Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The pinnacle of the 70's and of his work, July 8, 2000
It is so rare to find an album where one can imagine that everysingle track has the potential to top the charts. Each of the tentracks tells its own story, with really interesting and intelligent lyrics, pure, raw and yet sublime vocals, and the minimum of production. The tracks range from very humorous, such as "Patricia The Stripper" and "The Painter", to Hans Christian Andersen-like sad fables such as "Spanish Train" and "The Tower", to the heartwrenching "Lonely Sky". Be warned however, this album cannot be played as "background music" - it demands, and gets, your full attention in terms of lyrics and music - this is more of a musical storybook. This album should be a centrepiece of your music collection. Go and get it. Those of you new to Chris de Burgh, should expect male vocal folk rock from this album. His more recent efforts are more along the adult contemporary and pop lines. This album is definitely the place to begin. Otherwise, take a look at his greatest hits collection.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An album worth discovering or discovering all over again..., May 25, 1999
I first heard A Spaceman Came Travelling on WXRT (an alternative rock station) in Chicago in 1977 or thereabouts. The song was so good, I special ordered the album because it couldn't be found anywhere. When I got the album and heard it, and my friends heard it, we special ordered 25 copies because everyone, EVERYONE, who heard it wanted one. This included people with a broad range of musical tastes: lovers of Cream, Hot Tuna, Little Feat, Jefferson Airplane, Emerson Lake & Palmer, Rick Wakeman, Moody Blues, Fleetwood Mac, Gary Wright, Aerosmith, Elvis Costello, Blondie, Tom Petty, R&B ... everyone appreciated this album. Although a totally different flavor, the very, very, unique style and lyrics, and storytelling make the album rate with The White Album, Led Zeppelin IV, Days of Future Past, Disraeli Gears, Rumors, Volunteers, and any other classic album you can name. Buy this album.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Lady In Red - WHO???, November 22, 2003
Eleven years before his 1986 million-seller "The Lady In Red" both created his fame and destroyed his credibility, Chris De Burgh was making quality music for discerning listeners on this, his superb second album.The thundering opener, "Spanish Train" is an epic, soaring ballad based on a possible meeting on the Lord and Satan - this created De Burgh's first controversy, as in some parts of the world, this theme caused the song to be banned, and instead the album had to be named after the second track "Lonely Sky" - a great contrast to the opener, an emotional, heart-wrenching ballad. The next two tracks provide stark contrast again - "This Song For You" is a tear-jerking poem about a soldier fighting in the First World War in 1917, claiming optimism and heroics but at the same time wondering if he will ever get home to see his beloved wife again. This is follwed by the hilarious "Patricia the Stripper" with it's surreal opening line 'Dennis is a menace with his anyone for tennis'. The undoubted hightlight of the album, however, is the unforgettable "A Spaceman Came Travelling" - a space-age take on the Nativity, which gave De Burgh his first airplay on the Radio, and indeed continued to be played heavily each December until the early 1990s, and even now is still featured on most Christmas compilations. Absolutely faultless - I defy anyone to listen to this record and not find at least one song that pulls on their emotional strings. Living proof that the underrated ones are often the ones that do it the best.
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