Customer Reviews

Re-Cycled Vinyl Blues

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

 

 

Neil Innes evidently had a hand in the selection of cuts, so I hate like heck to say this. It's not his fault. Blame the Beatles (for "Sergeant Pepper") and blame Brian Wilson (for "Pet Sounds") and blame Ray Davies (for "Arthur"). Fact is, by the 1970s we had come to expect musical geniuses to produce The Album As Art Object. Most of this "Recycled Vinyl" CD comes from the 1973 masterpiece, "How Sweet to Be an Idiot." "How Sweet" was an art object, a sparkling, francophilic, Faberge egg of sentimentality, full of sadness and joy and longing and optimism. After 27 years, I still love it.

There are several considerations that make The Album As Art Object. One is a familiar sequence of tunes. Another is the purely musical transition in chords from one song to the next. Another is thematic unity or thematic sequence or both. And there are other considerations. Young CD hounds may be surprised to learn that, in the days of vinyl, music lovers would argue about which SIDE of an LP was better.

Apparently, like the Ramones when they released "All the Stuff," Innes imagined that "Recycled Vinyl" is the only CD of his work that will be released for the mass market, so he added some other songs (excellent in their own right) and stirred the pot. I hope that more CDs will follow and that "How Sweet" will be issued as itself, with its original cover art (fine photo of Innes as a duck-hatted harlequin).

So I hate like heck to take away one star for a compromise of artistic integrity. Innes forever! Four stars.

More than likely,the ONLY Neil Innes CD you'll currently find on Amazon! ( The Rutles and The Bonzos don't count. ). This CD is much more than the CD version of the VERY hard to find vinyl album,"How Sweet To Be An Idiot" ( or "A Go-Go",as it was originally re-issued. ),it contains the original album,plus the even harder to find only single released by The World ( "Angelina"/"Come Out Into The Open" ),plus five hard to find songs,released as singles in the U.K. only! ("Recycled Vinyl Blues","Lie Down & Be Counted","Fluff On The Needle","Age of Desperation",and "Bandwagon (Live) "). Buy it while it lasts!

This is a re-release of "How Sweet to be an Idiot". The original was great with wonderfully melodic songs, nice boogie rock, Lennonesque ballad -- and even a sense of humor. Worth the price -- and more!

This is a 1994 re-issue of Neil's 1973 "How Sweet to be an Idiot" and "Neil Innes-a-Go-Go), so you only need one of these to have the songs from the album. "Idiot" was Neil's first solo album and shows that his songwriting talent was constantly developing and improving. He is considered one of the best songwriters of the 20th century. He has written songs anywhere from rockers to jazz to standards to country to just plain silly. Plus he's just a great guy. I'm a total fanatic.

The songs that are great on this are really great, but there are too many boogie-woogie type tunes. Like Frank Zappa, I listen to Neil Innes/Bonzo Dog Band either for great musicianship or for the humor. This CD doesn't really offer enough of either. Still, if you really, really like Neil Innes you probably won't be disappointed.

RE-CYCLED VINYL BLUES represents the first time I have ever been disapointed by any music Neil Innes has been associated with.

Maybe I'm giving him too much credit, but I always thought Innes was an overlooked genius who could turn virtually anything into an interesting tune. This CD proves me wrong. The production is thick and muddy, the playing is slow and slovenly, and the lyrics are dull and lifeless.

The only redeeming tracks here are "Lie Down And Be Counted," an acoustic strummer with a sense of humor and some tasty backing vocals, and "How Sweet To Be An Idiot," which fits in with some of the very best of Innes' catalog. Too much of the rest of the record sounds like Innes and some studio hacks trying to fulfill contractual obligations.

Thank God for the Rutles.