Customer Reviews

The Day The Earth Caught Fire

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Day The Earth Caught fire is in my opinion City Boys best album. If you liked Book Early (with the semi-hit 5705), you'll love this release. The production values are great with Mutt Lange piecing together a great series of songs that leave the listener wanting more.I would consider this a concept album that
the late 70's and early 80's seemed to churn out frequently.
In the era of Queen, Rush, Boston and Supertramp, City Boy is truly a guilty pleasure not many music fans know about.Do yourself a favor and find a way to listen to this release, and you'll see that this is a must for your collection.

In the late 70's I had the great fortune to be a member of a band that was the opening act for City Boy at the Paradise rock club in Boston Ma. (in fact we were hired to do it again a year later during another C.B. tour..), I mention this because City Boy was a band who delivered the same quality perfprmance in a live show as you will hear on this recording. The vocals are superb, The talent level of all the musicians is top-notch, and the overall production is easily equal to the best offerings from people like Roy Baker or Todd Rundgren. If you like a recording offering the full spectrum of dynamics from a quiet acoustic guitar to the Phil Spector "wall of sound" and memorable songwriting all in one this is a "must have" for you.
P.S.All of their earlier works are just as great...!

I agree with a previous reviewer - I'd love to see City Boy get back together again. If Steve Broughton (Lunt), Mike Slamer, Lol Mason, Chris Dunn, Roy Ward and Max Thomas could get back in the studio and get that synergy going again - the music world (and the fans) would benefit ten-fold.

This is the band's last album with the Steve Broughton (an excellent singer/songwriter)and it's one of their best. While the title track is a standout, my favorite is "New York Times" -a beautiful, melodic song, followed by "Machines".

Well worth the price. If you've bought the Anthology and liked what you heard, get this. I'll echo all the other reviers: You'll wonder why this band never made it BIG.

This album contains some of the best 80's style rock ever not heard!! Conceptual album about the plight of a man who wishes to become famous, and the impending end of the world that derails him. 5 excellent songs, the rest very good. The day the earth cought fire opens it with the best track for rockers, slows down a bit and ends with The new york times, one of the best ballads you will ever hear! (promise). Side 2 is awesome, up in the 80's and the ambition set are grwat and itrs a sad shame that this album was never promoted by Atlantic records, unfortunately disco and punk were ruling the airwaves and did not allow this album to prosper.. It was ahead of its time!!!

FROM THE BEGINNING TO THE END, THIS ALBUM SATISFIES YOU AND OPENS YOUR EARS TO A POLISHED STYLE OF MUSIC. CITY BOY RIVALS QUEEN IN VOCAL HARMONIES AND INVOLVES ORCHESTRATED MUSIC TO BACK IT UP. YOU WON'T HEAR SONGS THAT SOUND THE SAME HERE. MY PERSONAL FAVORITE IS THE TITLE CUT, WHICH EXEMPLEFIES THE BAND'S WIDE RANGE OF ROCK AND ROLL. "INTERRUPTED MELODY" FEATURES SOME OF THE BETTER GUITAR LICKS ON SIDE 1. THE NEXT SONG "MODERN LOVE AFFAIR" IS ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF A GREAT COMPOSITION WHILE "NEW YORK TIMES" DISPLAYS VIOLINS AT THEIR BEST IN ADDING THAT EXTRA PUNCH TO THE SONG. "UP IN THE EIGHTIES" AND "MACHINES" KICK OFF A STRONG ROCK PRESENCE LEADING UP TO THE END CUTS WHICH, AS A WHOLE IS KIND OF A MEDLEY. WHICH BRINGS US TO A CLOSE WHERE "THE END" CAME EASY....YEAH FOR THEM MAYBE, BUT IWANTED TO HEAR MORE!!!

In the late 1970's City Boy came to my attention. "Young Men Gone West", and every album they wrote. I was at the time making a living as a musician and with that in mind I can with all honesty tell people that this band was absolutely the best rock band I have ever heard and it is still true to this day. It was plain to see for me that the musicians in City Boy are very very high class and schooled. I am very hard to impress. These musicians in City Boy impressed me from the opening song. To this day some twenty years later I am still impressed when I listen to them. I'd like to thank Amazon.com for the oportunity to buy City Boy music on CD. I recomend " Young Men Gone West/ Book Early / Dinner at the Ritz / Heads are rolling / The Day the Earth Caught Fire, and any other music City Boy has recorded

cmiles2@uswest.net

If you have read the previous reviews, you must be interested in this album.
T.D.T.E.C.F. is a brilliant work that is as important today as when it was released, truly a "musician's band" CITY BOY's entire 6 album discography must be heard to be believed.

Many fans don't realize the last album was entitled "It's Personal" (1981)it came after the fantastic "Heads are Rolling" album. I am thrilled to see the glowing 5 star reviews of this and other City Boy recordings! ALL their recordings are truly timeless, and never sound dated to my ears,if you hear this album, you'll want to hear (and own)the entire catalog of this amazing group, I'd love to see a City Boy Box Set released on CD someday! LISTEN TO CITY BOY!

City Boy were a band that had something going, and maxed it out with this CD (along with Book Early). I was a college DJ when they were at their 'peak' with this stuff, and to tell you the truth, they just knocked the socks off of the other even more popular bands of the time.

All of us music lovers cherished this album (along with 'Book Early'), and played it out. Oh, the wishfullness of College Radio on the rest of the world...and the bottom line is that City Boy was heavily 'rotated' when it came out. To put this all into today's context, this is a CLASSIC that anyone who appreciated the 'classic 80's sound', whilst throwing in a sound that leaned more on the concept-side with almost operatic and Genesis-style syncopations here and there, yet sticking to the 'standard' rock format...

Give them a try if you are into the sounds like the ones I just described...you will NOT be disappointed (like so many CD's of other artists of the same genre that are collecting dust...)

If I were City Boy, I would get together again -us boomers need you guys around to put out some awesome music again! I saw City Boy when they put this album out (1980?). The tour was in a small city in Canada. These guys were put as an opener with the wrong target market and in an old hockey arena--they were incredible yet underappreciated by the "Loverboy" (I believe these guys were the headline arrgghhh!) fans. They did most of the Day the Earth Caught Fire and blew the opener off the stage in my books (and others I talked to--"Man, who are these guys!") Anyway, this CD is one of the best of all time. It's melodic and it rocks. The fact Robert "Mutt" Lange produced it says something too -- he saw the potential I'm sure plus the sound is great. I would have fired my record company at the time --they did a huge disservice to music listeners by not pushing this one! If you like stuff like Rush-2112, Supertramp (Fool's Overture), this ranks in that category of theme style music. A must for anyone that appreciates excellent rock melodies, lyrics, and musicianship! How about a Day the Earth Caught Fire II and a reunion tour?!--with a different label this time...

This was the very last ever City boy album , this album was their bravest and best ever album .To the mind blowing title track to machines .I recomend this album big time,I so glad this album is now on CD ,a must for all fans . At the third stroke the time will be ..!