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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I was sorely tempted to award the full 5 stars just for the nostalgia value! I was given this album on audio cassette (for those who rememeber)Christmas 1978 as a very musically mature ten year old ;-) and must have played it hundreds of times until I discovered electronic music a year or two later. This was the rats at their peak, stand out tracks are So Modern, Rat Trap, Clockwork,I never loved Eva B.
They burnt brightly for a year or two and then I understand the lead singer went on to other things!?
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
The Rats were always better at singles than albums, but 'Tonic for the Troops' is their best and most successful long player. After hitting the top 20 with their first single, they improved their chart position with each of their next four singles, the last of which, 'Rat Trap', became their first number one. This, and the previous two singles, 'She's So Modern' and 'Like Clockwork', are included here.
Labelled, like every new wave band, as punk rockers at first, their success was based on a compromise between the old and the new, as well as the charismatic, immodest Bob Geldof. They played up to the punk image with their slightly anarchic appearance, but their music was little more than souped-up r&b. Geldof was a barely-disguised Jagger clone. Good fun they were though and they had some good tunes. Their lyrics attacked prevailing attitudes, but were direct rather than stimulating. 'Don't believe What You Read', for example, says it all in the title. 'Rat Trap' is the most ambitious song. At least it provided an antidote to all things Travolta and, indeed, knocked him off the top of the charts. Of the bonuses, 'Do The Rat' is the b-side I most remember. It seemed hilarious at the time.
I blew a quarter of my first dole cheque (13 quid) on this, being heavily into all things new at the time. Though shallow in places, this is still an entertaining album.
Labelled, like every new wave band, as punk rockers at first, their success was based on a compromise between the old and the new, as well as the charismatic, immodest Bob Geldof. They played up to the punk image with their slightly anarchic appearance, but their music was little more than souped-up r&b. Geldof was a barely-disguised Jagger clone. Good fun they were though and they had some good tunes. Their lyrics attacked prevailing attitudes, but were direct rather than stimulating. 'Don't believe What You Read', for example, says it all in the title. 'Rat Trap' is the most ambitious song. At least it provided an antidote to all things Travolta and, indeed, knocked him off the top of the charts. Of the bonuses, 'Do The Rat' is the b-side I most remember. It seemed hilarious at the time.
I blew a quarter of my first dole cheque (13 quid) on this, being heavily into all things new at the time. Though shallow in places, this is still an entertaining album.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Over thirty years after it's original release, this album stands as the Boomtown Rats finest hour, and with the addition of two of the best B-sides ever, the CD edition improves on the original vinyl. A Tonic for the Troops finds the Boomtown Rats at the peak of their musical development. It was a marked development from the first album with highly original songs and a departure from their Dublin roots, except Normal People and Rat Trap. It had a very definite sound which is a criticism that could be levelled at the albums that followed. The backing vocals were harmonious, Gerry Cott's guitar solos to the forefront, and Geldof's lyrics had not started veer into the mawkish sentimentality that he could be guilty of.
The album showed The Boomtown Rats to be a more accomplished band than almost all of their peers in terms of song writing and musicianship. Tonic for the Troops stands as The Boomtown Rats finest moment for the inventiveness and excitement in the songs. Most importantly this album captured the zeitgeist, being around at the right time and effectively defining the sound of 1978 as much as Parallel Lines, Give `em Enough Rope and Never Mind the Bollocks all of which it shared the record racks for the whole year.
There are very few albums where every track can be considered excellent, but this is one. The Boomtown Rats went on to make many good songs but arguably never made another great album which not only fitted the times but was timeless.
The bonus tracks do add to it. D.U.N. L.O.A.G.H.A.I.R.E. and Do The Rat are B-side masterpieces. Genius.. D.U.N. L.O.A.G.H.A.I.R.E was based on a song called Cocaine In My Brain Geldof took the "A knife, a fork, a bottle and a cork. That's the way we spell New York" refrain and applied it to his home town to hillarious effect. Garry Robberts attempts at spelling Dun Loaghaire are dismissed, and corrects him with "Drab and dreary, Tired and Weary, That's the way you spell Dun Loaghaire". Reminiscent of Derek & Clive, (or possibly Zig & Zag at points, eventually the world gets to spell and sing Dun Loaghaire. All done to a wonderful calypso beat. It was released as a cover flexi in the UK, but also as a b-side to Clockwork on Mulligan records (The Rats Irish label).
Aping The Twist, and other dance craze songs, the Rats create their own, The Rat! With yellowed teeth and greyer hair, I'm less up for doing the Rat to the break of day these days, and it's pretty fair to say The Rat didn't really supplant seventies disco! The song itself is a very basic three chord (if that!) romp, but the lyrics are very sassy and the R'n'B guitar break sounds like it comes from Tiger Feet by Mud! On the CD it ends with a Beatlesque cheer a la All You Need is Love.
The stripped down less polished Neon Heart is of most interest to completists rounding out the Peel session released on Geldof's Crazy single.
Rat Trap (Live In Stoke) sounds like it came from the Rats post 1980 as the horns are more to the fore and the guitars a little subdued.
Personally, I think it is certainly the greatest album of the 1970s and one of the greatest albums of all time!
The album showed The Boomtown Rats to be a more accomplished band than almost all of their peers in terms of song writing and musicianship. Tonic for the Troops stands as The Boomtown Rats finest moment for the inventiveness and excitement in the songs. Most importantly this album captured the zeitgeist, being around at the right time and effectively defining the sound of 1978 as much as Parallel Lines, Give `em Enough Rope and Never Mind the Bollocks all of which it shared the record racks for the whole year.
There are very few albums where every track can be considered excellent, but this is one. The Boomtown Rats went on to make many good songs but arguably never made another great album which not only fitted the times but was timeless.
The bonus tracks do add to it. D.U.N. L.O.A.G.H.A.I.R.E. and Do The Rat are B-side masterpieces. Genius.. D.U.N. L.O.A.G.H.A.I.R.E was based on a song called Cocaine In My Brain Geldof took the "A knife, a fork, a bottle and a cork. That's the way we spell New York" refrain and applied it to his home town to hillarious effect. Garry Robberts attempts at spelling Dun Loaghaire are dismissed, and corrects him with "Drab and dreary, Tired and Weary, That's the way you spell Dun Loaghaire". Reminiscent of Derek & Clive, (or possibly Zig & Zag at points, eventually the world gets to spell and sing Dun Loaghaire. All done to a wonderful calypso beat. It was released as a cover flexi in the UK, but also as a b-side to Clockwork on Mulligan records (The Rats Irish label).
Aping The Twist, and other dance craze songs, the Rats create their own, The Rat! With yellowed teeth and greyer hair, I'm less up for doing the Rat to the break of day these days, and it's pretty fair to say The Rat didn't really supplant seventies disco! The song itself is a very basic three chord (if that!) romp, but the lyrics are very sassy and the R'n'B guitar break sounds like it comes from Tiger Feet by Mud! On the CD it ends with a Beatlesque cheer a la All You Need is Love.
The stripped down less polished Neon Heart is of most interest to completists rounding out the Peel session released on Geldof's Crazy single.
Rat Trap (Live In Stoke) sounds like it came from the Rats post 1980 as the horns are more to the fore and the guitars a little subdued.
Personally, I think it is certainly the greatest album of the 1970s and one of the greatest albums of all time!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
brings back memories
i bought this when it first came out and thought it was good then, but it sounds even better now.Very cheap, what a bargain.
Published 18 months ago by abdullah curryman
A Tonic For The Troops [Extra tracks]
The second album of the Boomtown Rats, tracks Like Clockwork, Blind Date, I never Loved Eva Braun and Rat Trap to name just a few
Published 23 months ago by G. Hill
Still a classic
I bought this album when it first came out as I was a big Rats fan. They always seemed to be a class above your average punk/new wave band. Read more
Published on 2 Sep 2009 by Doh
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