Mother we just can't get enough (New Radicals) (LP 3353)

New Radicals  Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too (CD, MCA Records, 1998) ***  

Genre: Pop rock

Places I remember: JB Hi Fi (sale bins)

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: You Get What You Give

Gear costume: Someday We'll Know

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5

Active compensatory factors: You Get What You Give was my gateway to this album. That is one great song and marks them out as one hit wonders, but what a hit!

The band was short lived and centred on the duo of Gregg Alexander (lead vocals, guitar, songwriting, production) and Danielle Brisebois (keyboards, percussion, backing vocals), augmented by session and touring musicians.

The rest of the album has a bright sparkly set of songs, but there is nothing of the same instant quality as You get What You Give. They really peaked with that one song!

Where do they all belong? This was their only album.

Sub-culture (New Order) (LP 3352)

New Order  Low-Life (Vinyl, Factory Records, 1985) ****  

Genre: Alt-rock, synth-pop

Places I remember: Marbecks Records

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: The Perfect Kiss

Gear costume: Love Vigilantes 

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5

Active compensatory factors: I've never been much of a New Order fan - I prefer Joy Division. When I first met my wife in 1983, she was quite into the band via Blue Monday and Power Corruption & Lies. I wasn't that fussed with the latter.

Fast forward many years later to the late nineties and Roger was getting rid of vinyl to embrace CDs and DVDs and he gave me this copy of Low-Life - the album that came after Power Corruption & Lies. I kept it and played it quite a lot and while it still didn't get me hooked (sorry) on the band, I did enjoy it.

Side 1, track 1 (Love Vigilantes) does, after all, start with a Beatle homage. Then The Perfect Kiss (some heart in the synth-pop) completes a great one two punch of rock electronica. Yes, it's dated - no mistaking this as an album of the early eighties, but it holds up in 2025.  

Where do they all belong? My only New Order album.

Oh comely (Neutral Milk Hotel) (LP 3350 - 3351)

Neutral Milk Hotel  On Avery Island (CD, Merge Records, 1996) *** 

Neutral Milk Hotel  In The Aeroplane Over The Sea (CD, Merge Records, 1998) ***** 

Genre: Alt-rock

Places I remember: Fopp, HMV

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Two-Headed Boy (Aeroplane)

Gear costume: Holland 1945 (Aeroplane)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5

Active compensatory factors: Neutral Milk Hotel is the brainchild of Jeff Mangum, and more of a solo project on the first album On Avery Island. While it's lo-fi and quite experimental there are hints of the glory to come with the second album (the one I bought first incidentally).

On Avery Island is mainly a collaboration between Mangum and friend/producer Robert Schneider. Critic Jason Ankeny sums up proceedings well - Throughout the record, Jeff Mangum's wheels threaten to fly off at any time -- his songs are cryptic and crazed, his ideas fast and furious, and together they force the home-recording concept out of the basement and into a brave new world.

In The Aeroplane Over The Sea is Neutral Milk Hotel's second, and final, album. It's an inspired collection that just grows in stature with each playing. Jeff's delivery is more confident, and the sound is lusher than the first album.

A Pitchfork critic sums up my feelings towards this album well - It's an album people want to keep for themselves—sharing it with only those closest to them. The way it has become a quintessential cult album—widely loved as well as widely unknown—makes it easy to believe there's something special between you and it—that it's yours alone no matter how many people love it.

Where do they all belong? A unique bit of alt-rock.