From J.W.Davies@reading.ac.uk Mon Dec 6 12:25:00 1993 Received: from sussdirt.rdg.ac.uk by geech.gnu.ai.mit.edu (5.65/4.0) with SMTP id ; Mon, 6 Dec 93 12:25:00 -0500 Received: from csres.cs.reading.ac.uk by susssys1.reading.ac.uk with SMTP (PP) id <28711-0@susssys1.reading.ac.uk>; Mon, 6 Dec 1993 17:24:38 +0000 Received: from pierrot.Csres by csres.cs.reading.ac.uk (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA09514; Mon, 6 Dec 93 17:18:52 GMT Date: Mon, 6 Dec 93 17:18:52 GMT From: J.W.Davies@reading.ac.uk (Jim Davies) Message-Id: <9312061718.AA09514@csres.cs.reading.ac.uk> Received: by pierrot.Csres (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA03749; Mon, 6 Dec 93 17:54:14 GMT To: andyh@cogs.sussex.ac.uk Cc: fegmaniax@gnu.ai.mit.edu, chalkhills@presto.ig.com In-Reply-To: (andyh@uk.ac.sussex.cogs) Subject: First impressions On the Newell/ Partridge effort: The Greatest Living Englishman. Brief: worth buying. More XTC than Cleaners from Venus. The title track is superb. You'll think that the Kinks could have been really good. For XTC fans, it's somewhere between English Settlement and Skylarking. For Cleaners fans, it's a postcard from another world. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ On the Retrospective: Golden Cleaners Brief: worth buying. There was an album once. It was called "Going to England" by a group called "The Cleaners from Venus". It was the greatest album anyone had ever made. It had the five greatest songs anyone had ever recorded. It had the best cover you will ever see. Everyone you played it to fell in love with it. And, if you were lucky, they'd fall in love with you. And did this record sell? No. Almost all of the tracks from "Going to England" appear on "Golden Cleaners". It's no substitute for the real thing: tracks from the first and third albums break up the flow and "You Must Be Out of My Mind" is missing. But think of it like this. Buy "Golden Cleaners". Create a demand for Martin's work. Then maybe. Just maybe. You'll get to see "Going to England" for yourself.