Rattlesnakes [Extra tracks, Deluxe Edition, Original recording remastered]

Lloyd Cole | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (December 8, 2009)
• Original Release Date: December 8, 2009
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Extra tracks, Deluxe Edition, Original recording remastered
• Label: Polydor
• ASIN: B0002LU8OU
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #17,105 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Julie Burchill's loss, May 11, 2006

By 

Laurence Upton (Wilts, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rattlesnakes (Audio CD)

With its debonair lyrics and cool arrangements this is the first Lloyd Cole album to listen to. Perfect Skin, Forest Fire and Rattlesnakes made a classic debut set of superb singles, and Are You Ready To Be Heartbroken? could easily have been a fourth (an earlier version nearly became their first single and is included on the second disc).

Much is made of the cinematic and literary references, but far from being pretentious this seems an accurate reflection of the kinds of allusions made in normal conversations of the time. According to the illuminating sleeve notes to which all the band contribute, Julie Burchill remarked in her album review that she had no use for a country and western Velvet Underground, showing that she was as off-target regarding the Commotions as she was on everything else.

Although the album has been re-issued before with B-sides as bonus tracks, this time the original album is the sole incumbent of disc one and so there is a natural close at the album's end, enabling it to be enjoyed as an entity.

The second disc gathers together all the B-sides from the 7" and 12" versions of the three singles: The Sea And The Sand/You Will Never Be No Good from Perfect Skin; Andy's Babies (about Warhol's Factory acolytes) and Glory (a Television cover) from Forest Fire. Sweetness was thought by the band to be too good to be a B-side but at the time was hurriedly recorded in Wales while they were touring, when they needed something to back the Rattlesnakes single (the single's third track, Four Flights Up, was taken from the album). Jesus Said was recorded in Islington in early 1985 with Paul Hardiman, who produced the first album, and so belongs here, but it didn't get released until 1987 when it became the flip of My Bag (although Lloyd Cole prefers it to anything on the second album, Easy Pieces). One live favourite, Beautiful City, was left off the album but the outtake is included here (as well as a live version).

The only released track missing is the lovely 12" version of Forest Fire (about 45 precious seconds longer than the album version), though a shorter one-take Maida Vale session version from Radio One's Evening Session is included. Two other tracks from the same session add Jocelyn Pook and Audrey Riley on violin and cello, and there is a live-to-air performance of Patience for Saturday Live, from Broadcasting House's sub basement S2 studio (I think Lloyd Cole's comments for Forest Fire in the notes actually refer to this earlier session).

Also previously unreleased are the demo for Perfect Skin and five live recordings from 1984 and 1985. These were recorded at Nightmoves, the Marquee and Glasgow's Barrowlands, some for radio broadcast.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars VERY VERY NICE!, December 2, 2004

By 

MEWZIK - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rattlesnakes (Audio CD)

I don't know exactly why this isn't being released in the US, but any Lloyd Cole fan will be absolutely thrilled with the repackaging of this classic debut album. Amazon US did not leave info for the second disc, but below is the tracklisting for the deluxe edition. The remastered disc one is worth it alone - what a difference. Also, if you want to save $20.00, goto Amazon UK - the price for everything with shipping only came out to just under $30.00. Between the booklet, remastering and bonus material - it is worth every penny. Ten Thumbs Up.

Disc: 1
1. Perfect Skin
2. Speedboat
3. Rattlesnakes
4. Down On Mission Street
5. Forest Fire (Extended Version)
6. Charlotte Street
7. 2CV
8. Four Flights Up
9. Patience
10. Are You Ready To Be Heartbroken?

Disc: 2
1. Are You Ready To Be Heartbroken - Demo
2. Perfect Skin - Demo
3. Glory - Live At Nightmoves (15/6/84)
4. Beautiful City - Live At The Marquee (5/11/84)
5. Charlotte Street - Live At The Marquee (5/11/84)
6. Sweetness - Live At The Barrowlands (9/9/85)
7. 2CV - Live At The Barrowlands (9/9/85)
8. Patience - Saturday Live - BBC Radio 1 Session (26/5/84)
9. Forest Fire - Richard Skinner Session - BBC Radio 1 (5/7/84)
10. Speedboat - Richard Skinner Session - BBC Radio 1 (5/7/84)
11. Rattlesnakes - Richard Skinner Session - BBC Radio 1
12. The Sea And The Sand
13. You Will Never Be No Good
14. Andy's Babies
15. Glory
16. Sweetness
17. Beautiful City (Rattlesnakes Recording)
18. Jesus Said

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars No Mailer, Just a New Tailor!, January 12, 2005

By 

T. Norton "still learning..." (key west) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rattlesnakes (Audio CD)

I was hooked on this album by an ultra-hip friend back in 1985 (a little late, but then I'm like that with music....). It sounded (and still does) like nothing else around, the lyrics were intelligent, quirky, and ceaselessly engaging, and it's makers did not shy from the elegance of string arrangements. In fact, it could be argued that this album almost single-handedly wrested the orchestra back from the schmatlz meisters and made it hip again. One of my other all-time favorites, "The Lexicon of Love" by new romantic northern soul outfit ABC, had two short years before launched the singularly talented Ann Dudley into the pop arranging world. (NOTE- that also-incomparable work was given the "Deluxe" treatment by Universal at the end of 2004) . While Martyn Fry of ABC had shared a witty, quirky, and self-consciously-literate approach to lyrics with our Mr. Cole, the styles of the two groups were markedly different. In theory, that could certainly test the scope and flexibility of an arranger. Ms. Dudley's work on both albums is sublime and is in both cases a major ingredient in their respective successes.

Though the album was reported by critics at time of it's release to be country-influenced, the music herein is respectably informed and defies categorization other than that bastard moniker "alternative rock". Obvious influences on composition and playing run the gamut from Glen Campbell/Jimmy Webb, Chet Atkins, and Duane Eddy through to Jimmy Smith, Bob Dylan and Bo Diddley. One of the awesome things about the newly mastered original album is that new subtleties are apparent in the recordings and these very subtleties are distinguishing the songs stylistically to a much greater extent than I remember from my much-played, much-treasured vinyl copy. In fact, it is a credit to the producer (Paul Hardiman) that these songs hold together so effortlessly in this collection! The most obvious "odd man out" here is "Patience", a take on frustrated love and/or personal shortcomings that utitlizes a Bacharach-influenced approach in it's recording as well as string arrangement. It could easily fit with an R&B set, and Lloyd allowed himself to sound not only vulnerable but pretty as well. Somehow it fits in with the rest, don't ask me... I chalk it up to a sparing approach in the rhythm section and Lloyd's singular voice. In any case, I love the damn song and am no longer embarrased to say so.

"Are You Ready to Be Heartbroken?", "Perfect Skin" , and "Forest Fire" have all received airplay in the Uk and are known to fans who've purchased "Lloyd Cole and the Commotions 1984-89" (RIP), so let me add that EVERY track on this gem is a winner! In fact, I like a couple non-hit album tracks here substantially more than those mentioned. "2CV" is simple, haunting and gorgeous, "Speedboat" is menacing and haunting and somewhat enigmatic in it's story of an on-the-edge couple and their never-mentioned demise. With "Four Flights Up" we get a witty Dylan-inspired take on what could be any couple, but the tongue-in-cheek (I think...) melodrama of the narrator makes it sound like the most doomed relationship on Earth. On that note I have to add that Lloyd the lyricist offers dense and slippery tellings that often are not what they seem (or are they?). Lyrics you can chew on for years with instant, often dark, humour and hooks as accessible as trouble...

The second disc here offers an assortment of demos, live recordings, bbc session recordings, and Mr. Cole's much-rated b-sides, almost always top-of-the-line material that makes you wonder how they ever decided in the first place. For that matter we get commentary from all of the band on just that very subject (and others) in the substantial c.d. booklet, along with rare original photos from the period. While "Rattlesnakes" (nicknamed a "student bedsit classic") will probably never get a "straight" following, it indeed gets a re-tailoring worthy of Armani while retaining all of it's original swagger.

I recommend for ANYONE who loves music!