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I love these kinds of threads: reassessing something I wasn't that i'm not sure about in the first place. We should do this for all their albums.
I've put the CD on right now, made a cup of coffee. Cigarettes at the ready. Now lets see:
Winner's Blues: More like an extended intro than a full-blooded track. Don't know if this is SY's first fully 'acoustic' song but it would've maybe worked better at the end, rather than at the beginning of the album. 'Teenage Riot' it aint!
Bull in the Heather: Undeniably catchy with great drumming from Steve and some of Kim's best vocals since the Halloween EP. And you can dance to it too.
Starfield Road: The first obviously 'Sonic Youth'-type track on the album. Again, great percussion but Thurston's vocals are horrible. Guitars have an almost space-rock feel to them.
Skink: I've never liked Kim's little-girl-lost approach to vocals. However, the way she says 'You' at the end of the 'I love you' line is as good as any Stooges era Iggy yelp.
Screamingskull: Great riff - albeit with that horrible solo bit in the middle that goes nowhere, great vocals, horrible lyrics. On the whole another one to dance around the bedroom to.
Self Obsessed and Sexxee: God, I really hate Thurston's vocal style on this album. The feedback comes in towards the end, trying to salvage some excitement but overall this sounds like a sketch of a song that never ultimately needed to be recorded in the first place. Great drumming from Steve though.
Bone: It does have that interesting drum/guitar thing, but when it shifts 'A Day in the Life'-style into Kim doing her usual 'please dont hurt me' vocals, I remember why I began to lose interest in this band around the time of the release of this album.
Androgenous Mind: This is one of those eternal can't decide songs for me.
Quest for the Cup: The worst beginning, when Kim sounds all pseudo-New Wave, this switches to something that's sort of OK in a scratchy-riff kind of way.
Waist: Horrible Thurston vocals. Guitars sound sort of great when cranked up on the stereo, but the solo is absolutely hideous. Nice yelp at the end though.
Doctor's Orders: A track that has the words 'mid period lethargy' written all over it.
Tokyo Eye: Can someone please tell Thurston that his vocals have never been his strong point. Some nice percussion samples, but the 'freak out' guitar moment is nothing special.
In the Mind of the Bourgeois Reader: What could be a half decent track is again spoiled by Thurston's vocals.
Sweet Shine: Kim's vocals here aren't that different to her other performances on the album, but the melody is strong enough to turn this into something quite nice. Some great yelps again.
Listening to it it now, I'd say that on the whole this is a semi-forgettable album, peppered with a couple of excellent songs (BitH, Screamingskull), great drumming and some great yelps.
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