Amateur Night at the Big Top [Import]

Shaun Ryder | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 14, 2003)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Off World Sounds
• ASIN: B00009V8WR
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #490,766 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. The Story

2. Long Legs, Pts. 1, 2, 3

3. Scooter Girl

4. Clowns

5. Murder

6. Northern Soul Brother (Shapeshifter)

7. Monster

8. In 1987

Editorial Reviews

Introducing Amateur Night In The Big Top, the return of the legendary front man of Happy Mondays and Black Grape – Shaun William Ryder!

Very few artists have achieved the level of success Shaun has enjoyed. An icon of his generation, he was even recognized by Sir Paul McCartney as a "god-like genius" at the NME Awards. His rise to fame with the Happy Mondays was also recently documented in art house film favorite, 24 Hour Party People.

Amateur Night In The Big Top was conceived and recorded in Perth, Australia where the Mondays played their last ever show. A deeply personal document, the album is the brainchild of Shaun and his cousin Pete Carroll, with production aid by Shane Norton (Soundlab, Ku-Ling Bros.) and Stephen Mallinder (Cabaret Voltaire).

Armed with eclecticism and funky beats, Shaun Ryder is gonna step on you again! --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Probably not for the masses..., January 17, 2009

By 

cblo (Idaho, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Amateur Night at the Big Top (Audio CD)

If this were a general album review, I would be hard-pressed to give it more than 3 stars. But it is a 5-star album for Mondays fans, simply because something is better than nothing (right?). This sounds at times like a recorded drug trip, which it probably was for the most part. The vocals are burried and Shaun sounds horrible at times. Lyric it is not, more spoken word riffing and story telling. The music is akin to a slightly sinister lounge/chill with a good deal of dub tossed in. Not in any way ground-breaking, the music is nonetheless well crafted. Unfortunately, there are not enough guitars to really compare this with HM or BG, but it does have the unmistakeable howel of Shaun. From prescient and witty to utterly juvenile, you gotta love 'em. Keep it coming Shaun, we need your voice!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars An Interesting Progression, August 1, 2008

By 

Ian Brailsford (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Amateur Night at Big Top (Audio CD)

To be short, a cool vocal album with Shaun behind dancy music. A must buy for true fans of the Happy Mondays and Black Grape. Scooter Girl is an excellent track. It stayed in my mixed cd player for quite some time. Anyway, much better than that with Bez, though we love 'im.

0 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not Quite The Happy Mondays - but Happy, November 9, 2003

By 

B. Hodnett "Jack Mayhoffer" (New Jersey) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Amateur Night in the Big Top (Audio CD)

Shaun Ryder is one of the most overlooked artists of his time, as was his now classic and infamaous late 80's early 90's band Happy Mondays (Made a little less obscure from the recent, brilliant,Winterbottom film "24 Hour Party People.") The Mondays were heralded to be the next Rolling Stones but didn't quite live up to the hype mostly because of the bands excesses and tumultuous recording sessions - but they were contenders for sure. Buy this album, check out the Mondays, check out the novel and film "24 Hour Party People," - in short investigate the entire Manchester, England ("Madchester") scene. It was a period not to be forgotten, nor overlooked in music history. Artists like Ryder, much like "The Pogues'" Shane MacGowan need to be exposed more, but unfortunately this world has been taken over by the vapid and innane music debacle called "Hip Hop" (The art form where all the videos and music sound and look exacly the same.) Less overexposed and hyped Beyonces/Jay-Z's and Combs (Who do these over payed clowns think they are with their silly catch names anyway; P-Diddy has Sean John, Ryder had Armani Loose Fits?) and more of the real hard knox stylings of performers like Shaun William "Effin'" Ryder! Long live the Mondays and Madchester, Godbless and Buy it!