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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Incredibly well put-together box set!, January 10, 2005
This review is from: All Times Through Paradise (Audio CD)
This is all you could want from the 70's version of The Saints. Their three albums: The classic raw punk of 1976/1977's "I'm Stranded" (with lots of bonus tracks like the single "Do The Robot" and demos); 1977/1978's "Eternally Yours" which slowed the pace a bit and added lots of horns but was melodically and rhythmically quite compelling (again, great demos of their "Do The Robot session" which is basically the demos of the Eternally Yours album recorded fast and furious); and 1978's "Prehistoric Sounds" (which many outside of Australia have never heard before), which really started to expand their "Eternally Yours" sound with orchestration and rhythmic changes. It sounds fresh and adventurous, and while it really didn't have a chance commercially back then, it's quite remarkable to hear it today and consider the emotional state the boys were in to go ahead and record it instead of trying to recreate the "accepted" sound of "Stranded." This third disc includes an incendiary live set from April 1977 where they played in Sydney as part of a double bill with the equally incredible live act Radio Birdman (!). The competitive edge present at that gig can certainly can be heard in The Saints energy level. The fourth discs is a 45-plus minute live gig from November 1977 at a small club in London, where they played with palpable fire and you can certainly hear a bit of the confrontational vibe present, as the audience was a mix of fans who knew what they were there for and English wankers who just wanted to shout and give them a hard time (for the unforgivable sin of being a punk band from Oz!). All the tracks on all discs have been cleaned up, mastered nicely, and sound great. The booklet that comes attached with the case is very detailed, very fun reading, and covers not only the history of the band through the 70's, but also includes several articles written about The Saints around that time (even Rolling Stone - wow - back when they cared about music!) If you've even a casual fan of The Saints, or just curious to find out what this was all about, check this set out. You won't be sorry.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Adequate Canonization, March 2, 2006
This review is from: All Times Through Paradise (Audio CD)
If there was a church of Punk, Chris Bailey, Ed Kuepper, Ivor Hay, Kym Bradshaw and Algy Ward should have been held as its saints, and their house in Petrie Terrace, Brisbane (where they used to rehearse in their early days) would have been pilgrimed. I'm not sure, however, whether Punk's clergy would have held them as such. For them, I guess, the Saints were dissenters, to some extent. Oz' finest rock band truly belongs to the church of indifference (following the name of one of their songs). Evolving in glorious isolation in mid-seventies Brisbane, they have never tried to meet the requirements of Punk's orthodoxy (and their approach became even more indifferent to these requirements when they came to Punk-stricken England). "All Times Through Paradise" is an excellent opportunity to listen to their greatest (and blessed) deviation from Punk's mainstream: their third album "Prehistoric Sounds". This album is, in my opinion, their finest work, alongside "(I'm)Stranded". Sadly, it is too often overlooked. It is also, I think, out of press, what makes the purchase of this box an essential act (if you are not satisfied with the mere "burned" version). "Prehistoric Sounds" is a true late-Seventies gem. Its brilliant blend of horns (that are present in most of the tracks) and distortion still sounds genuine, after almost thirty years. "All Times through Paradise" is also a great opportunity to be acquainted with the band's live work (the fourth disc is solely dedicated to a gig in London in late '77). The powerfull sound that they have achieved in the studio (if somewhat clean and tidy in their last two albums) becomes wilder on stage. However, if you look for pure energy and power, the best place to do it would be their debut album "(I'm) Stranded", which combines the qualities of their works on stage and in the studio. I've first listened to it in an HMV store in Melbourne (with headphones, in full volume) and it has blown my mind. Kuepper's guitar sounds in this album like an engine of a jet plane- schorching, compressed and condensed- while Hay's ruthless drumming resembles the work of a lumberjack. All this glory (and more) is restored on "All Times Through Paradise", what makes this box a crucial step in the canonization process of Punk's premiere saints. Amen!
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