by philipchevron Sun Jan 06, 2008 11:21 am
Clash Cadillac wrote:kmurray105 wrote:It reminds me of London Calling by the Clash in a way I can't put my finger on.
Listening to Ghostown as I type this and I would say it has more of a Boomtown Rats vibe than The Clash, especially
Song Of The Faithful Departed. I always liked the Rats. I can't believe I never heard this release back in the day, I would have given it regular airtime on my college radio show,
The Rasta Party.
Sorry, the Rats were, for the most part, a bunch of bullshit. Their enormous cultural significance in refusing to accept the standard issue Irish inferiority complex, a factor which can never be underestimated, will always be overshadowed by the sheer impoverishment of their musical ideas. On the few occasions they stretched themselves as artists (
Mondo Bongo, for example), the market rejected them, so from one angle they made the right choices, but history does not remember you fondly for your relationship with the market, not even if you're Reagan or Thatcher. "I Don't Like Mondays" was a good song but "Rat Trap", as Springsteen-steals go, was not in the same league as "Joey's On The Streets Again" from their first album.
The Radiators suffered in the USA partly because our record company in Britain kept holding out for unattainable licensing deals with American record companies. We had the opportunity to sign for Mercury, MCA and, believe it or not, Motown, at various times. To a large extent, we went along with the decisions made in London because we sensed from the Americans an attitude of "
Ghostown? It sucks, but we'll release it anyway. The important thing is it points to a great third album." Any record company that was not going to sign us because they thought
Ghostown was magnificent was always going to be trouble-down-the-road. But the result was, we never did release any records in America. The Americans were right about the third album though.
[quote="Clash Cadillac"][quote="kmurray105"]It reminds me of London Calling by the Clash in a way I can't put my finger on. [/quote]
Listening to Ghostown as I type this and I would say it has more of a Boomtown Rats vibe than The Clash, especially [i]Song Of The Faithful Departed[/i]. I always liked the Rats. I can't believe I never heard this release back in the day, I would have given it regular airtime on my college radio show, [i]The Rasta Party[/i].[/quote]
Sorry, the Rats were, for the most part, a bunch of bullshit. Their enormous cultural significance in refusing to accept the standard issue Irish inferiority complex, a factor which can never be underestimated, will always be overshadowed by the sheer impoverishment of their musical ideas. On the few occasions they stretched themselves as artists ([i]Mondo Bongo[/i], for example), the market rejected them, so from one angle they made the right choices, but history does not remember you fondly for your relationship with the market, not even if you're Reagan or Thatcher. "I Don't Like Mondays" was a good song but "Rat Trap", as Springsteen-steals go, was not in the same league as "Joey's On The Streets Again" from their first album.
The Radiators suffered in the USA partly because our record company in Britain kept holding out for unattainable licensing deals with American record companies. We had the opportunity to sign for Mercury, MCA and, believe it or not, Motown, at various times. To a large extent, we went along with the decisions made in London because we sensed from the Americans an attitude of "[i]Ghostown? [/i]It sucks, but we'll release it anyway. The important thing is it points to a great third album." Any record company that was not going to sign us because they thought [i]Ghostown[/i] was magnificent was always going to be trouble-down-the-road. But the result was, we never did release any records in America. The Americans were right about the third album though.
