introspective - an album proper?

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LoveComesQuickly · Sat 07 Jul 2007, 1:35 am

The just six tracks work perfectly well for me: in particular, I'm Not Scared is one of their greatest works I think.

If I had a reservation, the three central songs Domino dancing/INS/Always on my mind set up quite a dark mood of pain and emotional distress: then to conclude with the apparent optimism of It's Alright is perhaps a bit too easily a "happy ending". But maybe I've missed some irony in there somewhere!

They admit this was their "imperial phase" - it could have been a lot worse. Many other bands have plunged into excess of one sort and other at that stage in their careers, then crashed and burnt.

Ronald42 · #32 Post by **Ronald42** » Sat 07 Jul 2007, 6:52 am

I don't care much for Domino dancing never did. Left to my own devices is epic but the single mix is even better music wise. I wish there was a version wich sounded like the 7'' but had all the lyrics and was as long as the album verion. The version of Always on my mind is superb could have been a little shorter but it's fine as it is. I'm not scared is among their best songs yet IMHO. I want a dog is fine but adds nothing to the album. If they would have paid a little more attention to It's alright like on the single version it could have been their best album ever.

Oznerol · #33 Post by **Oznerol** » Sun 08 Jul 2007, 3:22 am

Once I heard the original Sterling Void version of "It´s alright" I felt very disappointed with the Boys effort on covering it for Introspective...it´s almost a carbon-copy of the original!! On the other hand, the 12" and 10" versions are the best example on how a cover must be made!! I forgive you Boys!

homer1972 · #34 Post by **homer1972** » Sun 08 Jul 2007, 3:35 am

Oznerol wrote:Once I heard the original Sterling Void version of "It´s alright" I felt very disappointed with the Boys effort on covering it for Introspective...it´s almost a carbon-copy of the original!! On the other hand, the 12" and 10" versions are the best example on how a cover must be made!! I forgive you Boys!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcWnGLBl8Sg

Naughty Zoot · #35 Post by **Naughty Zoot** » Sun 08 Jul 2007, 4:43 am

homer1972 wrote:[
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcWnGLBl8Sg

Well, homer1972 -- I thank you for this link.

In all these years, I have never sought out the original. My loss.

So .... how many of you are hearing it for the first time, too? Hands up.

Yes, even you back there in the corner.

Hmmmmm ____ just as I suspected..

daveid · #36 Post by **daveid** » Sun 08 Jul 2007, 12:37 pm

How interesting to see this. Is this the video or just a montage of clips? I prefer this to the PSB version, and am amazed at how little they changed it.

gregf · #37 Post by **gregf** » Sun 08 Jul 2007, 1:32 pm

Well, I'm honest.
I have never heard that but I really liked it. Wow.
Thanks homer72.

Hillbilly · #38 Post by **Hillbilly** » Sun 08 Jul 2007, 10:34 pm

Naughty Zoot wrote:
homer1972 wrote:[
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcWnGLBl8Sg
Well, homer1972 -- I thank you for this link.

In all these years, I have never sought out the original. My loss.

So .... how many of you are hearing it for the first time, too? Hands up.

Yes, even you back there in the corner.

Hmmmmm ____ just as I suspected..

This version I haven't heard I think, but a shorter one.
Is this one produced by Trevor Horn and Stephen Lipson as well? I mean, if Sterling Void is the producer, he has produced the Introspective version too! The first minutes of it sounds exactly the same.

Deschanel · #39 Post by **Deschanel** » Sun 08 Jul 2007, 10:54 pm

If you were a PSB fan when Introspective came out, you'd definitely consider it an album, -an experience!- in itself.

It's important to remember, over here esp., that in 1988 a PSB fan would have NO idea that a new CD or cassette (!) was on its way until you physically saw it in front of you there at Tower Records on lower Broadway. No Internet! So you had no idea,unless you subscribed to UK music papers.

But what a thrill it was to see it!

I was 18, and Introspective was delightful in many ways. It was the first PSB release that threw out the idea of a vinyl album and its limitations. The tracks flowed into one another in a way that was quite unique at the time. I still love the thunderstorm that segues into "I Want A Dog". "I'm Not Scared" was a marvel.

Beating a dead horse, but at the time Introspective was the only place to hear "Always on My Mind", even in its house version. It was a smash even on US radio but it wasn't on Actually and every specialty shop was sold out of the import. Again, no internet to order it! You had to physically go to a store, order it, and wait, oh, six months.

Introspective is definitely a unique, discrete work unto itself, and I shall always be fond of it; it was the soundtrack to my bohemian youth in NYC at the time.
Sigh!~

Frequency · #40 Post by **Frequency** » Sun 08 Jul 2007, 11:21 pm

Actually, to extend what Deschenal way saying in some way, I have a vivid memory of my sister shouting me in the morning to tell me that a new PSB song was being played on the radio and it had a classical intro. It was, of course, Left to my own Devices, which they played in all its 8 minute glory.

I think the internet has taken away some of that surprise and excitement and that sort of thing never really happens anymore. You're never really suprised to hear anything anymore and I suppose thats one thing that I dislike about the internet age.

I put Introspective on today and it still sounds like a great record and the album mix of Domino Dancing sounds utterly fantastic. Even Its Alright has grown on me over the years.

Dreamcatcher2003 · Sun 15 Jul 2007, 10:47 am

Agree with Hillbilly. Doming Dancing's extended version seems too long, especially those applauds and never-ending tweaks and twists of knobs in the middle of the song, or whatever they are. On the other and, the single version seems too SHORT, particularly that saxophone fading

I press stop button after Always on my mind; It's Allright seems to go on forever and ever and ever and ever...

On the other hand, the remaining four songs are brilliant, Left to my own devices and I'm not scared perfect pop pleasures.

Introspective is always written as the third proper item in all PSB discographies (it goes like, Please, Actually and Introspective, with a side project Disco between etc etc). But does it matter?

Radiophonic · #42 Post by **Radiophonic** » Sun 15 Jul 2007, 11:02 am

Deschanel wrote: It's important to remember, over here esp., that in 1988 a PSB fan would have NO idea that a new CD or cassette (!) was on its way until you physically saw it in front of you there at Tower Records on lower Broadway. No Internet! So you had no idea,unless you subscribed to UK music papers.

Ah, the days of Record Mirror - pages of news, reviews and charts. There's nothing like it today. I still have a lot of my old copies (1985-1991).

Deschanel wrote: I was 18, and Introspective was delightful in many ways. It was the first PSB release that threw out the idea of a vinyl album and its limitations. The tracks flowed into one another in a way that was quite unique at the time.

At the time, yes. However artists like Donna Summer and other Disco artists had been producing those types of albums during the mid-late 70s. What you've said here has converted me into regarding Introspective as a proper album however.

Ramzy · #43 Post by **Ramzy** » Sun 15 Jul 2007, 1:08 pm

Ronald42 wrote:I wish there was a version wich sounded like the 7'' but had all the lyrics and was as long as the album verion.

There is. It was the twelve-inch and is called 'the disco mix'. It's actually considerably longer than the album version by three minutes or so, but it's clearly from the same sheet as the seven-inch, whilst incorporating all the extra lyrics and the orchestral flourishes from the album version, and an INCREDIBLE breakdown.

Deschanel wrote:It was the first PSB release that threw out the idea of a vinyl album and its limitations.

How? I think that it works very nicely indeed as two sides. And, on the contrary, the continuity of the first two tracks is surely more 'natural' to a vinyl, which is a continuous waveform, than a CD, which imposes indices on it?