I've said this many many times, but this is most likely my favorite rock record of the past half-decade or so (King Tuff "Was Dead" is probably second-- I'd have to check my notes). If the triumvirate of "Sorry Ma", "Stink", and "Hootenanny" is your holy grail, then you'd practically be nuts not to be knocked out by this. I know a couple of people who'll disagree with me, but I like this LP way better than anything by Ringers or Bent Outta Shape, that's for sure. (The Chinese Telephones singles collection, "Democracy", is also pretty top notch.)
Not to gloss over the a-side, because this thing's chock fulla hits-- besides, "I Can't Be Right" and "Back To You Again" are two of my favorite songs on this record-- but it's the b-side (where they slow things down a little bit) that really drives the greatness of this record home. I'm posting four songs from the b-side here, but don't forget that you can still pick up the whole thing on CD from It's Alive, plus the vinyl version is pretty easy to find also even though they only pressed 200 each of the colored vinyl ones. It's also worth noting that lead guitarist Daniel James is now fronting the sorely underappreciated Daniel James Gang.
Chinese Telephones -
"I Think I Can Breathe Now"
"This Time Next Year"
"Crying In the Chapel"
"It's Starting Again"
8 comments:
Fantastic record. I toured with these dudes and the Modern Machines one summer… they were in their prime, and they recorded this a few months later. Killer jams.
Hey there, Nate! Might be seeing Marvin Berry & the New Sound this weekend.
Never got to see these Chinese Telephones, though-- even with all their reunion shows (which I thought about driving to a couple of them), they seemed to hit NJ and Boston but skip past CT...
I get the feeling there's an intentional slight to my taste in this write up... but this record does rule.
Ha ha, yeah, that's you and Brainwreck. I suppose that means I wasn't subtle enough.
Bought it on your recommendation and love it. Bummer they've broken up but better late than never. If you saw them live, were they good?
Never saw them live, I don't think they ever played around here. Totally great records though, one of my favorite Midwest bands over the past bunch of years...
The mp3 links are now inactive
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