Heartland

Figured I'd create a thread for these as there are possibly a few folks who haven't heard them before.

The tracks in question are:

Poison Door
On The Wire
Blood Money
Bury Me Deep
Long Train

What are your opinions of them, how do they compare to the LP tracks, and (shock!) do you think the LP would have been better if some of these were on it? And if so, what would you have left off?

mh wrote:Figured I'd create a thread for these as there are possibly a few folks who haven't heard them before.

The tracks in question are:

Poison Door
On The Wire
Blood Money
Bury Me Deep
Long Train

What are your opinions of them, how do they compare to the LP tracks, and (shock!) do you think the LP would have been better if some of these were on it? And if so, what would you have left off?

Get rid of No Time To Cry and replace it with Poison Door.

As you were.

And Walk Away can happily give way to On The Wire. Cheers.

But still no Afterhours, Train or Body Electric (1984) on CD

I love Poison door, On the wire, and Bury me deep. The other two are still more than okay but not actual favourites of mine.
Now I find NTTC and Walk away pretty weak, so replacing them with PD and OTW could have been a smart move.
Bury me deep is a more complicated issue. It doesn't sound like anything else the Girls did in 84-85. I just don't see it as a part of FALAA. Maybe with a different production but certainly not as it stands.

I've debated this quite a bit with myself and I think my conclusion is to leave it alone.

Tracks I'd consider putting on:
On the Wire - maybe swap it with ARAAHP or Possession
Poison Door - I'm not sure it fits the album
Bury Me Deep - Would change the flow of the album completely. Maybe put it before Nine While Nine
Blood Money - A strong track, but it's miles away from the rest of the album. Maybe in place of Black Planet

Tracks I'd consider leaving off:
Black Planet - the weakest lyrically for me, but the album wouldn't be the same without it as the intro
A Rock and a Hard Place - A good track, but not as good as On the Wire
Possession - an excellent track, but this could be swapped for On the Wire or Poison Door.

In the end, I like the album flow so much that I'd have a hard time changing anything. Also, all of the songs somewhat fit a theme.

Big Si wrote:But still no Afterhours, Train or Body Electric (1984) on CD

I agree...

About the tracks: To me On The Wire and Long Train are legends. Great stuff!

I would not replace any of the FALAA songs. The album is in a beautiful balance. The mentioned songs should have been tracks on the next album; before the Flood.

I'd swap Walk Away for either of its b-sides, although Poison Door just clinches it for me.

I managed to listen to Long Train all the way through for the first time last night. Usually it does nothing for me but I actually enjoyed it. Loved SkoS (early).

I've always liked both Blood Money and Bury Me Deep but don't think they'd really fit with the flow of the album.

On the Wire is far superior to any of the tracks on that album.

Jim wrote:On the Wire is far superior to any of the tracks on that album.

Oh no it isn't

I don't think FALAA should be altered in anyway, shape or form, it is a classic and should be left as such.

Ghost Dance did Poison Door better.

And NTTC's b-sides are better than the a-side.

Dark wrote:Ghost Dance did Poison Door better.

I'd love to hear a studio version of that

I wouldn't mind doing a Ghost Dance cover, maybe of Rock It, or something.. but f**k knows how I'd get permission, Gary has never responded to a PM or email I've sent.

Badlander wrote: Bury me deep is a more complicated issue. It doesn't sound like anything else the Girls did in 84-85. I just don't see it as a part of FALAA. Maybe with a different production but certainly not as it stands.

Well remember, that both Blood Money and Bury me Deep were recorded with a synth bass rather than Craig Adams. So they will have lost something.

I can't remember the exact circumstances. There was a thread about it somewhere a while ago.

CellThree wrote: Well remember, that both Blood Money and Bury me Deep were recorded with a synth bass rather than Craig Adams. So they will have lost something.

Good point.

CellThree wrote:

Badlander wrote: Bury me deep is a more complicated issue. It doesn't sound like anything else the Girls did in 84-85. I just don't see it as a part of FALAA. Maybe with a different production but certainly not as it stands.

Well remember, that both Blood Money and Bury me Deep were recorded with a synth bass rather than Craig Adams. So they will have lost something.

I can't remember the exact circumstances. There was a thread about it somewhere a while ago.

Hmmmm.... can you remember anything about the thread title? I'd love to try and dig it up, as I didn't know about the synth-bass thingy.

There's barely any bass guitar/synth in Bury Me Deep anyway..

Dark wrote:There's barely any bass guitar/synth in Bury Me Deep anyway..

Eh???

Always thought it had quite a noticeable bassline.

Anyway, I believe it was one of the mods who spilled the beans. Apparently the band were fighting so badly when they came to record them that Craig refused to play on them.

mh wrote: Anyway, I believe it was one of the mods who spilled the beans. Apparently the band were fighting so badly when they came to record them that Craig refused to play on them.

Didn't Ramone say a thing or two about it ?

BMD has a very cool bassline and it don't sound like synth bass to me

James Blast wrote:BMD has a very cool bassline and it don't sound like synth bass to me

Me neither. It may have been Von on the 4-string-motherf--ker if Craig had thrown a wobbler.

Blood Money on the other hand does sound synthey.

Hey Now, Yes indeed t'was me that told the story about the missing Craig from the b-sides of No Time To Cry.. *mists of time swirling..wooooooh* roomed with him for a night on a Mishun tour in Germany and he told me he'd already left the band by that point ( must of had a bit of a moody on) and indeed he was 'replaced' for that part.

so it is Bass Humana and not Basso Synthetico?

Oh, my mistake. I haven't listened to it in a while, I thought it was mostly drum/vocal/high guitar.