Customer Reviews

Lilac Time

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

 

 

This self-titled album was the first full-length effort by The Lilac Time, a very English band fronted by Stephen Duffy. With a couple hopeful exceptions (such as "Return to Yesterday"), the songs are both wistful and melancholic, and evoke dusk, desire, and longing. Originally released in 1988, it still sounds fresh today, several years into a new millennium. The unusual instrumentation (which includes both banjo and accordion, contributed by Stephen's brother Nick) adds acoustic depth and interest to TLT's lovely ballads. A great piece of atmospheric songcraft that deserves a broader audience.

Stephen Duffy's career false-started: first he opted out of Duran Duran because they were too set on fame, then he accidentally got famous himself for some poppy tunes he did ("Kiss Me", "The Icing on the Cake"), then he went back to the drawing board (or to be exact, a cottage in the Welsh Marches) to eke out a suitable vehicle for his beautiful songs. Hence The Lilac Time. Hence four of the best records I've ever heard. It's a rotten shame that they're as rare as astatine, but I'd definitely pay a goodly quantity of bucks to have a copy of this debut LP imported from Japan.

When this record first came out the reviews were amazing, but unfortunately there wasn't much of a market in the 1980s for these English guitars and odes. "Black Velvet" is probably the stand-out track, but I've got a soft spot for "Too Sooner Late than Better" (sic). The poet laureate of the love song.

I ordered Lilat Time Franz Lehar but the people who sent this CD album conived to sell me an unwated Cd The Lilac Time in stead of the one that I asked and paid for..
I lodged an e-mail complaint with Amazon some weeks ago but it appears they never look at their e-mail complaints.

The CD The Lilac Time to my mind is a useless bit of musical trash.
I give it no stars but the site will not let me do this. Also no stars for Amazon