Customer Reviews

Charlatans UK

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

 

 

The Charlatans' self-titled album is my favorite of their albums before 'Tellin' Stories' before they would reach their fully mature state. "Just Lookin'" and "Here Comes A Soul Saver"(even though it rips off a lot of Pink Floyd's "Fearless") definitely are some of my favorite Charlatans songs. Other notable songs are "Just When You're Thinking Things Over" and "Thank You." This album distinguishes The Charlatans from the cliche and becoming tiresome sound known as "Madchester" or whatever you will. The Charlatans began where The Stone Roses left off, creating soulful grooves. The Charlatans' self titled album shows the band going in a good direction and showing early signs of their brilliance.

With their 4th album, this self-titled one, the Charlatans produced their first outright gem. While the previous album, Up to Our Hips, is nearly as good, I feel this album is where everything gelled and the band really started to hit its stride. Nine Acre Court, a grooving instrumental, opens the album, and from there one it's just one classic after another: Feeling Holy, Crashin' In, Just When You're Thinking Things Over, No Fiction, See It Through, Bullet Comes, Here Comes a Soul Saver...I've literally listed almost the entire album, that's how good it is. If you're a fan of the Charlatans or just starting to get into them, this is essential. A modern classic in British Rock.

Stringing a full album together of 12 or so strong tunes with no slightly flat filler has always been a difficult task for these guys, and this is the closest they've came. Standouts are Bullet Comes (nice take on psychadelic), Just When You're Thinking Things Over and Tell Everyone. I also love No FIction with it's enat guitar solo, Just Looking with it's "and we stand with our hands in the air, and we're feeling so good cos you care" vibe, and Toothache with it's heavy industrial sound. But things like Feeling Holy, See It Through and Here Comes a Soul Saver drags things down (Here Comes A Screen Saver might be more apt, as it serves the same purpose- fills a gap between anythign of significance, but prevents burn-out). ALl the same this is good stuff. Tell Everyone.

Most Charlatans fans believe that, song for song, the self-titled 1995 album is their finest to date. It's hard for me to disagree. This album is filled with classic songs such as Feeling Holy, Just Lookin', Crashin' In, Bullet Comes, Here Comes A Soul Saver, and Just When You're Thinkin' Things Over. This is the only Charlatans album which has no dips in quality whatsoever.

In 1994, the Stone Roses released the fine album "Second Coming," in which, I believe, the band paid tribute to several legendary bands, including ZZ Top ("Driving South"), Led Zeppelin ("Tears") and The Grateful Dead ("How Do You Sleep"). A year later, the Charlatans U.K. (who are often compared to the Roses) released their self-titled album, which, though I don't feel is quite as good as their first two, was a definite improvement over their third album "Up to Our Hips." Like "Second Coming," the Charlatan's album pays tribute to several classic rock bands, and especially the Rolling Stones.

I like the way this album starts and ends, with funky instrumentals. "Nine Acres Court" also has sort of gospel feel to it, as do some of the other songs. Tracks two through five are solid songs that represent a good example of the range of the band, from acoustic through electric, plus the ever-present organ, but now more of a background instrument as opposed to in the band's first two albums. As a prior reviewer noted, "Here Comes A Soul Savior," copies the primary riff of Pink Floyd's "Fearless" (from "Meddle") so blatantly that I'm sure it was intentionally done. Next, comes my favorite track on the album, the obviously Rolling Stones inspired "Just When You're Thinking Things Over," with some superb piano work from Rob Collins (who was tragically killed in a car accident a year later). "Tell Everyone" sounds to me like it's part Rolling Stones (perhaps "Fool to Cry") and part The Allman Brothers (perhaps "Sweet Melissa"). Compare "Toothache," to the Stone Roses "Driving South." My second favorite song on the album "No Fiction" starts off exactly the same way as Neil Young's "Down By the River," surely one of that artist's best songs. In an album chock full of hooks, "See It Through" has one of the best.

When one band tries to sounds like another, one can think of it as a form of plagiarism or tribute. Since the Charlatan's have their own distinct style, in the case of this self-titled album, I consider it to be the latter.

I saw the Charlatans back in '92 with Catherine Wheel opening up for them and bought all the new releases as they came out.

I dragged this cd out for a listen after it gathered dust for a long while and realized why it mostly sat on the shelf--it is much weaker than their other material. The main reason I gave it a spin recently was all the rave reviews I read on the Net and had to have another listen in case I missed something. Nope, can't get into it.

This is simply a brilliant CD (despite the fact that Amazon has the "Some Friendly" pic on this CD's page). "Tell Everyone" followed by "Toothache" give a nice contrast with the former being the best slow song they have done and the later a rather acidic rocker.