hall über düster verhangenen Bridges und gar nicht so shouty-tumben Songwriting. Etwas überhöhte 3.5

Klassicher Brit-Punk, erste Welle, woll? Als Postpunk schon nervös nägelkauend mitten im Raum stand und aber der große Spaß ja auch noch weitergehen wollte. Darf er natürlich auch. Für den Sammler in mir auf jeden Fall interessant zu hören, alle anderen werfen es leichtfertig auf den Zu-Verschenken-Stapel für echte Hosen-Fans.

Good listen. Songs blended together

Much better punk album than the clash.

Standard 1970's British punk rock. Fast and fun. Nothing stands out to me but I'm fine with that. I don't think punk rock was ever meant to be groundbreaking. I could listen to this album more than once but I don't think that I need to even though I probably will.

A lot of fun, can be a bit samey at times but has enough changes in rhythm and sound to keep it from being too repetitive. The songs are short, straight to the point and seemingly quite literal most the time. Gary Gilmore's Eyes reminded my of my childhood fear about transplanted body parts. Did they predict Brexit with 'Great British Mistake'? haha (Don't take that joke too seriously).

Fun, angsty punk. A bit samey throughout the album, but no bad songs. Like. "Newboys" and "Safety in Numbers" the most

классическая панкуха

Seemed a bit more nicely produced than a lot of the punk albums, and as per most punk, i loved the energy.

What a powerhouse of an album. Fast, clean, and cheap is right. Songwriting is thought provoking, sound is clean, while 3 chord music blisters in the background. This is what ALL punk should aspire to. Highlight tracks: ALL (especially 1, 2, 6, 11). Gary Gilmore's Eyes my favorite track of the whole review process so far.

Ah, the adverts… typically where one might stop watching for a few minutes to re-enter the real world. Get up, walk around, make a cup of tea, use the toilet, anything to pass the time before the next part of something more interesting comes on. A bit like how I felt with this album. It’s not necessarily “bad music”- in 1978 in the UK, it was probably a breath of fresh air alongside its peers- but it felt non-essential, and didn’t seem to offer anything new or innovative. At its strongest, the album feels like a perverse take on the British Invasion era from the disillusioned generation who came afterwards. “Gary Gilmore’s Eyes” (a single not originally on the record) holds this up the most, with an ascending chord progression against a vocal line harmonising in opposite directions. It somehow sounded like an alternative 60s record to me. I enjoyed T.V Smith’s vocals throughout- less shouty, more melodic and precise than the stereotype “punk” voice. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough for me, and the inspiration seemed to run out quite quickly. Chord progressions were reused, lyrics came off as vague variations on the same ideas, the arrangements and rhythms didn’t have much to separate them, and by “Drowning Men” and On Wheels”, even the band sounded like they were flagging. To its credit, it kept proceedings to a half hour listen and they saved one of the best for last, with “The Great British Mistake” having fun sardonic lyrics, several different sections musically, and a really catchy outro. It’s not too surprising to me that The Adverts broke up shortly after this album- listening to it, it’s difficult to work out a direction they might progress in. Lightning in a bottle… and then the bottle smashed.

Unsophisticated and quite samey. I remember their hit but wouldn’t have been able to remember the band name! 2*

A couple of real earworms in there.

Great early punk

Solid

I've spent ages relistening to this to get a handle on it - it's an access drug to punk with a fascinating back story - read up on them. Album named by Jane Suck who's disappeared, band lasted only 3 years - but delivered so much

Short and consistent, some cool ideas and great energy, but hard to get super excited about it. The Great British Mistake is pretty ironic these days.

"Crossing the Red Sea With the Adverts" is an utterly perfect example of peak UK punk. There's not a bad track on the album. Everything you love about punk is on display PLUS great vocal performances and a higher production value than is usual for the genre and time. What a great album.

Angst

Pure punky, angsty-fun! Hidden gem to find!

🎸🎸🚬🧑🏾‍🎤

Another punk record that I just can’t get into. Very samey and just not interesting.

I feel like there's just too much of this type of stuff on this list.

I’ve really been getting into the origins of my favourite genre lately. Especially the UK stuff. I’ve had Bored Teenagers on my playlist for a while now but wasn’t familiar with their other stuff. Really dug this Top Tracks: “Bored Teenagers” “Gary Gilmore’s Eyes” “New Church”

I don't have much patience for early punk

Good early punk - one of the better late 70’s efforts I’ve heard. A more genuine angry teen vibe than early Who.

This is as good as any of any it but I'm sick of British 70s punk in this list. It's a very shallow sound.

samey

3 stars. This ain’t for me but considering it came out in the 70s it’s definitely ground breaking. Very punky

I only just started listening to the Adverts this year, although I'd heard a few of their tunes on some punk playlists before. It's really solid, punk vibes with high-level lyrics, instrumentation, and hooks. I've listened twice already and will probably do so again.

Seemingly way ahead of its time. Production could have been better but overall early great early punk that could have easily fit in with early 2000's music.

Generally enjoyed it.

i dunno what to say about this one. i love the adverts, and have since i got my copy of burning ambitions, and heard gary gilmore's eyes for the first time. sooo...having it appear twice on this album was awesome, and the whole thing made me happy.

Not a fan. 1/5 stars.

Pretty enjoyable to listen to while listening, but now it's over I've already entirely forgotten it.

the site deleted my notes but this album was a lot of fun

I really vibed with this album for whatever reason, awesome stuff. Just great punk rock. Crazy to contrast this to all the prog rock around at the time.

Delightfully tight and catchy early punk, this was a very nice treat today.

Excellent tight punk record

1978: Gary Gilmore's Eyes