Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The ultimate New Wave album, though not without its flaws, 23 Sep 2006
A couple of years ago, I was thrilled to see that 'Pinky Blue', Altered Images' 2nd album, was being reissued once again. I already had the UK budget priced CD, and the much improved Austrian release, but the inclusion of bonus material on this latest release was exciting. Unfortunately, having had many bad experiences with indie label reissues, I was concerned about the quality of the product. Well, again we have another indie-released CD with some big mistakes. The BIGGEST is having some Alan Robinson write the liner notes. Why?? It's obvious the guy is no fan of the band. In fact, he frowns upon the early 80's music in general! He has no problem talking about what he perceives as Clare's vocal limitations and the albums "...lack of stylistic variety". Why would Edsel publish something like this in their release? It's very insulting.
Aside from the horrible sleeve notes, there's some mastering flaws. First, the 7" version of "I could be happy" sounds as muffled as it has on any UK CD release of this song. I have it on two separate U.S. CD's and it sounds amazing. Second is "Insects". What was supposed to be the re-recorded version, which appeared as a B side and on the U.S. issue of the 'Happy Birthday' album, is just a repeat of the original version. This means I will be holding on to my 'Happy Birthday' U.S. CD.
Third, we have the songs from the flexidisc... and it is just that, taken directly from the crummy flexidisc. You can clearly hear the severe turntable rumblings. Though it does seem they tried to remove most other surface noise, it still sounds out of place.
There are also various typing and text errors throughout the booklet, and in this case there is no photos of the original picture sleeves, as originally advertised. Regardless, it's great to have this classic album available to the public once again.
Oh yeah, I guess I should comment on the music. This is a wonderfully bouncy album that's perfect for lifiting anyone's spirits. Out of the three original albums this wonderful band released, this one captures the perfect environment for Clare's voice and upbeat character.
"Pinky Blue", the title track, should have been a bigger hit as it's one of the albums best songs. Shame there wasn't a promo video for it. I bet it would have been such fun.
"See those eyes" is my favorite of the band's singles. It's so catchy and Clare sounds great.
"Song sung blue" is always taken by music historians as a serious attempt at a cover song, but it's so obvious that it was just a fun joke. Not to be listened to everytime the album is played, it's still fun to chuckle along with on occasion.
"Think that it might" is one of the bands best songs. Clare sounds amazing and the music is fantastic. This could have been a single.
The inclusion of the Dance Mix of "I could be happy" on the original album was a good idea. It's a stronger version of the song. Not unlike many other Martin Rushent remixes, including all the others included here as bonus tracks, many of the lyrics are removed in favor of intrumental passages. It doesn't always work though. Both "See those eyes" and "Pinky blue" would have been much more appealing 12" mixes if there was more of Clare represented in the mixes. In the U.S. they had the right idea. When this album was originally released in 1982, they made a new extended version of "See those eyes" by using a chunk of the 12" mix in the middle of the 7" version. That's still my favorite mix of the song.
The only real sour note on this album is the last song from the original album, "Goodnight and I wish". The music is rather dull and dreamy, and Clare's singing seems very out of place in this setting, but at least they can be given a little credit for taking down the upbeat pace at the end; not that any of the critics would ever notice - they seemed threatened by Clare's fun and colorful personality. It's that charm that attracted me to the band in the first place, to the point that I named my dog Clare, and she's fun and adorable too!
'Pinky Blue' is a fun album, and a real treat is you are not looking for some huge meaning to the lyrics... that is if you can understand the lyrics!
Other than the flexi tracks, the CD is drawn from master tapes, or other previously released CD sources that were drawn from master tapes. Though the sound is not 100%, it is still a very good sounding release, and highly recommended.
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~ Altered Images
~ Altered Images
~ Altered Images
~ Thompson Twins
~ Thompson Twins
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