Long Drive Home

long drive home

Track Listings
1. Deep into the Moment
2. Long Drive Home in the Rain
3. Walk at Low Tide
4. Round Waves
5. In This Time
6. Slow Dances in Sand
7. Inflection Point
8. White Clouds, Blue Sky
9. Living in Slow Motion
10. Downstream
11. Openings
12. Wellspring

Long Drive Home,Ralph E. Hayes,33rd Street,Pop,Rock,Rock/Pop


Long Drive Home
Someone to Drive You Home
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • well, it looks like the NME got something right
  • For once, the hype is deserved.
  • The last great album I discovered in 2006
  • Have to buy it all over again.
Someone to Drive You Home
The Long Blondes
Manufacturer: Beggars Banquet Us
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

GeneralGeneral | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music
Indie RockIndie Rock | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music
GeneralGeneral | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music
GeneralGeneral | Rock | Styles | Music
Pop RockPop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music
Similar Items:
  1. The Reminder
  2. Sound of Silver
  3. Favourite Worst Nightmare
  4. Icky Thump
  5. Our Earthly Pleasures

ASIN: B000PSJCSI
Release Date: 2007-06-05

Tracks:

  1. Lust In the Movies
  2. Once And Never Again
  3. Only Lovers Left Alive
  4. Giddy Stratospheres
  5. In the Company Of Women
  6. Heaven Help the New Girl
  7. Separated By Motorways
  8. You Could Have Both
  9. Swallow Tattoo
  10. Weekend Without Makeup
  11. Madame Ray
  12. A Knife For the Girls

Tracks:

  1. Fulwood Babylon
  2. Five Ways To End It
  3. Never To Be Repeated
  4. All Bar One Girls

Customer Reviews:

4 out of 5 stars well, it looks like the NME got something right.......2007-06-29

I think this album, and this band, are fantastic. They are the perfect mix of dancy, girly, and British-ness. Having heard a bunch of the singles, I was not disappointed in this at all. This band mixes all sorts of genres together, from post-punk to disco to britpop to 60s girl groups, etc. They mix all these together to make something that works QUITE well in both studio and live setting.

The singles on this LP are all great: once and never again, giddy stratospheres, and separated by motorways. However, I think the songs "Lust in the Movies" and "You Could have Both" are better than any of those songs. I think that is a rarity these days in our Ipod / Youtube music business.

By the way, this band was GREAT at the Subterranean in Chicago. Their singer is a total fox. I eagerly await something else from this band and hope they are not a Northern English amalgamation of some fads. It's really a shame that Jarvis Cocker does not like the singer's voice. I love it...she is one of the few singer currently that sounds better live than on vinyl (or CD).

5 out of 5 stars For once, the hype is deserved........2007-06-09

The Long Blondes' Someone To Drive You Home is consistently catchy and enjoyable all the way through. "Lust In The Movies" starts it off with a kick and things don't let up until the CD ends. The four singles are:

1. Once And Never Again
2. Giddy Stratospheres
3. Separated By Motorways
4. Weekend Without Makeup

These four songs were all previously available on UK singles. The versions on Someone To Drive You Home are all rerecorded. This may come as a frustration to people who fell for the original single versions (as I did). It doesn't take long to appreciate these new versions, though. Either way, the songs are catchy and fun to sing along with. The music is poppy, but there's a lyrical dark streak lurking just beneath the surface.

This CD would be worth it for those four songs alone. My personal favorite song isn't one of the singles, though; it's "You Could Have Both", which features male and female voices singing simultaneously. It's got a very Pulp-y sound to it. (It's also nice to hear a reference to The Apartment in a pop song.) The remaining songs are all highly enjoyable, so what we're left with is a rarity in modern music...a CD that is solid all the way through without any of the duds and throw-away tracks that plague so many releases these days.

For once, the hype is deserved.

5 out of 5 stars The last great album I discovered in 2006.......2007-06-07

This was not only the last great album I discovered in 2006 but it turned out also to be one of the best. This album is not widely known in the US due to it still not being available as anything other than an import. It is not even available on iTunes and other music download services. Hopefully 2007 will see a correction. I have to confess to not knowing a whole lot about the band. Most of the songs are credited to guitarist Dorian Cox and The Long Blondes, which probably means he writes the songs, presents them to the band, and they all hash out the final form. What is surprising about this is that the band has a distinctly feminist slant on things. They seem in many ways to be the English answer to the Riot Girl bands in the U.S. You could easily do a triple bill of Le Tigre, Sleater-Kinney (alas, if only they were still together), and The Long Blondes and have no clash of values or viewpoint. The band has much of the same brassiness of Third Wave inspired feminist rock, yet the songs are written by a guy. Well, perhaps not so bizarre. The turning point in strongly empowered female characters on TV occurred with BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, created by a male feminist, Joss Whedon. So why can't a guy write songs that represent a female take on things?

If Dorian Cox writes the songs, Kate Jackson sells them. And man, does she ever sell them. With this album she instantly joins the ranks of the most compelling female frontwomen in rock. She has a great voice, with plenty of power when she needs it, but capable of subtlety as well. They have her voice far forward in the mix, where it belongs. I love the way she manages to do so many things vocally in "Heaven Help the New Girl," and does them all well. If you compare her with, say, Karen O. of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Kate doesn't have all the tricks that Karen can pull off, but she has a much more powerful voice and a wider effective range.

But what really puts this band over the top for me is not just that they come with a great set of well-written songs and a phenomenal singer to sing them, but that the Long Blondes are a great band. Screech Louder on drums, Emma Chaplain on guitar (and back up vocals), Reenie Delaney on bass (how refreshing to have a chick on guitar and a guy on bass for a change), and Cox on lead guitar are a tremendously tight, inventive, and skilled. Sometimes when you have someone as good as Kate Jackson, there is a talent gap between singer and band, but that certainly is not the case here. This truly is a band, with everyone contributing enormously to the final project.

The highpoint of the album for me is "Weekend without Makeup," in which a woman chronicles how stale her relationship has grown. It is a subject that has been dealt with in countless songs, but it seems so fresh here and the notion of defining a weekend by the fact that she doesn't need to put on any make up really speaks volumes. All in all, though, the album has a number of really strong cuts. "Lust in the Movies," "Once and Never Again" (in which the singer tells a 19-year-old that she really doesn't need a boyfriend but should instead focus on life without the need of one), "Giddy Stratospheres," "In the Company of Women," "Separated by Motorways," and "Heaven Help the New Girl." The album may fade ever so slightly by the end, but these days most bands put their strongest material in the first two-thirds of the disc.

I do want to quibble with a criticism that the previous reviewer made of the album. He or she indicated that this album is "derivative." This is a criticism that is frequently made by people of one album or artist or another. But I have to confess that it is a criticism I've never been able to make any sense of. There are two sides to my perplexity, one general and one specific. Take the specific first, I listened to this album multiple times and not once thought "Wow, this is derivative." Of course there are a host of moments where the album recalls other performers. At various points the band reminds me of outfits as diverse as the Smiths, Pulp, Joy Division, and Blondie, but sometimes even some sixties girl groups. But I absolutely promise any prospective listener: you will not listen to this and think that they are ripping off any other bands' riffs. They certainly are not more "derivative" than any other band at work today. Which leads to the more general side of my perplexity: given the fact that we now have over fifty years of rock and roll informing any rock album today, how is it possible for any band to be anything other than derivative? Even the Beatles were derivative, aping a host of American R&B bands and artists. Later they came under the spell of Bob Dylan, who was himself inspired by a score of American folk, blues, and rock performers. Everyone borrows from everyone else. The question is not whether something is "derivative" but whether their particular derivation is any good. And this stuff here is dynamite. If it were boring, that would be another matter. I really don't intend to jump all over the previous reviewer. Honest, I don't. But this is an instance of aiming a largely irrelevant criticism at an absolutely first rate band. At least he and I can fully agree on one thing: this is one of the best albums of 2006.

5 out of 5 stars Have to buy it all over again........2007-06-07

First Jarvis Cocker's solo CD and now Kate Jackson's band? What is with these Sheffield groups and bonus stuff on domestic releases? Well, I bought this in January thereabouts on the strength of their reviews in the British rags. If you like Alex Turner's ilk, you'll like this. The music is very similar except with Nico/Justine Frischmann (hence a lot of Elastica comparisons, mostly bad, sad to say as I like both groups) vocals. The lyrical content is the same. All in all, if the journos aren't grouping the two in with Jarvis for "The Sheffield Sound," give it time.

Will it be big here? Doubtful. It, like so many previous bands (the Kinks, the Jam, Blur) is way too English and unless you're an Anglophile, it won't be very interesting. If you are though, have a butcher's.

Signed,
epsteinsmutha
Someone to Drive You Home
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • For once, the hype is deserved.
  • The last great album I discovered in 2006
  • not bad at all
Someone to Drive You Home
The Long Blondes
Manufacturer: Rough Trade
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

GeneralGeneral | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music
Indie RockIndie Rock | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music
GeneralGeneral | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music
GeneralGeneral | Rock | Styles | Music
Pop RockPop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music
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ASIN: B000IOLYZ8
Release Date: 2006-10-23

Tracks:

  1. Lust in the Movies
  2. Once and Never Again
  3. Only Lovers Left Alive
  4. Giddy Stratopheres
  5. In the Company of Women
  6. Heaven Help the New Girl
  7. Separated by Motorways
  8. You Could Have Both
  9. Swallow Tattoo
  10. Weekend Without Makeup
  11. Madame Ray
  12. Knife for the Girls

Album Description

Debut album from the five piece Art-Rock band from Sheffield, England fronted by the sassy Kate Jackson. The Long Blondes came together through a series of chance encounters. Kate (lips), Dorian (licks), Reenie (hips), Screech (sticks) and Emma (high kicks) bumped into each other at public library counters, charity shop sale rails and the dancefloors of DIY club nights. It was deliciously inevitable that this lot would get together and form a band. The Long Blondes are the part of the next chapter of Sheffields idiosyncratic musical heritage: the suburban disco fantasies of the Human League, the opulent ridiculousness of ABC, the seedy glamour of Pulp. Rough Trade. 2006. Features twelve slices of glamorous Punk including the singles 'Giddy Stratospheres', 'Separated By Motorways' and 'Weekend Without Makeup'. Rough Trade. 2006.

Album Details

The Next Chapter in the Band's Idiosyncratic Musical Heritage: They Combine the Suburban Disco Fantasies of the Human League and the Seedy Glamour of PULP.

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars For once, the hype is deserved........2007-01-20

The Long Blondes' Someone To Drive You Home is consistently catchy and enjoyable all the way through. "Lust In The Movies" starts it off with a kick and things don't let up until the CD ends. The four singles are:

1. Once And Never Again
2. Giddy Stratospheres
3. Separated By Motorways
4. Weekend Without Makeup

These four songs were all previously available on UK singles. The versions on Someone To Drive You Home are all rerecorded. This may come as a frustration to people who fell for the original single versions (as I did). It doesn't take long to appreciate these new versions, though. Either way, the songs are catchy and fun to sing along with. The music is poppy, but there's a lyrical dark streak lurking just beneath the surface.

This CD would be worth it for those four songs alone. My personal favorite song isn't one of the singles, though; it's "You Could Have Both", which features male and female voices singing simultaneously. It's got a very Pulp-y sound to it. (It's also nice to hear a reference to The Apartment in a pop song.) The remaining songs are all highly enjoyable, so what we're left with is a rarity in modern music...a CD that is solid all the way through without any of the duds and throw-away tracks that plague so many releases these days.

For once, the hype is deserved.

5 out of 5 stars The last great album I discovered in 2006.......2006-12-31

With only one day left in 2006, I'm not likely to discover another killer album this year. But the last turned out also to be one of the best. This album is not widely known in the US due to it still not being available as anything other than an import. It is not even available on iTunes and other music download services. Hopefully 2007 will see a correction. I have to confess to not knowing a whole lot about the band. Most of the songs are credited to guitarist Dorian Cox and The Long Blondes, which probably means he writes the songs, presents them to the band, and they all hash out the final form. What is surprising about this is that the band has a distinctly feminist slant on things. They seem in many ways to be the English answer to the Riot Girl bands in the U.S. You could easily do a triple bill of Le Tigre, Sleater-Kinney (alas, if only they were still together), and The Long Blondes and have no clash of values or viewpoint. The band has much of the same brassiness of Third Wave inspired feminist rock, yet the songs are written by a guy. Well, perhaps not so bizarre. The turning point in strongly empowered female characters occurred with BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, created by a male feminist, Joss Whedon. So why can't a guy write songs that represent a female take on things?

If Dorian Cox writes the songs, Kate Jackson sells them. And man, does she ever sell them. With this album she instantly joins the ranks of the most compelling female frontwomen in rock. She has a great voice, with plenty of power when she needs it, but capable of subtlety as well. They have her voice far forward in the mix, where it belongs. I love the way she manages to do so many things vocally in "Heaven Help the New Girl," and does them all well. If you compare her with, say, Karen O. of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Kate doesn't have all the tricks that Karen can pull off, but she has a much more powerful voice and a wider effective range.

But what really puts this band over the top for me is not just that they come with a great set of well-written songs and a phenomenal singer to sing them, but that the Long Blondes are a great band. Screech Louder on drums, Emma Chaplain on guitar (and back up vocals), Reenie Delaney on bass (how refreshing to have a chick on guitar and a guy on bass for a change), and Cox on lead guitar are a tremendously tight, inventive, and skilled. Sometimes when you have someone as good as Kate Jackson, there is a talent gap between singer and band, but that certainly is not the case here. This truly is a band, with everyone contributing enormously to the final project.

The highpoint of the album for me is "Weekend without Makeup," in which a woman chronicles how stale her relationship has grown. It is a subject that has been dealt with in countless songs, but it seems so fresh here and the notion of defining a weekend by the fact that she doesn't need to put on any make up really speaks volumes. All in all, though, the album has a number of really strong cuts. "Lust in the Movies," "Once and Never Again" (in which the singer tells a 19-year-old that she really doesn't need a boyfriend but should instead focus on life without the need of one), "Giddy Stratospheres," "In the Company of Women," "Separated by Motorways," and "Heaven Help the New Girl." The album may fade ever so slightly by the end, but these days most bands put their strongest material in the first two-thirds of the disc.

I do want to quibble with a criticism that the previous reviewer made of the album. He or she indicated that this album is "derivative." This is a criticism that is frequently made by people of one album or artist or another. But I have to confess that it is a criticism I've never been able to make any sense of. There are two sides to my perplexity, one general and one specific. Take the specific first, I listened to this album multiple times and not once thought "Wow, this is derivative." Of course there are a host of moments where the album recalls other performers. At various points the band reminds me of outfits as diverse as the Smiths, Pulp, Joy Division, and Blondie, but sometimes even some sixties girl groups. But I absolutely promise any prospective listener: you will not listen to this and think that they are ripping off any other bands' riffs. They certainly are not more "derivative" than any other band at work today. Which leads to the more general side of my perplexity: given the fact that we now have over fifty years of rock and roll informing any rock album today, how is it possible for any band to be anything other than derivative? Even the Beatles were derivative, aping a host of American R&B bands and artists. Later they came under the spell of Bob Dylan, who was himself inspired by a score of American folk, blues, and rock performers. Everyone borrows from everyone else. The question is not whether something is "derivative" but whether their particular derivation is any good. And this stuff here is dynamite. If it were boring, that would be another matter. I really don't intend to jump all over the previous reviewer. Honest, I don't. But this is an instance of aiming a largely irrelevant criticism at an absolutely first rate band. At least he and I can fully agree on one thing: this is one of the best albums of 2006.

5 out of 5 stars not bad at all.......2006-11-23

They have been on the radar of the NME for quite a while and the singles that have preceded this album have been quite good. This is bass-heavy modern british rock wit very strong new wave influences as is expected to come from Britain nowadays. While being quite traditional in many ways, the music is very energetic though. The heavy bass is quite typical for a wfemale-dominated band. One of the top records of the year.It is very derivative though and in that sense does probably only merit 4 and a half stars. However Ilike it quite a lot.
Hey Mr. Producer!: The Musical World of Cameron MacKintosh
Average customer rating: Not rated
    Hey Mr. Producer!: The Musical World of Cameron MacKintosh
    Martin Koch
    Manufacturer: Polygram
    ProductGroup: Music
    Binding: Audio CD

    Irish FolkIrish Folk | Traditional British & Celtic Folk | Folk | Styles | Music
    GeneralGeneral | Pop | Styles | Music
    Orchestral PopOrchestral Pop | Easy Listening | Pop | Styles | Music
    GeneralGeneral | Soul | R&B | Styles | Music
    SoulSoul | Live Albums | R&B | Styles | Music
    GeneralGeneral | Musicals | Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Music
    GeneralGeneral | Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Music
    GeneralGeneral | Soundtracks | Styles | Music
    ASIN: B000023ZUQ
    Release Date: 1998-08-25

    Tracks:

    1. We Said We Wouldn't Look Back [Salad Days] - Martin Koch
    2. Cats Overture [From Cats] - Martin Koch
    3. Food Glorious Food [From Oliver!] - Workhouse Children
    4. Wouldn't It Be Loverly [From My Fair Lady] - Gillian Lynne, Liz Robertson, Company
    5. Quit Professor Higgins [From My Fair Lady] - Company
    6. Rain in Spain [From My Fair Lady] - Jonathan Pryce, Liz Robertson,
    7. Get Me to the Church on Time [From My Fair Lady] - Peter Bayliss, , Company
    8. I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face [From My Fair Lady] - Jonathan Pryce, Liz Robertson
    9. Introduction (Show Medeley) - Julie Andrews
    10. One Two Three [The Fix] - John Barrowman
    11. Little Shop of Horrors - Wendy Mae Brown, Dawn Hope, Femi Taylor
    12. Somewhere That's Green [Little Shop of Horrors] - Ellen Greene
    13. Suddenly Seymour [Little Shop of Horrors] - Ellen Greene, Teddy Kempner
    14. Day by Day [Godspell] - Company
    15. I Get a Kick Out of You [From Anything Goes] - Laurie Holloway, Marian Montgomery,
    16. Variations [Song and Dance] - Julian Lloyd Webber, , Company
    17. Unexpected Song [Song and Dance] - Bernadette Peters
    18. Nicer in Nice [The Boyfriend] - Jasna Ivir, Company
    19. I Love a Lassie [Lauder] - Scottish Power Pipe Band
    20. Five Guys Named Moe/Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby? [Five Guys ...] - Trent Armand Kendall, , , ,
    21. Pick a Pocket or Two - Russ Abbot, , ,
    22. As Long as He Needs Me [From Oliver!] - Sonia Swaby
    23. Introduction - Julie Andrews
    24. I'm Martin Guerre - David Campbell
    25. How Many Tears? [Martin Guerre] - Maria Friedman
    26. Heat Is on in Saigon [From Miss Saigon] - David Campbell, , Lea Salonga, Company
    27. Wedding [From Miss Saigon]
    28. Last Night of the World [From Miss Saigon] - David Campbell, Lea Salonga
    29. This Is the Hour [From Miss Saigon] - Company
    30. American Dream [From Miss Saigon] - Jonathan Pryce, Company

    Tracks:

    1. Phantom of the Opera [From The Phantom of the Opera] - Lisa Vroman, Colm Wilkinson
    2. Music of the Night [From Phantom of the Opera] - Colm Wilkinson
    3. Broadway Baby [Follies] - Maria Friedman, Julia McKenzie
    4. Oh, What a Beautiful Morning [From Oklahoma!] - Hugh Jackman
    5. Carousel Waltz/Ballet [From Carousel] - Dana Stackpole, Company
    6. Porch Scene [From Carousel] - Hal Fowler, Barbara King, Joanna Riding, Dana Stackpole
    7. You'll Never Walk Alone [From Carousel] - Joanna Riding, Company
    8. Introduction - Ned Sherrin
    9. Side by Side [Company] - David Kernan, Millicent Martin, Julia McKenzie, Ned Sherrin, Stephen Sondheim
    10. You Could Drive a Person Crazy [Company] - Maria Friedman, Ruthie Henshall, Millicent Martin, Lea Salonga
    11. Send in the Clowns (A Little Night Music) - Judi Dench
    12. Losing My Mind [Follies] - Michael Ball
    13. Being Alive [Company] - Bernadette Peters
    14. You've Gotta Have a Gimmick [From Gypsy] - Michael Ball, Judi Dench, Maria Friedman, Ruthie Henshall, David Kernan, , Dean Martin, Julia McKenzie, Bernadette Peters
    15. Introduction - Stephen Sondheim
    16. Duelling Pianos - Andrew Lloyd Webber, Stephen Sondheim,
    17. Poisoning Pigeons in the Park [Tom Foolery] - Tom Lehrer
    18. Jellicle Songs [From Cats] - Brian Blessed, , Paul Nicholas, Company
    19. Memory [From Cats] - Elaine Paige
    20. At the End of the Day [From Les Miserables] - Company
    21. Stars [From Les Miserables] - Philip Quast
    22. Do You Hear the People Sing? [From Les Miserables] - Hal Fowler, Company
    23. On My Own [From Les Miserables] - Lea Salonga
    24. Bring Him Home [From Les Miserables] - Colm Wilkinson
    25. One Day More [From Les Miserables] - Michael Ball, Hal Fowler, Ruthie Henshall, Tammi Jacobs, Teddy Kempner, Philip Quast, Lea Salonga, Colm Wilkinson, Za
    26. We Said We Wouldn't Look Back [From Les Miserables] - Cameron Mackintosh

    Album Description

    Subtitled the Musical Word of Cameron Mackintosh. Import only 56-track collection. A live recording at the Lyceum Theatre in London, in the presence of her majesty the Queen and HRH the Duke of Edinburgh. In aid of the Royal National Institute for the Blind and the combined theatrical charities. Universal.
    Long Drive Home
    Average customer rating: Not rated
      Long Drive Home
      Ralph E. Hayes
      Manufacturer: 33rd Street
      ProductGroup: Music
      Binding: Audio CD

      GeneralGeneral | Rock | Styles | Music
      Pop RockPop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music
      ASIN: B0001XAMGS
      Release Date: 2004-04-20

      Tracks:

      1. Deep into the Moment
      2. Long Drive Home in the Rain
      3. Walk at Low Tide
      4. Round Waves
      5. In This Time
      6. Slow Dances in Sand
      7. Inflection Point
      8. White Clouds, Blue Sky
      9. Living in Slow Motion
      10. Downstream
      11. Openings
      12. Wellspring
      Black Pocket T-shirt
      Average customer rating: Not rated
        Black Pocket T-shirt
        Long Drive Home
        Manufacturer: 720 Records
        ProductGroup: Music
        Binding: Audio CD
        ASIN: B000L149UK

        Product Description

        TRACKS: 1. Black Pocket T-Shirt 2. Mariah Love 3. The Way I Used To 4. This Songs For You 5. Bartholameu 6. Not About A Girl 7. IMV(stop) 8. Bianchi 9. You Can't Win 10. 44 Lies 11. It's OK, He's French Canadian(Ace)
        Someone to Drive You Home
        Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
        • The last great album I discovered in 2006
        Someone to Drive You Home
        The Long Blondes
        Manufacturer: Universal
        ProductGroup: Music
        Binding: Audio CD

        GeneralGeneral | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music
        Indie RockIndie Rock | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music
        GeneralGeneral | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music
        GeneralGeneral | Rock | Styles | Music
        Pop RockPop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music
        ASIN: B000KJTIZE
        Release Date: 2007-02-05

        Tracks:

        1. Lust In The Movies
        2. Once And Never Again
        3. Only Lovers Left Alive
        4. Giddy Stratospheres
        5. In The Company Of Women
        6. Heaven Help The New Girl
        7. Separated By Motorways
        8. You Could Have Both
        9. Swallow Tattoo
        10. Weekend Without Makeup
        11. Madame Ray
        12. A Knife For The Girls
        13. Fulwood Babylon

        Customer Reviews:

        5 out of 5 stars The last great album I discovered in 2006.......2007-04-16

        This was not only the last great album I discovered in 2006 but it turned out also to be one of the best. This album is not widely known in the US due to it still not being available as anything other than an import. It is not even available on iTunes and other music download services. Hopefully 2007 will see a correction. I have to confess to not knowing a whole lot about the band. Most of the songs are credited to guitarist Dorian Cox and The Long Blondes, which probably means he writes the songs, presents them to the band, and they all hash out the final form. What is surprising about this is that the band has a distinctly feminist slant on things. They seem in many ways to be the English answer to the Riot Girl bands in the U.S. You could easily do a triple bill of Le Tigre, Sleater-Kinney (alas, if only they were still together), and The Long Blondes and have no clash of values or viewpoint. The band has much of the same brassiness of Third Wave inspired feminist rock, yet the songs are written by a guy. Well, perhaps not so bizarre. The turning point in strongly empowered female characters on TV occurred with BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, created by a male feminist, Joss Whedon. So why can't a guy write songs that represent a female take on things?

        If Dorian Cox writes the songs, Kate Jackson sells them. And man, does she ever sell them. With this album she instantly joins the ranks of the most compelling female frontwomen in rock. She has a great voice, with plenty of power when she needs it, but capable of subtlety as well. They have her voice far forward in the mix, where it belongs. I love the way she manages to do so many things vocally in "Heaven Help the New Girl," and does them all well. If you compare her with, say, Karen O. of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Kate doesn't have all the tricks that Karen can pull off, but she has a much more powerful voice and a wider effective range.

        But what really puts this band over the top for me is not just that they come with a great set of well-written songs and a phenomenal singer to sing them, but that the Long Blondes are a great band. Screech Louder on drums, Emma Chaplain on guitar (and back up vocals), Reenie Delaney on bass (how refreshing to have a chick on guitar and a guy on bass for a change), and Cox on lead guitar are a tremendously tight, inventive, and skilled. Sometimes when you have someone as good as Kate Jackson, there is a talent gap between singer and band, but that certainly is not the case here. This truly is a band, with everyone contributing enormously to the final project.

        The highpoint of the album for me is "Weekend without Makeup," in which a woman chronicles how stale her relationship has grown. It is a subject that has been dealt with in countless songs, but it seems so fresh here and the notion of defining a weekend by the fact that she doesn't need to put on any make up really speaks volumes. All in all, though, the album has a number of really strong cuts. "Lust in the Movies," "Once and Never Again" (in which the singer tells a 19-year-old that she really doesn't need a boyfriend but should instead focus on life without the need of one), "Giddy Stratospheres," "In the Company of Women," "Separated by Motorways," and "Heaven Help the New Girl." The album may fade ever so slightly by the end, but these days most bands put their strongest material in the first two-thirds of the disc.

        I do want to quibble with a criticism that the previous reviewer made of the album. He or she indicated that this album is "derivative." This is a criticism that is frequently made by people of one album or artist or another. But I have to confess that it is a criticism I've never been able to make any sense of. There are two sides to my perplexity, one general and one specific. Take the specific first, I listened to this album multiple times and not once thought "Wow, this is derivative." Of course there are a host of moments where the album recalls other performers. At various points the band reminds me of outfits as diverse as the Smiths, Pulp, Joy Division, and Blondie, but sometimes even some sixties girl groups. But I absolutely promise any prospective listener: you will not listen to this and think that they are ripping off any other bands' riffs. They certainly are not more "derivative" than any other band at work today. Which leads to the more general side of my perplexity: given the fact that we now have over fifty years of rock and roll informing any rock album today, how is it possible for any band to be anything other than derivative? Even the Beatles were derivative, aping a host of American R&B bands and artists. Later they came under the spell of Bob Dylan, who was himself inspired by a score of American folk, blues, and rock performers. Everyone borrows from everyone else. The question is not whether something is "derivative" but whether their particular derivation is any good. And this stuff here is dynamite. If it were boring, that would be another matter. I really don't intend to jump all over the previous reviewer. Honest, I don't. But this is an instance of aiming a largely irrelevant criticism at an absolutely first rate band. At least he and I can fully agree on one thing: this is one of the best albums of 2006.
        1995-2001
        Average customer rating: Not rated
          1995-2001
          Fragments
          Manufacturer: Bonazzoli Music
          ProductGroup: Music
          Binding: Audio CD

          GeneralGeneral | Easy Listening | Pop | Styles | Music
          ASIN: B000CA9KH2
          Release Date: 2003-06-24

          Tracks:

          1. Season Long Past
          2. Mansion
          3. Jaguar
          4. San Geronimo Summer
          5. After All Is Said and Done
          6. Whatever the Day Brings
          7. This Much Is True
          8. Good Days Will Come
          9. Precious
          10. One I Love
          11. Never Again
          12. Haints
          13. Someday She'll Come Home
          14. Another Rainy Day
          Someone to Drive You Home By the Long Blondes
          Average customer rating: Not rated
            Someone to Drive You Home By the Long Blondes
            The Long Blondes
            ProductGroup: Music
            Binding: Audio CD
            ASIN: B000Q0Z7I4

            Product Description

            01. Lust in the Movies 02. Once and Never Again 03. Only Lovers Left Alive 04. Giddy Stratospheres 05. In the Company of Women 06. Heaven Help the New Girl 07. Separated By Motorways 08. You Could Have Both 09. Swallow Tattoo 10. Weekend without Makeup 11. Madame Ray 12. A Knife for the Girls

            Rock Music:

            1. Lost Decade [Import]
            2. Make Me Smile [Live]
            3. Making a Good Thing Better [Import]
            4. Mardi Gras (Hybr) [Hybrid SACD]
            5. Metamorphosis [Import]
            6. Mist King Urth
            7. Music for Mum [Import]
            8. Orbison [Box set] [Import]
            9. Paul Heaton: Under the Influence
            10. Play With Me [Import]

            Rock Music

            rock music