Customer Reviews

Russians & Americans

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

 

 

After not listening to this for a long time, I got the cd. This was the first recording Al put out after a long hiatus I believe was forced on him by lawsuits. I saw him at the Bottom Line in NYC when he released this. The LP came out in an American and European version - the differing tracks were Lori Don't Go Right Now instead of One that got away, and The Gypsy & the Rose instead of Night Meeting. Thankfully they're all on this cd along with some bonus tracks. The One That Got Away is an upbeat and good start to the CD, similar to Year of the Cat. Rumors of war which has great lyrics is a song that I loved in 1984 and hate now. It is plodding and sluggish with an annoying sythesizer riff. Night Meeting is a song that amazingly sounded much better live than on this recording. Accident on 3rd is a Dylan-like song about a car crash and is humorous. Strange Girl is like a punkish version of Bob Dylan's on the road again. The title track is a very good song, pretty. Cafe Society is an excellent song, wild guitar and some pretty great sax playing. 1-2-3 is a political rewrite of the 1960's tune "Primitive country rich in minerals you pay them with beads, tip the generals it's easy..." I love it except for the chick singers in the background. The Candidate is an uncharacteristically folkish tune, pensive, short, nice. The Gypsy & The Rose is nice musically, but the lyrics annoy me, Lori is a very pretty tune - Stewart at his best. In Red Square is the same as The One that Got Away with different lyrics, How does it happen quite literally sucks, and Garp is ok. This is a respectable album, but sometimes that slick 80's sound makes me ill. Phil Kenzie blows the sh@* out of the sax, and sometimes a little subtlety would be preferable to a Clarence Clemmons imitation which wasn't the best type of sound for Stewart anyway. If you skip the annoying songs like Rumors and the others I mentioned, this is an enjoyable album, but for the misses I can only give it 3 and 1/2 or 4 stars not 5. If you want great stuff, check out some of Al's other CD's except for 24 Carrots.

I remember when I first found this album...when it was on vinyl! I was a volunteer DJ at a community radio station in Dallas, TX and I was helping to catalogue their record collection. I was intrigued and had to listen to it.

The title track grabbed me and reminded me of the lessons I learned when I took world history in high school. (The teacher was a former CIA agent who also taught Russian.) I remembered the lessons from those days about how the Russians were really quite enamored of Americans and how very much like us they were even in the days before Glasnost.

Perhaps partly due to this album, I chose to become part of the Great Peace March in 1986. There were other reasons as well, but I cannot help but think of that year without my bringing up this song in my memory's soundtrack.

When the CD was finally released, I bought it immediately and still enjoy listening to it today. The last two tracks (added to the CD version) are nice to hear as they are presented. Even so, my favorite songs--besides the title track--are "Strange Girl", "Café Society" and "Accident On 3rd Street" (a haunting, bitter song about the loss of an innocent life due to a careless drunk driver).

While this wasn't a hit album--after all, this came out during the "evil empire" rhetoric of the Reagan Administration--I hold it in rather high esteem. My hope is that more will discover the rare pearls within this Al Stewart classic.

Although I enjoy almost all of the Al Stewart albums, this one is a little too "poppy" for my taste. I think this is because it was released during the 80's (the dancing decade)and it shows. Instead of concentrating on great melodies and lyrics as he normally does, Stewart appears to mostly worry about making rhythmic, danceable music here. However, there are a few good ones in there for the true Stewart fan.

Not much feedback here for what is really a wonderful recording! After providing another less favorable review for Al's "Famous Last Words" I feel compelled to give "Russians & Americans its due. With possible exception to the two bonus tracks added to the end of the CD, the remainder of the album ranks with the best music that Al has done over his long career. Some of this is certainly harder edged than everybodies favorite "Year of the Cat" but it is unfortunate that so many only know Al Stewart from the Cat album. Sure is a great recording but there is so much more on so many of his records that I feel rank as high. The world has changed dramatically since the release of "Russians & Americans but so much of what is said in the lyrics of this album are timeless.

When I originally bought this on record in 1984 it only had 9 tracks. Now we get 5 bonus tracks well worth buying the CD. Russians and Americans a song I wish he would play in concert goes down as one of his best songs of all time that he has written and when you are the greatest songwriter alive there are many tracks to choose from. Other standout songs are Rumours of War and Accident on 3rd Street.

This is one of the best songs Al ever wrote! Worth the price of the disc by itself. The guitar and sax just scream. If I want to impress someone with one Al Stewart tune I put this on and crank it up. The rest of the disc is very good to good but maybe a little dated in spots. Buy it for Cafe Society.

This was Al's first album of all new material since 1980's, 24 Carrots. There were changes. Al had new management, and a new producer. The producer, Mike Flicker, was best known for his work with Heart on their first four (and best) albums. (Heart's, then drummer, Denny Carmassi, plays on some tracks) I imagine he was brought in to give Al a harder rock sound. He acheives that but the 1980's production values that were popular at that time were not a good fit for Al.

Russians and Americans is a nice enough album regardless. All of the songs that were orignally on the "Americans" side of the vinyl album are better than on the "Russians" side. Apparently, Flicker followed the trend of the 80's with the "Russians" side. Some of the songs have the drums mixed too heavily and electric guitars are too loud. Phil Kenzie, whose saxophone work on previous Al Stewart albums was tasteful, is presented on some tracks too heavily.

Things get much better on the "Americans" side. The best song on the album is the excellent title track with Andrew Powell's lovely orchestral arrangement. Taken out of context this song would have not been out of place on Past, Present, and Future or Year of The Cat. "Cafe Society", "One-Two-Three", "The Candidate", "The Gypsy & The Rose", and "Lori, Don't Go" are all fine songs. "Lori..." is one of three Al Stewart/Peter White compositions. It was not originally on the vinyl version, but is the best of the three, and would of made the best single from the album.

If 1/2 stars were permitted, I would have given this album 3 1/2. Keep this in mind, if you like Al Stewart, you will like this album. In my opinion, he has never made a bad record. In the late 1960's Al made some great acoustic folk rock albums. He disavowed those albums for a number of years, but one of them, Love Chronicles (1969) featured Jimmy Page as the other guitarist on the album. It was named by one noted music publication as the "Folk Album Of The Year". In 1965, Al's roomate for a time was an American folk singer-songwriter who had made an album with a partner in the U.S. the year before. That album sold poorly, prompting that artist to go to the UK in search of inspiration or an alternate fame. Some months after the artist in question moved to London, producer Tom Wilson remixed a song off that album adding an electric guitar and Simon & Garfunkel had their first number one single. Of course, Paul Simon would go back to the U.S. and make history. Al Stewart wrote a song about Simon on one of the early albums. Al's own hit status wouldn't ever get as big as Paul Simon's, but for me, I find the Al Stewart catalogue as a whole to be a more satisfying treasure than the works of Paul Simon. Given the "desert island" test, I wouldn't have to think twice about which I would take.

While I agree it is not his best, it has a special place in my heart. I discovered Al in 1980 something in a cut out rack. The Indian Summer live two record set for $4! Russians and Americans was out of print for some time and I didn't get to hear it until I me Al at Harrah's Reno tuning up for the Last Days of the Century tour in 87. I saw Al 3 times a night for seven days in the cabaret. He graciously sent me a cassette of this album. I believe that this one is best for those who are, as I am, rabid fans or for those who were there in the 80's.

For his best, I have to go with Year of the Cat, Famous Last Words, and Time Passages in that order.

This Cold War-themed album came out during the height of the Reagan era and was Al Stewart's response to the global tensions between the superpowers. Like the Cold War itself this album was really rather irrelevant.

This album represents an attempt to put into music some of Al's political views and it really misses the mark. The title song, 1-2-3, and other tunes really fail to inspire the listener to feel one way or the other about the Cold War or about the political landscape of the time. Al was off his career high (between Past, Present, and Future and Time Passages) and was really settling into a niche of smaller audience venues and no radio time for his new music.

As an Al Stewart fan, I hated to see his career go on this path, but he really lost a lot between the mid-1970s and this record.

Tracks:
1. The One That Got Away
2. Rumours Of War
3. Night Meeting
4. Accident On 3rd Street
5. Strange Girl
6. Russians & Americans
7. Cafe Society
8. One, Two, Three (1, 2, 3,)
9. The Candidate