Customer Reviews

Small Price of a Bicycle

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Very well done rock music that does hold your complete attention from start to finish. It's all here: An Anthem-like, pulse-pounding album complete with touches of melancholy and dashes of mayhem, "Small Price of a Bicycle" certainly delivers on all of these fronts. It may just be The Icicle Works most complete and satisfying collection of songs. That being said, how can you go wrong?

I've been a fan of The Icicle Works since I first heard Birds Fly (Whisper To a Scream) in the early eighties. I believe that they are one of the two most underrated bands to have come from that decade. (The other being the Chameleons.) However, if you have never listened to The Icicle Works don't be put off because they are an eighties band. Their sound is not what one typically thinks of as the "eighties" sound. They are an incredible band whose first three albums are a treat for the ears. From the raw power of their self titled debut, to their third album, and what I believe was their masterpiece, If You Want To Defeat Your Enemy Sing His Song, this band never disappoints.

The Icicle Works second album, The Small Price Of A Bicycle, is another gem. It starts off with the unbelievably great Hollow Horse, one of their best songs ever, and ends with the emotionally powerful Conscience Of Kings. But that's not all. In between these two songs are eight unforgettable songs. Songs that I keep singing to myself long after the music has stopped. The Small Price Of A Bicycle creates its own atmosphere and maintains it throughout. This is an exquisite album and one that any Icicle Works fan will want to have in their collection.

Many bands from liverpool have been feted through the years. one that is sadly not remembered too often are the icicle works. one hit single in the us, two in the uk and then they were forgotten.
bicycle was their second album and was where they hit their stride. it is literate rock music with a connosieurs eye on the past.

mcnab was always a lyrical lyricist, sometimes powerful, sometimes delicate, sometimes political, always honest. the songs are clever but not clever clever like, for example, costello. musically the works are romantic and stirring without ever over-egging the pudding like the waterboys. inside their powerful arrangement the trio maintained a delicate touch.

here is an album without a weak track.long neglected begging to be loved.

You wouldn't expect to find a three disc reissue of a MAJOR artist, and yet here, Cherry Red, in conjunction with Beggars Banquet, is releasing a 3-disc reissue of The Icicle Works album "Small Price of a Bicycle." So good to see so much rare material getting a digital hard copy release. Disc 2 is the real prize here for me, including rare 12" mixes, b-sides and non-album singles not previously on CD before. Track listing according to the Cherry Red website:

Disc One - Hollow Horse / Perambulator / Seven Horses / Rapids / Windfall / Assumed Sundown / Saint's Sojourn / All The Daughters (Of Her Father's House) / Book Of Reason / Conscience Of Kings

Disc two -Hollow Horse (Long Version) (B-Side Hollow Horse) / Book Of Reason (Usa Long Version) / All The Daughters (Long Version) / b-Side All The Daughters - A Pocketful Of Nothing / Mr. Soul / When You Hear The Mission Bells (Unreleased) / B-Side Seven Horses / Seven Horses (American Version) / Slingshot / Beggars Legacy / Goin' Back / When It All Comes Down (Unabridged Version) / B-Side When It All Comes Down - (let's go) down to the river / cold turkey / lost icicles vol.1 - seven horses (early recording) / Perambulator (Early Recording) / Assumed Sundown (Early Recording) / Beggars Legacy (Early Recording)

Disc Three - When It All Comes Down (Abridged Version) / Saint Sojourn (Early Recording) / Peel Session 15/08/1984 / Hollow Horse / Deep In The Woods / Conscience Of Kings / When You Hear Themission Bells / Janice Long 24/4/85 - Perambulator / All The Daughters (Of Her Father's House) / Diamond In The Rough / Impossibly Three Lovers / Live - Street Life - Seven Horses (Live) / Perambulator (Live) / Rapids (Live) / Hollow Horse (Live) / You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet (Live)