The Soapbox Album Club 2018 Editon

His cover of Jealous Guy is also fucking great.

So i've hammered this album today to get back on track.

Listening to it right now and gonna LIVE STREAM my thoughts...

I think i'd heard the name before but never heard any of his music and to be honest Soul isn't my thing. Generally prefer funkier shit #Brent

1. I Love Da Lord, He Heard My Cry

Really enjoyed this, had a great atmosphere and made me think I could like this album

2. Someday We'll all be free

This is all I don't like about this kind of soul. Balladry, cheesey sounding songs. I was listening to this before whilst I was driving past a high school at 3:40pm with my windows down. Felt like a right cunt.

3. Flying Easy

preferred this one more as I liked it's Jazz noodling

4. Valdez in Da Country

Really liked this one. Great guitar, nice production.

5. I Love you more than you'll ever know

Sorry. Maybe i'm just too cool but I can't handle someone crooning about how much they'll love someone more than they'll ever know, so boring.

6. Come Little Children

This one had a bit more balls and swagger to it. Almost had a bit of a Parliament / Funkadelic sound.

7. Love Love Love

Another ballad, this one wasn't as bad though. Had a bit of a backbone to it. Still though... find it hard to get past that vocal, too cheesy, sounds so old fashioned but not in a cool 60's way, just old and boring.

8. The Slums

An absolutely fucking fantastic song. More up my street, big and bold. Sounds like Sly.

9. Magdelena

This one was ok. It has a nice jaunt to it

10. I know it's you

Urgh. "Nothing Feels Better than my baby's arms" yeah fair enough. It got a bit better but I still hated it.

11. Lord Help Me

Nah



All in all. Some good points, a lot of bad. Liked the general production sounds and atmosphere of it but just can't get past the awful soul balladry. 5/10. Poss a 6, I dunno it's Friday and i'm drunk.

Right once again, sorry for the delay. The first week I never got around to the record because I watched nothing but Snookerthen last week I couldn't put in the time I wanted. You cannot half-arse the soapbox album club!

I'd actually given this record a go a few years back & though I enjoyed it I think the variety of styles on the record threw me off a bit. Soul records aren't usually this ambitious, normally sticking to a similar style throughout whether it be an upbeat Motown/Northern Soul sound, balladry or the funkier side of things. Hathaway seems to cover all his basis here & making this feel like a complete work rather than a bunch of soul songs thrown together on an LP which so many records end up feeling like. From the ambition alone Stevie Wonder springs to mind, vocally it reminds me of Stevie's peak period too - though I can't think of a Stevie record that is quite as all over the place as this. I love Valdex In The Country, sounds like something from a Blaxploitation film. I see he's done the soundtrack to "Come Back, Charleston Blue" which I've meant to check out for a while now, it's the sequel to "Cotton Comes To Harlem" which is a really fun light hearted Blaxploitation film so I'll have to check that out.

"I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know" doesn't quite hit the spot for me. Just feels a bit too dragged out, overly dramatic & on the smoother side of Soul for my personal taste

The drum roll at the start of "come Little Children" keeps making me feel like he's going to start singing I Am The Resurrection, it's very similar. Anyway the funkier side of things is my bag so this is one of my favourites.

"Love Love Love" is another which is a little too smooth perhaps for its own good. I've actually started to appreciate smooth soul as I've got older (& perhaps blander) but I have to be in the mood for it, being sandwiched in-between a funk number I find a little jarring. Not that I don't need variety, but it just feels a bit off to me. I think the record could've worked better if sequenced in a different way,perhaps hitting the funkier side of things then slowly morphing into the slower ballads, basically so it can't catch me off guard! I'm going off track here but I really liked how Primal Scream did that for More Light, it's rare you get records that slowly change in a direction from beginning to finish, it's a trick I wish more artists would attempt.

The Slums, badass funky jam, dig it! Magdelena is pure Stevie Wonder to my ears, I like it, though not one of my favourites on show. "I Know It's You" might be my favourite of the smoother ballad material, I like the addition of the backing vocals on the chorus. Lord Help Me is so simple yet so effective & a perfect way to finish the record off.

So overall I really enjoyed this, a hell of a lot more than I did the times I heard it in the past. I think I was listening to it on my phone at work & was a little bit put off by the slower numbers so didn't give it my proper attention, this time around it sounded wonderful. I could personally probably chop off a couple of the smoother numbers (the arrangements just felt a little too obvious at times) to have a more straight up funk LP but I've gotta admire the scope of the record. Nice choice. I'll probably score it a 8.25

Barny, you're up next. We'll start the next 2 weeks as soon as you put yours up, that'll give everyone enough time to give it a proper go hopefully.

Am I? Can I have a couple days or maybe switch position with someone?

Fucks sake Barny. You've had months to prepare for this. I hope this isn't a sign that come the end of the year you'll pretend you've forgotten about your duty to add up the end of year lists.

TYPICAL BARNY!

I’ve been thinking about my pick for months now!

Get it up within the next few days barns!

I'm happy to swap if the pressure is too much though Barny. (for the album club, not adding up the end of year lists, only a mug would do that).

look at jp trying to muscle his way in. Stand your ground barny, this is your time!

You don't want me to rush a Mando Diao bsides double record right?

I'm going to move out of the usual way here and pick an album I don't love, but simply enjoy and find quite interesting. So when it's destroyed by you it won't hurt.

Los Planetas are the big Spanish indie band, sorta like Radiohead. They started in the early 90s, incorporating some elements like noise and shoegaze which were like alien (and surely still are) to your typical Spanish listener, plus also singing in Spanish. I ignored Spanish music for a long time but have been slowly getting into bands I previously talked shit about for some reason.



This record, La leyenda del espacio came out in 2007, long after their peak (mid-90s) and it was a left turn as they were mixing flamenco elements taken from their Granada roots to their usual indie palette. The result is a mix of atmospheric tracks and more straight-forward ones, that is considered one of the classic Spanish record from the noughties.

Nice one Barny i knew you’d pull through! Look forward to giving this a go

Reviews in by Tuesday 29th guys

Hey, picking albums from your country of origin that no one else has ever heard of is MY thing! Get your own thing, damnit!

Have given this a couple of goes & I'm sorry Barny but I really couldn't get into this record.

I found it a complete slog to get through, it must be longer than Be Here Now! I liked some of the guitar textures on a few songs, mostly the darker more atmospheric tracks. Though what really killed it for me were the vocals which sound so flat. I don't think the language barrier is an issue for myself, it's just that the vocalist just sounds so uninspired & could really have used someone to help with some backing vocals to make this sound less dreary.
I like the Revolver style intro of track 4 until the vocals start and then I lose interest again. Negras las intenciones feels like it lasts half an hour. Reminds me at times of early Coldplay when they would have more of a Rock sound on tracks like Shiver. Favourite is probably the poppier upbeat Deseando una cosa, has a nice melody and the vocalist sounds like he's attempting a bit of effort on this one. I gave it two full goes, I'd usually give records more goes but I just can't ever see myself enjoying this one. Sorry Barns, this one just wasn't for me. 4/10

Aye, I felt that way for a long time and only got into it recently, and not THAT much. If I had to recommend a record from this band this wouldn't be the one to pick, but the other ones are more generic. As I said, this was more an experiment to see what would non-Spanish people make of it (after all is a top10000 rym record).

Not gonna lie Barns, it's proving a real slog for me..

I've had one and a half listens through and will admit to jumping most tracks half way through. I'm afraid it has no redeeming features for me. 2/10

I'm gonna be late with this one, Barns. Should be able to post a review on Wednesday.

Worst record since the Virginmarys?