XXV + XXXV
Posted: 23 Dec 2018, 13:16
Just listened to XXV for the first time in I don't know how many years. The only thing I can be sure of is that it's 35 years since I first heard it. At the time I was quite underwhelmed. Listening to it now, although it isn't quite as bad as I remembered it to be, it still makes me think that they could have done better for their 25th anniversary LP.
It's well produced and sounds very much of its time - plenty of Howard Jones-type synths and plenty of gated snare on the drums! Poor old Bruce is so low in the mix I'm hard pressed to know if he's on every track or not. Strangely, although it is very uncharacteristic as a Shads tune, I tend to think that 'The Modern Way' would actually have been a good choice of single and probably the only track on the album that could have charted. Just like 'Love De Luxe' I'd bet that no one would have guessed it was the Shads upon hearing it for the first time. I can well imagine them on Top of the Pops; Brian sitting behind a Simmons kit and Hank wearing a shiny suit that looked like it was made from a pair of Bruce's curtains. With the sleeves rolled up, naturally. I think it would have stood a chance. Then again, it could have stiffed just like 'Love De Luxe' did five years earlier.
'Liverpool Days' is the only serious mis-step on the album - seems somehow wrong for them to be singing the praises of the Beatles on an album that is celebrating their 25th anniversary. It's more like one of those cheap and tacky 'tribute' songs that pop up from time to time; some truly dreadful and cliched lyrics. This is one they should have left on the shelf.
The album only really seems to come alive near the end, with 'A Whiter Shade of Pale' (benefiting enormously from the return of The Hawk') and 'Queen of Hearts' - which finally really sounds like the Shadows! It would have been interesting to have heard a Shadows album produced by Dave Edmunds - I'm sure he would have done it in a shot had he been asked. It would certainly have been a cracker! As it is, the fact that 'Elevenis' (the b-side of the dreadful 1983 version of 'Diamonds') is the best track on this CD speaks volumes.
It's well produced and sounds very much of its time - plenty of Howard Jones-type synths and plenty of gated snare on the drums! Poor old Bruce is so low in the mix I'm hard pressed to know if he's on every track or not. Strangely, although it is very uncharacteristic as a Shads tune, I tend to think that 'The Modern Way' would actually have been a good choice of single and probably the only track on the album that could have charted. Just like 'Love De Luxe' I'd bet that no one would have guessed it was the Shads upon hearing it for the first time. I can well imagine them on Top of the Pops; Brian sitting behind a Simmons kit and Hank wearing a shiny suit that looked like it was made from a pair of Bruce's curtains. With the sleeves rolled up, naturally. I think it would have stood a chance. Then again, it could have stiffed just like 'Love De Luxe' did five years earlier.
'Liverpool Days' is the only serious mis-step on the album - seems somehow wrong for them to be singing the praises of the Beatles on an album that is celebrating their 25th anniversary. It's more like one of those cheap and tacky 'tribute' songs that pop up from time to time; some truly dreadful and cliched lyrics. This is one they should have left on the shelf.
The album only really seems to come alive near the end, with 'A Whiter Shade of Pale' (benefiting enormously from the return of The Hawk') and 'Queen of Hearts' - which finally really sounds like the Shadows! It would have been interesting to have heard a Shadows album produced by Dave Edmunds - I'm sure he would have done it in a shot had he been asked. It would certainly have been a cracker! As it is, the fact that 'Elevenis' (the b-side of the dreadful 1983 version of 'Diamonds') is the best track on this CD speaks volumes.