A quick tour through Fundamental

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james23_uk · #1 Post by **james23_uk** » Sat 29 Apr 2006, 1:39 pm

Well, finally got my hands on a promo copy of the most difficult to come by PSB promo since Neil burnt a CDr of his favourite 'Dust' tracks. All my normal sources drew a complete blank and it's hats off to the Boys for that. Well done!

Anyway, spent the morning pumping it through my Sony surround sound ‘mother-of-a-system’ and have come up with the following.

1. Psychological – crap - absolute heap of tosh. Can't believe they opened the album with this helping of poo which at best is a crap b-side from the Nightlife era. Saved from total revulsion by the last 45 secs but WHY IS THIS HERE?

2. The Sodom and Gomorrah Show – very good - now here's the opening track. Interesting build-up and vaguely reminds of a good Didn’t Get Where I Am Today with thumping electro/guitar combination throughout. Very catchy chorus which I could sing along to on only the second listen. As the show burns out we lead into the spooky....

3. I made my excuses and left – good - Loving the pain in the essentially instrumental opening 1m 50s. The remaining 3 minutes of song builds into a crescendo of woe without really pulling at the heart strings as much as you think it's going to. Could have been so much more.

4. M-I-N-I-M-A-L – very good - Listen to this once and wonder what all the fuss is about. Listen to it 3 or 4 times and you'll catch your self wandering down the street singing "M-I-N-I-M-A-ellll minimallll (minimal) minimalll" VERY catchy. Should be 3rd single.

5. Numb – average - I wanna be numb? OK, but why on this album? Don't get this at all. Not written by the Boys and it really shows. A grower certainly, but nevertheless this belongs on a different album or as a b-side.

6. God Willing – poor - If you're going to have this on the album it needed to be the opener. No point in it's existence here!

7. Luna Park – good - A real grower. Fits in amongst the darkness.

8. I'm with Stupid – very good - Correct choice for first single.

9. Casanova in Hell – good - This sounds like it comes from the Closer to Heaven musical. Unnerving lyrics with a big band accompaniment.... yet strangely fits in quite well with this lot!

10. 20th Century– poor - Another b-side I'm afraid. Promising intro followed by a forced tune over a repetitive 'octave' baseline that ruins what might have otherwise been a grower.

11. Indefinite Leave to Remain – average - bland, another b-side from Nightlife.

12. Integral – superb - Wow! Best stomper we've had from the Boys since 1993. 2nd single please.

Summary - 1x superb. 3x very good. 3x good. 2x average. 3x poor 7/10

Well, They've done it again. Think back to Release, Nightlife (and to a certain extent Bilingual), and what do you get....? That's right, some excellent stuff but only half an album. They've proven that they can still write a damn fine tune but remain unable to apply their best work to a whole album.

b@man · #2 Post by **b@man** » Sat 29 Apr 2006, 1:44 pm

Oh someone saying some negative things here. Watch out fluffmoln and Janet.

glennjridge · #3 Post by **glennjridge** » Sat 29 Apr 2006, 1:48 pm

for me excuses is so good yet stops short of being a classic due to its shortness and sort of unfinished feeling as far as song setup.I sort of understand the complaint about choruses.

but otherwise its scary how much I love everything this time around.
people talk about behaviour as being their beautiful CD. fundamental easily takes over now IMO.

james23_uk · #4 Post by **james23_uk** » Sat 29 Apr 2006, 1:50 pm

It's all ok except for Psychological. I can't understand how they made that the opening track!

jasonjohn · #5 Post by **jasonjohn** » Sat 29 Apr 2006, 1:51 pm

I'm really not sure why they include two bad tracks when they have so many unreleased gems

but, then again, people said "the only one" and "boy strange" were crap, yet I loves 'em

wow · #6 Post by **wow** » Sat 29 Apr 2006, 1:55 pm

Boy strange is a great track! Must listen to it now

minimal · #7 Post by **minimal** » Sat 29 Apr 2006, 2:04 pm

james23_uk wrote:It's all ok except for Psychological. I can't understand how they made that the opening track!

you are right, james. the opener should have been god willing instead and psychological a b-side. if at all. compared to my view on fundamental it is nearly the same as yours. you really need to get into it which is not easy because there are more songs on the album that are slow as usual.

7/10 sums it up well.

m+

E-Mail Vampire · #8 Post by **E-Mail Vampire** » Sat 29 Apr 2006, 3:17 pm

Psychological should imo

a) not be the album openber (Sodom and Gomorrah show should)
b) not even be on the album it actually sounds like a b-side.

dgraysn · #9 Post by **dgraysn** » Sat 29 Apr 2006, 3:55 pm

so is there any obvious copy protection on the promo?
does the promo come in special packaging? id love to hear the 2 tracks im missing.

! · #10 Post by ! » Sat 29 Apr 2006, 5:39 pm

Numb, IMO, is the only track that stands out for me! Luna Park and Psychological are also good but the rest are a bit of a let dowm, especially the much hyped Minimal

Darkstar · #11 Post by **Darkstar** » Sat 29 Apr 2006, 8:50 pm

james23_uk wrote:It's all ok except for Psychological. I can't understand how they made that the opening track!

I'm agree: I don't understand why they've choose it to open FUNDAMENTAL...

joepsb · #12 Post by **joepsb** » Sun 30 Apr 2006, 1:15 pm

psychological is crap,cant understand why its on album

wow · #13 Post by **wow** » Sun 30 Apr 2006, 1:19 pm

It's not crap.. it just shouldn't be the opening track.

microramses · #14 Post by **microramses** » Sun 30 Apr 2006, 2:12 pm

Haven't heard all the tracks yet but... this album is SUPERB.

My provisional rate for it is 8/10. The production is just amazing, superb, outstanding. Neil sings very well. The first single is not representative at all of the whole album (Thanks God).

It's very very good. It's FUNDAMENTAL.

space boy 1 uk · #15 Post by **space boy 1 uk** » Sun 30 Apr 2006, 4:06 pm

i aint listened to none of em