| Good Music For Good People |
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Diesel Park West - Shakespeare Alabama |
UK only, 2005 deluxe reissue of 1989 jangle mini-classic. If you`ve not heard of this band or have heard of them but never *heard* them, stop now. Go below, listen to the soundbites. That is the sound of Diesel Park West who produced a big, blasting 12 stringed guitar assault sweet as anything heard on radio. And radio in the UK and US, actually, played them! `When the Hoodoo Comes" is a shoulda-been, almost-was classic, and also-hit-rans like "All The Myths On Sunday" and "Like Princes Do" not far behind. This CD is remastered and adds 8 bonus trax, 4 of which are must-hears for fans of the band. "4 1/2 stars.. One of the `80s most striking debuts, the first album from this Leicester, England, quintet is filled with soaring guitar epics, complemented by the powerful vocals and provocative lyrics of frontman John Butler and expertly produced by Chris Kimsey. Heavily influenced by the same jangly folk-rock (Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, etc.) that helped fuel R.E.M. and other alternative darlings, Butler and his bandmates opted for clarity instead of navel-gazing, creating anthemic tunes like "All the Myths on Sunday" and "Bell of Hope," which sounded like instant classics and considered appropriately big topics like religion and history. But the band may have been, as its label claimed, "years ahead of its time" -- while Diesel Park West followed its debut 45 "When the Hoodoo Comes" with several more singles, including the rocking "Like Princes Do" and "Jackie`s Still Sad," the group struggled to find an audience, and also failed to repeat the magic of Shakespeare Alabama on subsequent albums. But this outing, now out of print, has become a sought-after item among fans who recognized greatness when they heard it."-AMG. "5 stars.. On its original release in 1989, Shakespeare Alabama felt like an instant classic; a tour-de-force of anthemic songwriting and John Butler`s passionate vocals. But, though critically-acclaimed, it failed to sell, and the band never sounded quite so good again. This "special edition" supposedly sounds closer to how the group intended it, though, frankly, it`s hard to find much wrong with the original. Indeed it`s difficult to think of any other album that opened with a sequence of songs as powerful as Like Princes Do, All the Myths on Sunday and Bell of Hope."-The Guardian.
 Like Princes Do -
All Myths On Sunday - mp3
When The Hoodoo Comes - mp3 |
| Customer Reviews |  | |
| A reclaimed Masterpiece | |
| Reviewer: Mark Haynes | | This is for me, one of the finest albums ever made, thers is not a duff track on the album. John's soaring vocals and heartbreaking melodies bring out emotions in you that many modern classics are simply unable to reach, tracks like All the Myths on Sunday and Here I Stand are simply perfect. Stop reading this and just buy it, get educated, go and see the band, as live it's even better. |
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| Shakespeare Alabama | |
| Reviewer: David Gapinski | | Thank you EMI for re-releasing this classic album. Most every track is a gem, and will stand the test of time. Great arrangements, melodys, production, & musicianship. It should have been promoted better first time around, but sadly, it was not. Those of us with a keen ear for great guitar diven rock caught this album first time around. Now everyone can catch up with this re-release. If only the other early Diesel Park West cd's can be re-released too. Their newer releases are just as good. The boys are still alive and well. Fans of The Byrds, Moby Grape, and Bufallo Springfield need to hear these modern day masters. |
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| Pinnacle album of the late 80s | |
| Reviewer: Julie Skilton | | I discovered Diesel Park West when I went to Manchester Apollo to see Big Country and they were the support act. Immediately bought this album and the next couple but lost track of them after that. It still sounds as fantastic today as it did in 1990 and they were a great live band too - and no doubt still are! Have yet to buy the remixed version and wondering can you improve perfection? A timeless classic and highly recommended, every track is a winner, can't fault a single tune and that's a rare thing. |
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| Its the bottom pincher from last night! | |
| Reviewer: Brian Speng | | Is there anything more heartbreaking for the true music fan than hearing an album so complete, so obviously up there with anything that ever got you into music in the first place, for which your expectations go through the roof, and then watching it just drift slowly down behind the horizon, seemingly never to receive its due - and for the obviously first class band that produced it to go the same way? Just try imagine how it must have made the band feel? Im sure you`d get nowhere near...
But those few words begin to sound like an undeserved epitaph for a band and a record that still flies true twenty years later - and surely, it is the test of time, more than any other factor, which shows true greatness, especially in these shallow and treacherous times. Shakespeare Alabama was the result of years of hard graft in a small studio - the stuff of rock and roll dreams traditionally speaking; and who cares for that stuff now, in the age of Britain`s got talent? - which showed that hard work and dedication to a cause could at least have one reward, if not all those it deserved: great, lasting songs of inspiration and power, which (try as those b------s may) you just cannot put a price on.
The band went on, in some cases, to make even better songs than those here, but (with the exception perhaps of `Decency`) never such a complete sounding statement of an album. Sonically, its hard, perhaps, to see how a band (especially of aspiring status) could really have done more creatively. And to think that so many of the most mediocre acts since S.A. was released have gone on to forge major careers and mansion lifestyles out of so very much less, is mind bogglingly depressing should you wish to dwell on that thought for longer than is good for you.
Perhaps it IS hard to escape the sense of tragedy that this `lost` classic inspires, so all I will say more is this. If you think you love the great music of popular cultural history and you think you know all about it, and yet you havent got this album in your collection..you dont. |
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