Ghostown

[kmurray105]

I just got hte Radiators' Ghostown the other day and I want to say that this is a fabulous album. I am surprised it didn't sell better. It reminds me of London Calling by the Clash in a way I can't put my finger on. The vibe is similar to me, and the ambition of the album in general.

For anyone that is interested in the US, it is available through Amazon.com.

[KathleenwithaK]

so if I order it today I might get it in 2 months?

[kmurray105]

I ordered it on 1/5 along with 2 other CDs (Luka Bloom Innocence and Beatles' Rubber Soul) and a book. With free super saver shipping, the package arrived either on 1/16 or 1/17. Not too bad at all. i don't know what the deal was with those the Pogue Mahone books taking so long.

The packaging was spartan, just a CD sleeve with what I assume was the orginal cover art. But it got there pretty quickly.

I ordered the Low and Sweet Orchestra CD at the same time. This was from a third party so it shipped separately and I had to pay for the shipping, but it came in less than a week. Even with the shipping cost I paid les than $8 for it. This CD is also good. The music is more like a low key Pogues. The lyrics are fine but not spectacular, I would say, but the music is quite good.

[Heather]

I just got hte Radiators' Ghostown the other day and I want to say that this is a fabulous album. I am surprised it didn't sell better. It reminds me of London Calling by the Clash in a way I can't put my finger on. The vibe is similar to me, and the ambition of the album in general.

For anyone that is interested in the US, it is available through Amazon.com.

I love this album, I bought it a couple of months ago off Amazon and I can't stop playing it.

Another Radiators album worth getting if you can is TV Tube Heart, excellent stuff.

[Shaz]

Ghostown is a fabulous album -- probably my favourite of all time. Every time I listen to it (which is often!), I seem to find something else new in it.

[philipchevron]

The packaging was spartan, just a CD sleeve with what I assume was the orginal cover art.

That would be the most recent [third] CD resissue from 2005, an exact replica of the original album, without bonus tracks etc. The card cover is a facsimile of the original artwork. Though all three editions have their plusses and minusses, this most recent one has the best sound.

[GoodTechnology]

I just got hte Radiators' Ghostown the other day and I want to say that this is a fabulous album. I am surprised it didn't sell better. It reminds me of London Calling by the Clash in a way I can't put my finger on. The vibe is similar to me, and the ambition of the album in general.

For anyone that is interested in the US, it is available through Amazon.com.

I guess if there are similarities it is of two bands maturing musically and artistically and stepping outside their original sounds. That, and the fact that both had "name" producers.

It is as you say a fabulous album and is critically acclaimed in Ireland as the best work of its generation. That, as Philip once noted, doesnt pay the rent but sadly I cant change that. So I play it to my children and so it goes...

[Clash Cadillac]

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.

[philipchevron]

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.

[Clash Cadillac]

Sorry, the Rats were, for the most part, a bunch of bullshit.

Yes, as were most of the bands I listened to back in the early 80's. I figured my comment may elicit some response like that. However, the music does bring back fond memories and I think I must now go out and buy a few of their LP's as the only one I currently own is indeed Mondo Bongo.

The Radiators suffered in the USA partly because our record company in Britain kept holding out for unattainable licensing deals with American record companies.

That would explain it. I still need to pick up that third album, the only track I have heard so far is the nod to Joe on Don Letts' show recently.