Present Tense / Tongue Twister

Shoes | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 25, 2005)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Black Vinyl
• ASIN: B000001LB3
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #199,715 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Timeless perfect pop that almost everyone ignored., May 13, 2001

By 

mymurkyworld (UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Present Tense / Tongue Twister (Audio CD)

In the Power Pop universe, the usual cornerstone albums are those of the "Killer Bs" the Beatles, the Beach Boys, the Byrds, Badfinger, and Big Star, but for me, Illinois natives, the Shoes surpass their influences to define the genre, and "Present Tense" is their finest record. I can remember buying the record in the late 70s having read a review that mentioned Big Star and Todd Rundgren's "Something Anything", that'll do nicely! I even heard a track on a local radio "new releases" show that compared the Shoes to the poppy punk sound of the Buzzcocks, since I was living in Manchester (England) at the time, and the Buzzcocks were the local heroes, this was praise indeed. Criminally, for such perfect pop, this is probably the only time I ever heard the Shoes on the radio. The Shoes style is straightforward enough, solid, and usually mid tempo, rhythm guitar, few solos, great harmony vocals and lyrics of boy meets girl, looses girl, gets cheated on by girl, and generally gets in emotional mess about girl. Throughout these two albums, and indeed the rest of the Shoes output, this formula almost never varies. The band's insistence on this style, and subject matter, might lead you to think the records feel claustrophobic, but instead, when listening, you are put into a Shoes world where they appear to be singing about whatever relationship you happen to be in at that particular time. This distinctive and fairly rigid pattern has also given the music a timelessness such that I have rarely gone for long without listening to the band, and "Present Tense" in particular, in the last 25 years! The start off track "Tomorrow Night", probably their most famous song due to a nearly hit single release, sets the tone with some delightfully crunchy guitars and vocal harmonies. My favourite tracks, "In My Arms Again" and "Three Times", play the tangled love life card to perfection, over the usual persistent swirl of guitar. "Tongue Twister" is not quite as strong as "Present Tense", and daringly introduces more keyboards and guitar effects into the mix, but it's still an excellent album. I have never seen the band live, despite the fact that "Present Tense" was recorded in England, I am not aware that they ever played live here. It's a shame I never saw them, because they were a big part of my growing up, and I doubt now that I will ever stop listening to them. So if you like to have categories to put music into then for "Power Pop" this is an essential twofer, but in the greater scheme of things it is simply a collection of beautifully uncomplicated and timeless pop songs, and one that I wouldn't be without.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best teenage love songs ever, March 7, 2001

By 

Robert Moore (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Present Tense / Tongue Twister (Audio CD)

I live in Chicago, and although I didn't learn about the Shoes until the early 1990s, I was lucky enough to see the Shoes perform 3 or 4 times in that decade. Unfortunately, I don't think they perform at all any longer. In part, it might be because the guys are all in their late forties, and the songs they all sang so magnificently were awesome anthems of teenage exhiliration and angst over the opposite sex. I know of absolutely no band in the world that strikes such a perfect note of what it is like to be 17 and desperately in love with a girl.

Musically, the Shoes were a throwback to the sixties. The Beatles, the Kinks, the Raspberries all spring to mind as predecessors (and a successor would be Chicago's magnificent and tragically forgotten Green). Unlike those bands, however, there is never a note of dissonance. This music is smooth. Perfect harmonies (perhaps because two of the singers are brothers--remember how well the Everly Brothers voices blended), sweet melodies, heartfelt emotion. It is impossible to listen to this music and not feel catapulted back to junior high school or high school.

But though this is music about teen love, there is nothing of the sell out here. The audience for this music, and the ones who might most appreciate the band, are those who are into a lot of pre-nineties alternative music. If you are a fan of bands like Big Star and Television, you really need to know this band.

I just wish I could hear them live one more time.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great two-fer: too bad about the packaging, October 6, 2006

By 

Greg Cleary (Marquette, MI United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Present Tense / Tongue Twister (Audio CD)

It pains me to give only four stars to a CD that contains the two best albums by one of my all-time favorite bands, but I have a problem with the packaging. I have both these albums on vinyl, but one of the discs is warped, so I bought this CD. The music sounds as great now as it ever did, but I was disappointed that they went with bargain-bin packaging here: no lyrics, no pictures (except for tiny reproductions of each album cover), no liner notes. Albums this great deserve better treatment, and I would gladly pay double the price for high-quality reissues that at least contained the original artwork and lyric sheets.

Having said that, I will now say that if you haven't heard this band and you like music that's in a similar vein (other reviewers here have described it very well), you do need to get this CD. Unlike most fans, I prefer "Tongue Twister," because I like the leaner, meaner production (by Richard Dashut, who worked with Fleetwood Mac). Both albums are packed with great songs, and there is really not one false note on this entire CD. Enjoy!