Customer Reviews

Eight Legged Groove Machine

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

 

 

Listened to this again after about 10 years and found out AGAIN how much this is a classic. Every song is great and interesting in its own way. Can't believe more people aren't exploring things like this instead of the spoonfed crap out there now. Guess you had to be there and experience the time. This is a great album that does not come by that often. Please respect it!

This comes from the time where they used to make albums with only singles-quality songs. By far the best work from the Wonderstuff, although the first!

You'll think of the beatles with a new youth, more energy but those songs that stick in your head for a while. I never ubderstood why the wonderstuff never got bigger. They were here before Oasis and are much beter in my humble opinion.

If I have to pick up one word to describe this album, it's "fresh". Back in 1988, what made the Wonder Stuff so special and different from the great American indie bands of the time was that they didn't take themselves seriously. As they said in a interview, they were happy to go on touring as long as they could steal toilet paper from the hotels.

I first saw the Wonder Stuff on the video of "It's Yer Money" and they had an instant impact on me. The band looked like a bunch of long-haired hippies with Lennon's round glasses, doing Bleatlesque antics in a park. And the song was incredibly catchy. As pop as a rock song could be. And they were funny, too. "Forget your heart, it's your bank I wanna break" - ha! The Wonder Stuff took the happy-go-lucky Beatles of "She Loves You" and fuelled it with Miles Hunt' witty sarcastic humour.

Latter, when I bought this album, I found that the same could be said of the 14 songs on it. There's not a weak track in here. A collection of fast melodic pop songs with loud guitars and a couple of mellow ones thrown in for balance.

Yet, their playing is quite simple, almost banal, (well Martin Gilks had a peculiar style of drumming that I really liked) with little room for pointless guitar solos or other embellishments. The arrangements stick to the essential with only two tracks barely topping the 3 minute mark. And the chord progressions are anything but new. But Miles Hunt surely knew how to grab three old chords and make something fresh out of them. He understood that it is the song that matters. And this album is all about perfect 3 minute songs that stick like glue. Not very often a band is so effective with such economy.

Maybe the 5 stars are a bit exaggerated but 4 just wouldn't do. I still enjoy this album and I can't help but laugh when Hunt spitfires his poison "I didn't like you very much when I met you. And now I like you even less." Far out!

Song for song one of the Greatest Cds/albums ever made. Every song is great... I saw these guys several times in the late 80s and early 90s. It's a shame that they never hit it big here. Maybe that's a good thing. I listen to this cd and wonder why the radio [is] so badly these days. Maybe someday, one these ...bands that we hear so much on the radio will go back and listen to this album realize this is how you write pop music. Buy this Cd!! keep the legacy alive!! Long Live Miles Hunt!...

This album brings back such memories. I remember being the only kid in 8th grade who had ever heard of The Wonder Stuff. I went to school with a bunch of geeks who preferred Madonna and Michael Jackson. I still quote Astley in the Noose whenever some 30-something friend starts swooning over Rick Astley ("Oh, he was sooooo cute!"). He hasn't got a use, but he's trying. If you like late 80s alternative Euro music with a sense of humor, check this out.

What a great album! "I didn't like like you very much when I met you, and now I like you even less". I revisited this Stuffies CD when I found out they're back on a US tour for spring 2005! Check out pollstar.com!

Song for song one of the Greatest Cds/albums ever made. Every song is great!!! I saw these guys several times in the late 80s and early 90s. It's a shame that they never hit it big here. Maybe that's a good thing. I listen to this cd and wonder why the radio sucks so badly these days. Maybe someday, one these sucky bands that we hear so much on the radio will go back and listen to this album realize this is how you write pop music. Buy this Cd!! keep the legacy alive!! Long Live Miles Hunt!!!

i may be dating myself but i got this when it came out and i saw them on tour shortly thereafter at the cabaret metro. they covered john lennon and at the end they dumped water on the bass thing's dreadlocked head. wow. i can't believe i remember that. a few records scream alternative 80's. the pixies. janes addiction. and these guys. brilliant pop songs done with great... weellll, done great. you remember the late 80's psychedelic re-emergence? redd kross? the three o'clock? yes these guys were the bomb. fer awhile. take beatles-level songcraft and multiply it with sex pistols' f.u. sneer and you might get something like this. the bassist was the brilliant x-factor for these guys (RIP). worthwhile listening.