Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Long overdue on CD, but this reissue is a disaster!, 26 Mar 2004
The 3rd and final album by Altered Images makes its CD debut in a very unfortunate way. This thing is loaded with flaws and errors that alter the original LP.
First off we have track 2, "Another lost look". This song has never been on CD, but the version they put in place of the superior LP version is the 'Live' version, which originally appeared on the B side the of "Love to stay" single.
Next, we have "Love to stay", which is not the full length LP version, but the much edited single version.
"Don't talk to me about love" is also not the original full length LP version, but the edited single version.
"Change of heart" is the same version that has appeared on every CD since the originally released 'Best Of' CD in 1992. It's the single version that, aside from missing the first note of the song, has a couple musical parts edited out.
"I don't want to know" is a great song that was only issued on the UK cassette version of this album. Unfortunately, it sounds as if it was mastered from an old cassette tape.
Same thing goes for "Last goodbye". This song sounds muffled and flat.
Regarding the "Don't talk to me about love" 12" mix; this version is originally 8 and 1/2 minutes long, but was edited down to 7 minutes, due to time constraints, for the 1996 collection 'Reflected images'. Rather than getting the full version, we get a repeat of that edited version.
And last, there was no "Love to stay" dance mix. The 12" version of the song is just the full length LP mix, which should be track 3 on this CD.
What's very clear about this release is that the only songs to have actually been "remastered" were the ones that hadn't appeared on CD before. The others were all taken directly from previously mastered compilation CD's, which is obvious because all of the old mastering flaws are included here. Rather than giving us an up-to-date remastered disc, it's nothing more than a collection of songs from previous releases. Did anyone even proof this thing before production? I can understand that at times these indie labels are at the mercy of what the rights holder supplies them with, but some of these mistakes are inexcusable.
Luckily, 'Bite' was also released on CD in Japan soon after this release, though only containing the eight original album tracks. On the plus side, the Japanese CD was a completely new remaster, offering full versions of all songs in great quality. The only difference is "Don't talk to me about love" is still the single version, though that's the way it was on the original Japanese LP, so it's not really a mistake.
After 'Pinky blue' received nasty reviews, the band lost two members and decided to change their sound and image substantially. The first single, "Don't talk to me about love", is a pleasant dance song which often leads to comparison to Blondie, which I believe is based mainly on the production credits, i.e. Mike Chapman.
The next single, "Bring me closer", is a song I couldn't stand for over a decade... then one day it clicked with me. Originally, the whole disco sound seemed a step backwards, but I enjoy the song now, especially the 12" mix.
The third single, "Love to stay", is one of my all time favorite Altered Images tracks. It's very tropical and dreamy, and Clare sounds amazing. There is also a promo video for this song that I have been looking to add to my collection for over 17 years. I've never even seen it, and it's something of a holy grail at this point.
The final single was "Change of heart", which failed to chart at all. That may have been because both the 7" and 12" featured no exclusive songs, or maybe the public just didn't care anymore. It's the closest thing to a 'Pinky Blue' sounding song on this album, and I love it.
There are some songs that are just downright awful. "Stand so quiet" and "Now that you're here" are just so dreadful, I can't even listen to them without cringing. Clare's voice is NOT suited for the attempted maturity of the music and lyrics, and they come off as pompous and overproduced.
The B sides are the best material from this era. "Last goodbye" and "Surprise me" are fun toe tappers that harken back to the excitement and fun of 'Pinky Blue', which is probably why they were left as B sides.
'Bite' is very schizophrenic in sound, which could be another comparison to Blondie since their 'Autoamerican' album was all over the place, but with some of their best songs. 'Bite' is an interesting closure to what should have been a long and wonderful career for Clare and the boys. The critics were too hard on this band for being fun and colorful the previous year, so this album seems to be an attempt to please the critics and retain/regain some credibility. Though it's not their best album, it still shows that Altered Images were an amazingly talented and unique band, regardless of their young age at the time.
Clare Grogan recorded a full length solo album titled 'Trash Mad' for the London Records label in 1987. After the first single, "Love Bomb", failed to chart, plans for the second single, titled "Strawberry", were shelved - as well as the completed album. There was a video produced for Love Bomb, and unfortunately it looked like a Bananarama wannabe video, complete with spandex and dancing boys.
A second song from Clare's solo venture was available on a London Records compilation album titled 'Giant'. It contains a really terrible song called "Reason is the slave". While it's clear that Clare's solo work wasn't going to be on par with Altered Images material, it's still a shame the solo album was never released. It is rumored that promo copies were sent out at the time, though I've never seen any proof of that.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A truly great pop album without the re-issue it really deserves, 14 Nov 2007
Bite originally released in 1983 saw Altered Images progress from their usual bubblegum pop into a more sophisticated realm of adult orientated orch-pop incorporating strings and diverse stylistic nuances. Not that this meant they still were,nt fun to listen to or lost their instinctive knack for a good melody, indeed Bite includes the most sumptuous pop moments of their career.
Which makes it a tremendous shame that this expanded version is,nt re-mastered like the Japanese release and more importantly takes gratuitous liberties with the versions off the original vinyl version. "Another Lost Look" is the live version originally on the B-side of "Love To Stay". Now i would,nt mind that as an extra track but to include at the exclusion of the original album version is just folly. Not that that's the end of it either. "Change Of Heart" is edited by a man with a chainsaw and ADS. The "Don,t Talk To me About Love" 12" mix is also truncated which makes you wonder why they bothered including it at all and the "Love To Stay" "Dance mix" is in fact the original LP version so why not just put it there like it was in the first place?
All in all a complete arse of a job has been made of this CD version. What is in no dispute however bad a job has been made is that this is a magnificent pop album. However bad the production , however bad the master tapes ( And on "I Don,t Want To Know"it,s truly appalling, like the engineer took the title literally ) every song on here is an effulgent outbreak of pop mastery with the divine Clare Grogan( A pop star who knocks spots of every contemporary pop performer)The keyboards on "Change of Heart" may sound like they were bought from a pound shop and the melody remind me of the Chuckle Brothers theme but the song , especially the chorus , is just the essence of pop bottled in ultra-concentrated form . "Don,t Talk To Me About Love" is a sultry gem and "Thinking About You" is just lugubriously magnificent. "Bring Me Closer" has an infectious dance floor groove and to call "Now That You,re Here" and "Stand So Quiet" as "simply dreadful" as a fellow reviewer has on this very page makes me question his sanity.
The truth is, Bite is one of the great pop albums of the much maligned 80,s and one of the best British pop albums ever. A consummate continuous masterpiece of pristine mellifluous magnificence. It deserves better than this re-issue though.....much better and it,s for that reason that this gets only four stars rather than the resounding five the music deserves
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
and how they grew up!!!!, 20 Oct 2006
the third..the last..the best altered images album ever!!!!
the album is polished to perfection with great pop songs! the singles "dont talk to me about love" (no.7) "bring me closer"(no.31) "love to stay "(no46) and "change of heart" (failed to chart) are all included as well as other really strong tracks like "stand so quiet" and "change of heart" as well as some great extended versions!!!!
sadly the images had been written off by this time and so the album never reached its full potential!!! its wonderful..claire has never sounded better...the songwriting is great....the production faultless!
of all the albums this is the only one that sounds like a proper album.
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