I can't decide, if I'm just very tired, still reeling from QPR's 7-1 defeat at Coventry, or just not in the mood... But Fela's not my fella today.
I struggled with the length of, and lack of variation in, the title track. As a result of that, and the fact that Jane had already turned off the hotel room lights, I'm skimmed tracks 2&3 before giving up entirely.
I'm not shaking my booty to Kuti
I really don't understand why this album has a great reputation. Perhaps the best thing to be said about it is that it was once vital, urgent, energetic bands performing great songs in such an overblown, bloated fashion that created the platform that generated punk rock.
Ironically, the best two tracks on the album are also the best examples of this. Two of the band's early hits - I Can't Explain and Substitute - are plodding and leaden compared to their original versions. As for some of the abysmal covers... this is not what rock n roll is meant to sound like. (Please, please, please listen to the version of Fortune Teller by Tony Jackson and the Vibrations if you want to hear the song done properly). As for the guitar wank on the My Generation Medley... that's 15 minutes of my life I'm never getting back!
This album is what happens when a band lose their initial spark, but need to keep playing to pay for the more expensive drugs they're now into.
The thing about an album like this is, some of the songs have become so well-known that they've outgrown their siblings. In the same way that Jarvis writes about not quite fitting in socially, five-twelfths of the songs were upwardly mobile and are genuinely now in a Different Class.
Of the other 7 tracks, i was surprised that I'd forgotten a couple of them completely. I obviously only listen to Pulp in playlists these days. Loved rediscovering this
Van Halen were the archetype of the sort of band I hated at the time this album was released. Poodle perm, long hair, pop metal they had nothing going for them in my world. So naturally, I had my preconceptions as to what this album might be like.
The instrumental intro '1984' was not what i expected at all, and then came the stand out track 'Jump', which we all know very well of course. Maybe, i had misjudged things, and there might be more of this synth based rock on the album, to prove to me that you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover?
Track 3 ('Panama') was more of what I had expected, and 'Top Jimmy' was no improvement either. And so it went on, terrible American frat boy nonsense. There was some good drumming in parts, but the lyrics were truly awful, and the guitar riffs totally over-indulgent.
Can you judge a book by it's cover? When it features an angel smoking cigarettes from a soft pack, then Yes, it would appear you can.
I hadn't listened to this album for ages, and it's impossible to do so without bringing all the baggage and knowledge of everything that happened to Amy after this album was released.
Frank is, naturally, brutally open and honest. The album is full of songs about failed/failing relationships (Take The Box/In My Bed), about men who don't measure up to her expectations (Stronger Than Me/Know You Now) and about how she revels in being the bad girl (Love Is Blind/What Is It About Men). They are archetypal Amy themes... ones that she will hone and improve in very similar storylines on her far stronger follow up, Back To Black.
Musically, the album's sound is also less polished than it's successor. It has much more of a smoky jazz club feel, and in some points reminded me of bands from the London Jazz Scene of the 80s like Working Week, Animal Nightlife and Carmel. Some of my favourite tracks, musically though, are when they try something a bit different like In My Bed and Help Youself (which is reminiscent of Lauryn Hill to me).
I enjoyed revisiting this album, but was also reminded that parts of Amy's story don't quite live to the legend.
I had never listened to this album before, although i saw loads of copies when I briefly worked part time in a second hand record shop in Sunderland. Indeed the only things i knew about the band were the single 'Identity', and that Poly Styrene came from Kent (always a good thing!) ;-)
Listening to this, i couldn't help but be reminded of my thoughts when listening to The Who's Live At Leeds last weekend. The latter lacked energy, whereas Germfree Adolescents positively fizzes with it.
My favourite tracks are; Genetic Engineering, Germfree Adolescence and I Can't Do Anything... but in all honesty there's only three track Plastic Bag that i struggled with. On Genetic Engineering, I thought the worries about science replacing humans had interesting parallels with current concerns about AI... nearly half a century later! But the main thing that lifts this above many other punk albums, was the inclusion of saxophone! What a winner!!
Although this is not an album I will return to regularly, i loved it.
