Quote:
Originally Posted by jaycee
I'm surprised Heroes Are Hard To Find isn't well respected! I mean, that's really surprising to me!  With the exception of "She's Changing Me", this is a very creative album, much like... well, all of the FM albums I've heard so far, actually!
As for Penguin... well, I haven't heard it yet!  But I ordered it at JB Hi-Fi, so it should arrive soon... anyway, I love "Did You Ever Love Me" (I own SF25YTC)! If most of the other songs on Penguin are of that quality, I'd be hard pressed not to love it! |
At the time of its release, Heroes got very good notices in the press. Since then, reviewers have either loved it or thought it the band's worst. I am quite mixed on the record myself. It has all the potential to be amazing--the songs in themselves are very strong. But there's a curious lack of energy in the studio performances and the arrangements are occasionally too thick with simulated strings, that damned arp string ensemble. None of these problems surface on the two 74 bootlegs I've heard of the Heroes tour, where all the Heroes songs performed in the sets sound vital and rocking.
I would kill to hear Bad Loser performed live on a bootleg with a decent sound level (my only bootleg performance of this song is so bad, I can hardly hear it.)
...........
Penguin did not get good notices in the press--and was even often ignored by the press. Rolling Stone failed to review it, despite reviewing all other studio Mac albums from Then Play On to Heroes. I imagine the reason for its initially weak critical reception was NOT David Walker--though he might not have helped. It was the absence of Kirwan, whom many felt finally put the band's glory days to rest.
Despite all of this, Penguin remains for me the most immediately pleasurable of Mac's 71-74-era albums. It's not always consistent, and it's conspicuously short on material (could use two or three more songs), but what is good here is REALLY good. All of Christine's songs sparkle here with a genuine energy she had not yet revealed on either of the two previous Mac albums. And Remember Me is so similar in attitude and style to her later hits. I think Welch's material here is also fine. I love the mellow, Pink Floyd-like dreaminess of Bright Fire, the fiery Revelation and especially the CSNY-influenced Night Watch. Weston's Caught in the Rain is quite lovely in an understated way.
That leaves us with Dave Walker's contributions. I do like (not love) The Derelict, though it sounds as if it should have been recorded in another context. There is no excuse for Road Runner, where the band players can't seem to sound soulful enough to back up Walker's ballsy delivery. Walker is a great singer in his own context. There's no way his approach meshes with the rest of the band's reserved musicianship. Weston is an extroverted guitarist, but his energy sounds right layed over the tight, concise rhythms of Fleetwood and the McVies. Walker's belting, however, is just too big for that kind of trio.