Customer Reviews

Real Chuckeeboo

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

First of all, this was released in 1988, not '84 as Amazon stated. Secondly, this is the CD that made my ears grow up and become a truly dicriminating listener. My sister Portia was always bringing British soul, jazz and hip-hop into the house in the 80's and the music of Loose Ends became a staple in our family, especially in my late teens. As a matter of fact, I still own my original cassette copy of "...Chuckeeboo" and played it through several times just last week. The crown jewel of this LP is the 3 part suite that comprises the title track ("Tomorrow (Is Just Another Day", "Mr.Bachelor" & "You've Just Got To (Have It All") rolling for 16 minutes and grooving the entire time without a moment of boredom. The biggest hit, the opener,"Watching You" is still one of the freshest and most innovative pieces of R&B ever recorded and changed the sound and texture of modern soul. My personal fave here is the closing song, the mercilessly funky "Remote Control" a Carl Macintosh masterpiece. With a heavy bassline, walloping drums mixed right up front and some of the coolest vocals of his and Jane Eugene's career, this sparse, brilliant track will have you racing for the rewind button! This hearkens back to a time when music was real and actual talent was required to get airplay, and commercial radio meant something. Special props to Steve Nichol for turning the synthesizer/keyboard into an integral, legitimate musical intrument and not treating it like a gimmick.
This LP is hard to find, but well worth searching for and an indespensible addition to any collection.

Boy...........do I miss this group. This was the last cd with the original three memebers. Though I feel Zagora is their best cd, this is a very close second. Almost every song is a smash and the ones that aren't, in the least are good. It's rare to find a group that conveys timeless music as LE's sound never sounds dated or faddish. I listent to this recording several times a week as it is programmed in my computer at work. It still stands the test of time.

This is fantastic Brit-Soul. My favorite songs on this album ar "Watching you" and "Mr. Bachelor". However I was dissapoitned how "Mr. Bachelor" isn't an individual cut on the album, but rather a part of a medley.

At the same time, unless you are a die-hard Loose Ends fan, I say go for a greatest hits compilation instead of this album. There's nothing on this CD that you can't get in a greatest hits collection. I recommend "The Best of Loose Ends" import CD as it includes all of Loose Ends most notable material.

Thank you Amazon...I've looked for this CD for a couple years, after discovering the cassette case was EMPTY! It is worth every penny and more. Especially when you listen to it and say "oh I forgot about that jam". Life and Is It Ever Too Late had me dancing and remembering being at one of their concerts.

I think Chuckeeboo is the "best" Loose Ends album. Takes you back to when people played real instruments and actually had talent! I give it a 10 and you can dance to it. This time I'll keep my eyes on this one.

The Real Chuckeeboo is an outstanding album. Loose Ends did a tremendous job with their last album as a trio. The Real Chuckeeboo has a sound that is unique to this very day. I recently had a musical debate with a friend of mine about the contributions of Loose Ends. She felt they were not that important. I strongly disagree! No group had such a distinct sound and also have a sound evolve from album to album. The song "Mr. Bachelor" has a sound that is unmatched. It is very unique long with "Watching You" which are both banging! The entire album is outstanding. People have a bad habit to equate commercial success with musical talent. That is not always true. Loose Ends was not a big commercial smash but they were very talented and had an underground following that is faithful to the end. I have a question to all the Loose Ends fans out there. Why did the group split up? What happened to Jane and Steve? I heard a rumor that Loose Ends is going to tour the US again. I hope that rumor is true. I would love to see them live! It would be great to see
Soul II Soul, The Brand New Heavies and Loose Ends on tour together! What a show! The Real Chuckeeboo is one of my favorite albums of all time and without a doubt Loose Ends is my favorite group. I give this album my highest possible grade! A+! Get it while you can! I searched for over ten years trying to find the album in CD format. I am very grateful it has been re released! Too all the die hard Loose Ends fans. " Everybody Get Righteous!"

i agree with the reviwer who said this was their funkiest album. i had to listen to it a second time because the first time i was half sleep. when i listened to it again, my two left feet were moving like i knew how to dance. it is a bit long, but hey, i enjoyed every extracaricular moment of it. i love the other albums too, but when i think of them, i think about the HANGING ON A STRINGs and the SLOW DOWNs, which makes me wanna hear an album such as this one, so there!!!!

...But Virgin Records forgot to include the song 'Magic Eyes', which was track #10 on the original CD from 1988. As for the music, I agree with all of the previous reviews, but this version of 'The Real Chuckeeboo' claims to have included 3 Bonus Tracks, and I only found 2...'Too Much' & 'Johnny Broadhead (pt.2)'. Failure to include 'Magic Eyes', and a 3rd Bonus Track (as claimed!) cost this CD a star!! Other than the mistake(s) by Virgin Records, I recommend this CD to fans of Loose Ends, and everyone is urged to buy it asap before it becomes out of print AGAIN!

For the COMPLETE 'Real Chuckeeboo' CD (now over 78 Minutes!), I decided to remaster the disc & add 'Magic Eyes' PLUS a Remix of 'Watching You' (from the 'Tighten Up, Vol.1' Collection). As for Loose Ends, I hope that Steve, Jane, and Carl can reunite in the future....they are missed BIG TIME!

Peace, SD
(of 'Chaka's World')

I thought that Loose Ends really topped themselves with this album! Their funkiest one to date, as Watching You just kicks the album off with a bang with its heavy beats! There's No Gratitude continues the funk vibe, before the three song The Real Chuckeeboo suite that includes the funky Mr. Bachelor in the middle! One other song I like is Life, which has such a driving groove within it. This was the last album with the original lineup, but they definitely showed their best on this album and kicked up the funk a notch! Carl McIntosh just had the funk in him on this album, before continuing with other members on the next album in '90. This album was just as funky as Bobby Brown's album in the same year of 1988! Musical, melodic, beat heavy and funky at the same time too!

After the release of this album, Loose Ends might as well have been called: "Carl McIntosh & Loose Ends" as Jane Eugene and Steve Nichol departed, leaving McIntosh to carry on the group, and, (in the case of their last album) the sound alone. Still, while 'Zagora' is their best effort, 'Chuckeeboo' is my favorite of all the group's albums. The reason is easy: Every song on the album (with the exception of 'Until A Tear Becomes A Rose', which is a good song, but certainly not as good as 'Nights Of Pleasure' or 'You Can't Stop The Rain' from 'Zagora') has optimum singalong potential. The grooves are infectious. Each song tells a story. The three part 'Real Chuckeeboo' is pure genius; way ahead of its time. The easy and soothing 'Easier Said Than Done', is one of my favorite songs of the group bar-none, and previews what Carl McIntosh would do with the Loose Ends sound after his cohorts left. This is a great album; too bad it was the beginning of the end!!!

Its been said before, but must be underlined: this is Loose Ends' best album - hands down.

The opening three part seamless sequence of songs is peerless - one seamless slab of relently funky and smooth grooves. I dont know how they did it, but they did. Listening to those three songs back to back you are just exhausted, so they then slip in some other interesting stuff and then catch you unawares with "Is it Ever too late", which take you right back to those heights again. And the rest of the album is equally interesting. It really pays back the time you take to listen to it.

You DO need to listen to this as an album, rather than try and cop some of these cuts on "best of" or "greatest hits" compilations. You can hear what these folks were doing at a particular time - that being the time when they had so much tension that they broke up! Reportedly the issue was the Jane Eugene wanted to do more of the "american", catchy sound, while Carl McIntosh wanted to stick in a more unique direction.

Ironically, I think they achieved both here. This album was head and shoulders above any US (or British) R&B at the time time. It was unique and catchy - it just didnt sell though.

But it it worth owning? Hell yeah. This thing is a stone cold classic. I wish they had stayed together longer, but if they had to bow out, they did it on a high note here. There is another "Loose Ends" album after this one but that one is honestly a Carl McIntosh and friends thing, not a legit Loose Ends joint as we know it..