Customer Reviews

Apple Bed

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

...could anybody possibly give this record 1 star?! Admittedly, I don't usually write CD reviews here at Amazon.com, but when I read a previous review which "boo'd" Apple Bed I had to chime in. Obviously everyone is entitle to their own opinion, but I must say, to complain that Nick Heyward isn't putting out the same music today as he did in the early 80's is complete garbage. Nick Heyward grew and so must you grasshopper.

And grow our little Nick did! He has put on a few pounds of muscle and developed many, many layers of pop music magnificence. The music's brilliant is in it's simplicity. On Nick's later work (From Monday to Sunday to now) he has cultivated his pop sensibilities while leaving behind all the (glorious) camp of Haircut 100. And YES, Haircut were fantastic in their day, but if Mr. Heyward had continued to put out the same music as he did in his boyhood band, he would have road out of town on a sad, nostalgic wave. Nick has matured and so has his music. The boyish charm still shines through on every glittering track, each one a pure pop masterpiece. If only Oasis were this catchy!

Its a real chore for me to pick my fav tracks on this wonderful work, but I will try: In Every Place, Just Like Sorrow, Reach Out For The Sun, The Man I Used To Be...really, they are ALL great!

If you are from Southern California I defy you to find a better soundtrack than the one supplied by Nick Heyward as you drive down Pacific Coast Highway. And if you are a true Nich Heyward fan YOU MUST find all of the b-sides of the singles from "From Monday to Sunday", "Tangled", and "The Apple Bed". This guy's b-sides are better than a lot of artists' careers.

If Oasis was a tad less derivative of the Beatles, could write intelligent lyrics and sing better they'd sound like this CD - and I like Oasis! Beatleseque in the best sense of the word, I liked this CD the first time I heard it and couldn't stop returning to it until every note was bouncing around my head.

The Apple Bed is typical of most Nick Heyward material in that within a song it is possible to be tapping your toes, swooning to a crooned melody, and laughing at something stupid all at once. Let's break those down one at a time, shall we? Heyward writes the best kind of catchy pop, always rising and falling, with Paul McCartney melodies. He dresses them up with strings and horns, and these arrangements walk the tightrope between fussy roccocco-ness and beautiful emphasis. But he doesn't fall. So points for that. However, the Apple Bed shows Nick seeming like he wants to "rock," which is quite funny, really, and not in a flattering way. So we get these very produced guitar bits that sound like a committee of 300 producers took a vote on how to make it sound tough. All of which does not succeed, but it somehow still appeals within the ornate pop prettiness. You can just kind of chuckle at it while still nodding your head to the tune. No song showcases this fun, strange combination better than "The Goodbye Man," which opens with a great "ba-ba-ba" explosion and bounces happily along. But our fun almost (almost) gets tempered by the unintentionally hilarious Heyward line "I'd like to be a supernatural freak." C'mon, Nick, you can't fool us with your fussed hair and GQ threads. You're nobody's supernatural freak, and thats...okay. Love yourself, Nick, and let Marilyn Manson be a supernatural freak. You keep the hair combed and the songs catchy. The two best songs on the album are melancholy ones, "In Every Place" and "The Man You Used to Be." I've no idea what they're about, but they still just kind of choke me up for the three minutes each they run. But that's all I want. And from Nick Heyward, that's all you'll get. And that's...OK. He's good enough, he's smart enough, and goshdarnit, people like him. Supernatural freak: that just kills me. Maybe he plays tambourine on the upcoming Manson album?

This is an excellent, most enjoyable work. I believe that Heyward is at the top of his form - it would be hard for any Beatle fan not to like this work.

And that's a bad thing.

Just not at all what I was expecting, and not the sort of music I could listen to again and again (as I can with FMTS). Very disappointing.

Horrifying. This is how "anybody" could give this album one star. I love Nick Heyward, I loved Haircut 100, I loved his cheesy 80's solo stuff, I especially love From Monday to Sunday and saw Nick on tour for this album in Atlanta, the show was great! But this one stinks. Jarring, out of tune and just plain mediocre to bad, depending on the song. His vocals are mixed way too high on many of the songs, resulting in sometimes painful(off key) results. There is no equivalent of "Kite" on this record, nor anything as catchy or beautiful as the tunes on From Monday to Sunday. This is apparently the album that killed his career. Has anyone heard from him since?

as a long-time nick heyward fan (bought haircut 100 when it was released) i'm very disappointed by this effort. the jazzy happy-go-lucky pop melodies i've come to enjoy (and expect) have been replaced by erratic noise. for some reason, he's decided to pay homage paul mccartney who hasn't put out anything worthwhile in years. when it came time to pick a song from the album to put on my own "best of nick heyward" compilation, only the mildly entertaining "chelsey sky" made the cut. if you're not familiar with nick heyward, you may like it. if you're a fan, you'll feel betrayed. the club boy needs to spend some more time at sea.