 |
| You've gotta laugh. Even on Twitter |
This week I have been mostly upsetting Specials fans on Twtter. Nobody told me what delicate wallflowers they all are. Ah well, at least Horace Panter saw the funny side. In the end.
That being the case, it's probably best I say only good things about Terry Hall; shouldn't be hard, I actually like the fella. Really, I do. He's a fine songwriter, no question about it. In fact, if you asked me today to list my Top 50 albums there's a very good chance Laugh from 1997 would be in there. I can't say fairer than that, now can I?
Terry Hall - Summer Follows Spring (1997)
Terry Hall - Love to See You (1997)
Postscript 16.2.19
On the advice of Mark (see his comment below), I sat down for an hour with a cup of tea and watched Richard Herring's podcast with Terry. And, can I just say, what a revelation it was. Quite literally. I can't recommend it highly enough. If you're at a loose end this weekend (and even if you're not) please give it a coat of looking at. You'll be glad you did, I promise you.
This is why I lasted all of 5 minutes on twitter! Terry Hall was a very good guest on Richard Herring's podcast the other week (you can find it on YT) Like you, Rich is a big fan of 90s era Hall, only he was putting forward the album Home as his personal fave
ReplyDeleteIan Broudie was all over Home; it cools easily have been a Lightning Seeds album. And none the worse for that.
ReplyDeletecould
DeleteI didn't have particularly high hopes for 'Encore'. I'm happy to have been proved completely wrong.
ReplyDeleteI loved the single, Vote For Me, and that's as far as it goes for me. I wonder what Dammers thinks of it?
DeleteLaugh is great. Home is even better. Terry Hall is a treasure. I don't have Encore yet, but it's on the shopping list. May even see them when the Specials come through town in May. I have never had Facebook, Twitter or the rest. Seems like the negatives far outweigh the positives. I'm weighed down by enough in life without piling on with all that nonsense. I think I'll stop before I get on my Facebook high horse.
ReplyDeleteI think we're agreed that Terry Hall can write a great song - perhaps he saves the best stuff for himself?
DeleteLove Terry, may even prefer his solo work to his group work. Encore has some great moments, though it does feel like it's been put together by a bunch of Guardian journalists at times.
ReplyDeleteRol - I think a lot of people out there prefer Hall's solo stuff.
DeleteJust out of interest, can you remember Suggs' solo album that came out in the same sort of time frame? That was a zinger too.
You're correct on your main point- regardless of the quality of the music, it's not the Specials. In terms of numbers its closer to the FB3 than The Specials. But the name sells the tickets and gets the press.
ReplyDeleteSA - Which is precisely the point I was trying to get across on Twitter. But, hey, it is what it is.
Delete