Customer Reviews

Bruce Woolley & The Camera Club

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

 

 

This nifty little record slipped under the radar in 1979. It is composed of tightly wound, keyboard driven new wave and an edgy sounding vocalist, just the kind of thing that everyone expected of the period's next charge of the British invasion. What set "English Garden" (the UK version of this album) apart was the pedigree. Woolley was a founder of The Buggles and a co-writer of two of their best known songs. The band also included a little known but inventive keyboardist named Thomas Dolby

Most of the songs here are pretty good, and Woolley takes those two signature songs and works them out in a way that suggest why he split from Horn and Downes...he rocks them instead of machinates them. With the exception of "You Are The Circus," the songs are a cut above most of drivel that was being released as "new wave" about as fast as companies could sign them. Unfortunately, Woolley didn't catch on, the band broke up, Dolby discovered science, and this record fell into the ranks of cult classics.

It is great that this is even on CD, but be advised the Vinyl version of the album is different than this CD. Lyrics are different to the beginning of Video Killed The Radio Star.

I bought this on vinyl back in 1979 and it was one of my favorite albums at the time. Recently I had converted the vinyl version to MP3 so I could listen to it on my iPod. Since it was played so often, it was a bit scratchy sounding. So I looked to see if it was ever on CD and found this version. I just got it today, and much to my surprise several songs are totally different recordings or mixes. They sound like demo versions.

Besides "Video Killed the radio Star," as mentioned by others, "Clean Clean" has a weak sounding vocal track and almost no keyboards, and "Goodbye to Yesterday" is a different arrangement, more akin to the reprise version. Everything else is the same and there are bonus tracks I had not heard before. I'm keeping the vinyl versions of the aforementioned three songs on my iPod, as I like them better, but the alternate versions are cool too.

This album has a nice blend of 70s glam rock and the beginnings of the new wave of the 80s. I never realized how much Woolley sounds like Bowie on some tracks!

That's the only caveat I can offer if you're considering this CD re-issue is perhaps the other CD with the US cover is the version with all the life in it, this CD version seems more like an out-take or a demo; aside from that "You Got Class" and "Goodbye to Yesterday (Reprise)" both kick. I wonder what happened? The only reason I give it 4-stars is the "Video Killed the Radio Star" track NOT being the one I'd hoped they'd included but then again, with the extra tracks they included, that should have been a consideration. This CD was purchased via Amazon and the issue I have with it is not the fault of either Amazon nor the outfit that fufilled my order. I think it's time I digitally record the vinyl version of the US issue.