Customer Reviews

Old School Dropouts

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Pop Kulcher Review: A two-year-old release I finally got around to picking up a few months back, I mention it here just by way of a sad commentary on everything that's wrong with the modern corporate music business. The Connells were one of the finest and most painfully overlooked bands of the late 80's and 90's. With a jangly Southern pop song akin to R.E.M., and an even greater sense of simple popsmithery, there is simply no rational explanation for the failure of this band to garner significant radio attention. I've played them for friends and family of every musical stripe, and nobody's found them anything short of charming. But years of commercial ignorance took their toll. The band got dropped from their label, and finally called it quits a couple years ago, but managed to squeeze out one last album on a no-name indie label. It's clearly a no-budget affair. There's a major typo on the back cover, resulting in all the track numbers being incorrect. More significantly, the production (at least on a few tracks) is the pits -- this may be the worst-sounding album outside of mid-period Guided by Voices. (Of course, as someone who would rather listen to a band's demos than an overly-polished mainstream rock album, I don't find it hard to get past this.) But even poor production can't hide the merits of a beautiful, infectious pop song, and this album's full of them. Maybe not as unforgettable as early albums like Boylan Heights, but surely as good as their prior album, 1998's Still Life. You see bands like the Connells die an ugly death (and other fantastic 90's acts like Luna, Bettie Serveert, Wilco, etc. dropped by their labels), and you can't help but be disheartened by the sad state of the rock & roll industry. Buy this, hum along, and maybe feel just a little bit better.

This is not really a review but a correction to Popkulcher's review. The Connells have NOT broken up! True, touring has taken a backseat to families and dayjobs, but the Connells are still making music and playing the occasional local or regional show. In fact, they are working on material for a new album! So don't give up on The Connells just yet.

I'll preface this by saying I have been a Connells fan since my college days in the late 80s. They began their career with impressive quintet of awesome sounds - Darker Days, Boylan Heights, Fun and Games, One Simple Word, and Ring. Things got quite messy with Weird Food and Still Life. Old-School Dropouts is the best music The Connells have put out since Ring in 1994. It is a real shame that the big labels have not bought into their sound and when they split with TVT records and decided to produce and record on their own the difference in audio quality seems quite apparent. I suspect much of this is by design - to give it an artsy, retro angle. Still, that does not take away from the quality of the material. Gladiator Heart and Back in Blighty are masterpieces that belong right up there with anything they have done. There are several other outstanding tracks. It's not their best cd, but it's better than their last two. How the rest of the world missed the Connells I will never know. We fans are quite content to know that they are the kings of the undergound scene. With great albums and awesome live shows with a true college party atmosphere, I hope they decide to stay young and forego dropping out of the old-school entirely.

Yes, the production isn't up to date. Thank God. No polished, digitalized, computer-supported, expensively mastered kind of record. Still the grounded production fits the music just perfectly, adding the last detail to those jangling, bittersweet sixties vibes that emphasize on what is so often lost in up-to-date-records: a good song. With all the multimedia-stuff around us nowadays, the Connells trace the old path, with a knowing smile, slowly but steadily. Buy this record and support a band that has always been an outpost of integrity and hum their new songs when you're on your way home from work, with a window open and a mild springtime breeze swirling your hair.

Old School dropouts is awesome. Another solid attempt by the Connells. This band is one reason to promote independent music. There is a rough edge to the production quality,but I believe it adds to the overall success of the album. This band deserves more recognition.

Well, after several years, the Connells have put forth an album that I would consider a quality album. While earlier works such as Ring and One Simple Word have a definite edge on this album, Old School Dropouts comes equipped with some really great songs. Gladiator Heart has to be one of the best songs they have ever written. Radio is another song that I cant get enough of. While the quality and sound of the CD isnt terrific (easy to tell it wasnt done as the previous albums), the tunes and lyrics outweigh the fact that the sound isnt great. I know that radio today would never play The Connells but they deserve more recognition than they are getting. I pass them on to everyone I know. This CD is definitely a breath of fresh air. Hopefully, it will not be several years before another album comes out.

Is this the best album by The Connells? No, but it's a pretty strong effort that definitely grows on you the more you listen. I hope it's not their last. Like the previous reviewer, I couldn't care less if the production isn't slick - great songs are great songs and it doesn't matter how polished they sound. I even like the songs on which Mike Connell sings, and his voice is terrible (sorry Mike). The melodies are so strong that almost anyone could sing them and they would be great songs. Standouts for me are "Rusted Fields", "Gladiator Heart" and "Hello Walter". "Rusted Fields" is one of their best songs from any album.

They've still got it!

Yes, some folks are saying it sounds like demos or is underproduced. While those sentiments can be argued, the disk is exactly what the doctor ordered: classic Connells style songs.(...)

It's in my car CD player right now, only being swapped with Still Life when I need a change.

Connell lovers won't be disappointed.

I noticed that Amazon lists such "gems" as "old school booty jams" next to this recording. FORGET "BOOTYLISCIOUS" and any other "soulful pop utterances". Remember the Connells. Fact is they've put out records with catchy tunes for almost twenty years that put other so called "bands" to shame and eclipse their "talents" by a factor of infinity. Take song 2 gladiator heart. Play it a few times and try and get it out of your head. The new drummer sounds just as good as the old one. Some say "The production could be better". I hear a drum, bass, organ, guitar and a clear voice of the singer....what's the problem with that? I don't care if they did record it with a ten dollar microphone and a walkman. I'd rather listen to this one song on a cheap tape walkman tape for 50 years in a row than what passes for "music" these days.

I was trying for nearly two years to find this LP in Germany, and when I finally purchased it from the UK, I immediately knew it was worth the efforts. This is simply great music, and it sounds far more authentic and honest than their last LP "Still Life". Surely, the sound quality could be better, but as far as I'm concerned, I don't care so much about that as long as the songs are so touching. This is in many ways one of the best Connells albums.