Customer Reviews

Short Back & Sides

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Recorded at a time of great change in popular music "Short Back N Sides" also saw a change in direction for Ian Hunter. All of Ian's solo works have a different feel to them and this one is as edgy as he gets. One exception is the great ballad "Old Records Never Die" One of Ian's poignant lyrics and some great guitair work make this track an instant classic. Lucky for us, Old Records never die, they can still be purchased as great compact discs!

25 years ago I bought this and I hated it, well 25 years later I am listening to it again and again. Yes Ian changed course from his previous lps/cds in a few songs but for the most part he stays the course. One notable difference less rockers and the the rockers experiment with different sounds. Gun Control sounds like the Ian/clash , Keep On Burning has an almost gospel feel to it, Central Park West and Lisa Likes Rock n roll are pretty much typical Ian. Noises has a Ian/Bowie(think lodger) feel. All the ballads come off well,Rain,I need your Love etc. The only really odd song is Theatre of the Absurd. People keep comparing Ian's cds to his previous ones and you can't. Rant is different than his first cd. As Artful Dodger is different than AAAB or rant. They are all good,some are great Rant,Artful Dodger,AAAB,Ian's first,Overnight Angels, Schizophrenic. If there is one bad cd it is All of the Good Ones Are taken and even it has it's moment.

After You're Never Alone with a Sczhiophrenic Ian Hunter had a difficult time coming up with original material. While Short Back 'N' Sides has it in spades both the quality and production on the album is uneven. Mick Jones evidently decided to use this album as a precursor to his Big Audio Dynamite albums. He experiments with weird sound effects, production touches and arrangements. Unfortunately, most of them don't fit Hunter's songs very well.

SBNS has its moments but they are few and far between. This remastered version sounds great but is less filling than Ian's 1st, 2nd and 4th solo albums.Mick Ronson is usually a stablizing force for Hunter. Here both Hunter and Ronson are pretty well dominated by Jones' hatchet job on the production end.

Rain, Gun Control and a handful of other songs make the grade. Still, if you're going to purchase a copy go with the 2 CD set. It contains an extra disc of outtakes and previously unreleased songs. Na Na Na Na has Little Richard written all over it while China features a rare lead vocal from Ronson.

After this Ian came up with an even worse album (All The Good Ones Are Taken)before returning to the quality songwriting of previous albums.