Customer Reviews

Del Amitri

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Truly, truly: one of the greatest albums of that era. I was the only person that I knew of who bought and listened to it, and the music literally was so deeply impressed upon my mind that I walked around for weeks while these songs played autonomously in my head. At the time, this music reminded me of "Gregory's Girl", a film by Scottish director Bill Forsyth. Justin Currie, who was all of but 16-18 years old when he wrote the lyrics, was, in his early years, a clever wordsmith but went on to write some of the most endearing "love-gained" and "love-lost" songs in my conspectus of the past 50 years of pop music. His lines have true literary merit... And you can dance to them!

if true art is something that communicates to its audience, then this is true art. a permanent top 10 lister, a desert island pick ... if you only remember one thing from your surfing session tonight, remember this: all the best musicians come from scotland.

The sound quality of this remaster is amazing. And the CD has ALL of the b-sides from the singles from this album. Can't write any more as i'm going to go listen to it again!

Here's the track list:

1. Heard Through A Wall
2. Hammering Heart
3. Former Owner
4. Sticks And Stones Girl
5. Deceive Yourself (In Ignorant Heaven)
6. I Was Here
7. Crows In The Wheatfield
8. Keepers
9. Ceasefire
10. Breaking Bread
11. This King Is Poor
12. Difference Is, The
13. Lines Running North

14. Brown Eyed Girl

I have been waiting (nearly) 20 years for someone to figure out that this is one of the most under-rated brilliant albums ever released. While Del Amitri went on to great fame during their A&M career - nothing they ever did came close to matching the sheer pop brilliance of their self-titled debut album. Sadly fans of the band tend to distance themselves from this album because it's not nearly as AOR friendly as their subsequent hits - but what's a crying shame is that fans of Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe and Aztec Camera and The Smiths and The Church and The Sound and The Railway Children and Orange Juice haven't embraced this album. And god bless Superfecta for including the equally as brilliant b-sides (okay, let's be honest, it's a ... cover of "Brown Eyed Girl" but at least it's tongue-in-cheek). Do yourself a favor if you're a fan of early '80s pop music (before the words "new wave" and "alternative" came around and LONG before the words "pop music" became curse words) - and buy this album!!

about no choruses and too many words in these songs, but he's also right about the charm of this first album. This stuff isn't very sing-along-able (without a lot of listening and practice), despite the devotion to melody and harmonizing. Several of the songs are rapid-fire tongue-twisting soliloquies or jaded poetry rants molded by the beat and jangly guitars and a sort of punk attitude if not sound. Yet the music is lovely, poignant, affecting. Currie's younger voice is higher, more earnestly intense, but even here a talent to be appreciated. The long-winded lyrics are angry, agonized & naive sometimes but not stupid or (entirely) clueless. (I have no doubt "Crows in the Wheatfield" was inspired by Van Gogh's painting Wheatfield with Crows.) Already there are the plays on words and twists of meaning we've come to know and love in the Dels' songs.

I love the breathless adolescent rush of "Hammering Heart," "Sticks and Stones Girl" and "I Was Here"; the hopeless, sweet sadness of "Former Owner"; the biting, world-kicking, self-dissatisfied "Crows in the Wheatfield"; the hurt frustration of "Lines Running North"; and the beautiful but terrible "Keepers." Terrible in the sense of its subject, which isn't love but controlling, abusive obsession: "you may be bleeding though you're not dying, but you are dying to go/stop teasing me/I'm not seeing you leaving me."

All in all, this is a separate curiosity from the later Del CDs, is more than "mere" entertainment, but it has grown on me quite a bit since I first played it, and I go `round humming bits of this, too. The final bonus track of this reissue is a cover of Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl." It sort of grates on the ear and they're horsing around with it-can't quite tell whether they're sending it up or they like it (or both), but it leaves you smiling.

It's amazing this album remains so obscure and unknown. Breezy, witty, bright and folksy, it's one of the best albums I've ever heard - totally a breath of fresh air.

This is one of my favorite albums ever. I love singing along with all the songs...so I'm especially glad that lyrics were included with this reissue. Del Amitri really conjure up a Scottish village of lovelorn souls in these sweet, complex, conflicted tunes. Now if only they'd reissue their second album with extra tracks...no, all of 'em...and tour again...

Recently I re-listened to this debut which I was fortunate enough to discover when it was released. What is still arresting is just the very high quality of the music - the very warm rich sound, the sophisticated songs and beautifully Beatlesque (yet utterly Scottish - passionate, ironic) harmonizing, the witty literate lyrics, the wonderful pastoral/urban melodies. This is one of those rare records you play then find yourself putting on again an hour later. A striving comparison might be early James and the English Beat minus the beat if that makes sense. I also think of the Lilac Time and Stephen Duffy's rueful romanticism. It's astounding how different this is from anything Del Amitri went on to make. It seems after this effort a decision was made to change direction towards a more contemporary and commercial sound and artistic pursuit. (As for myself) I've yet to hear anything quite this uniquely memorable from the group in the lo these many years since. (Perhaps a tour of the early day's music for the band ..? :)

i wished i had sunglasses or smoked cigarettes. the del amitri was once about aspiring to combine the raw elements of youthful energy, first loves lost to heartbreak and overflowing musical talent. with time, the dels cleaned up from the early years (pre 1986) and spun themselves into feasting on the whims of corporate hitmakers and the iconic big label society.

so, here it is, I like the jekyll del amitri demonstrated on the self titled release along with some extras released on the 2003 update. Others, in a ratio that seems like 99 to 1, prefer the hyde version from 1987 to present. The jekyllian del's prompted comparisons to many british 'alternative' bands like xtc, aztec camera, in a big country, and the smiths. I am fond of the smith influence due to the dancy bass/guitar interplay found in many songs, i.e. crows in the wheatfield, this king is poor and heard through a wall to name a few. Perhaps the dels opening up for the smith's on a '85 tour helped to influence the sounds and allow some new wave pop ideals to manifest in the early sound.

As it stands now, time has added 24 years since I first discovered the elegant folk sounds of the del amitri and the majestic yet whimsical lyrics and delivery of justin and mates. I guess the dilemmna will always be of wanting more. They were my secret in the middle of cornfields and midwest highways. This album should have been the start of a semi-long lasting love affair but ended only as a fling. Made to feel a bit dirtier when hearing the likes of roll to me and last to know at major league baseball games 5th inning stretches.

I will confess, I am not immune to music fascism. I do like my bands to be underground and free of unduly influences which may impede the pureness of musical creativity. I like a paycheck as much as the next guy. Yet, the covering of tracks by describing the bands evolution from 1985 to waking hours as a natural progression feels more like political correctness and record company rhetoric. The sea change in sounds, style, delivery and slicked up marketing all add up to what I would call a bit of a sell out. All in all, I may listen to couple of post 1989 tracks on occasion and not be unimpressed. Stone cold sober is a superbly written tune even when delivered in the bands pro-forma radio friendly plain vanilla packaging. Ditto for not where its at. And with full disclosure, I will not turn off any del amitri songs when heard over the radio on a rare occasion one is played. The regal sounds of the bands self titled release deserve a tip of the cap to the dels even if the sands of time make that nostalgic trip seem like a forgotten eternity.

Hate to be the lone dissenter but I'm gonna be honest here. I became a Dels fan around the time of Twisted and Some Other Sucker's Parade. I'm sure I'm far from the only one in that camp. I picked up this album long ago (I've long since sold off the CD). When I gave it a listen, I thought it was a different band!

I can't say the album's bad, it's just a completely different genre of music. More Elvis Costello-ish than the melodic alt-rock balladry of sorts that filled the later releases.

If you're like me, a word of caution, this disc may not be for you. Buyer beware.