Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
under-rated, 6 Feb 2007
The Triffids made some fine albums but In the Pines, for me, has always been their finest hour. Look beyond the cheapness, and the 'novelty' of being recorded in a sheep shearing shed and you have a warm, familiar album of great simplicity.
Remixed to be closer to David McComb's original vision for the album improves the feel of the album and shows the concept in all its intended glory. Clearly the master tapes were in poor condition and have painstakingly been restored, at times you can tell, but given the ethos of the album it in no way detracts from the enjoyment.
The additional five tracks are interesting and are mixed into the running order rather than all being tagged on the end. An early version of Trick of the Light (later to appear on Calenture) which shows the songs simple charm but without the glitzy production of the more familiar Calenture version. She's Sure the Girl I Love fits with the album well. The version of Jerdacuttup Man is the great lost discovery of the album - a version that puts the later version on Calenture to shame with its almost gothic feel. Blinder By the Hour to be fair works the other way in that the song is less impressive with the starker less full sound of the ITP version compared to the familiar Calenture version. Finally, Wish to See No More seems more like a Born Sandy Devotional period track but it sets you up well for the big three which finish the remastered album, One Soul Less on Your Fiery List, Born Sandy Devotional and Love and Affection. Three tracks which encapsulate the spirit, wit and intelligence of David McComb and the Triffids.
If you have not heard The Triffids and are looking for a remarkable album to be a friend for years to come and convey the sound of a bunch of great musicians just having a good time with a few tinnies, buy this CD.
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10 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Triffids basement tapes, or in this case shearing shed tapes, 12 Jul 2006
Following on from the recent re-issue of the magnificent "Born Sandy Devotional " August 14th sees the simultaneous release of two of the Triffids notable other albums- my personal favourite "Calenture " and "In The Pines"- which was originally released after BSD in 1986. Whether this release like the BSD version will include a booklet and extra tracks remains to be seen but if it follows the same edict it's debatable as to just how imperative these may be. The booklet , if it follows the same remit will be a collection of hand written notes chronicling the progression of the songs and while interesting leave you wanting a more authoritative and empirical version of the recording and the themes concerning the album. Any extra tracks (Which in the case of this album will really be superfluous as they are practically stripped back to the bones anyway) will again be interesting but unlikely to be returned to often .There may be previously un-released tracks but there is usually a good reason they were un-released so best not to get too excited by those.
In The Pines was, according to the sleeve notes recorded on "an eight track tape machine in a shearing shed 600km south-east of Perth, Western Australia "and to be honest it sounds like it. Not that this is a deleterious thing, it's just that anyone used to the lush expanses of their other albums will find this a sparse, rather tangential experience. The band are retreating musically too to a folk/country hybrid, songs are hung on acoustic guitar with added epidermis of pedal and lap steel. Martyn Casey plays bass as always and Jill Birt keyboards. Depth and textural variety is provided at times by harmonica, violin and mandolin .The late great David McComb provides the majority of the vocals, though he is less dynamic and forceful than on other works.
The songs as is usual with the Triffids are mostly superb though the overall tone of the album is slightly more laid back than on the BSD and Calenture albums. "One Soul Less On Your Fiery List" re-recorded for the Calenture album as "Hometown Farewell Kiss" is here, positively sanguine, with none of the escarpment scaling peaks and troughs of the later version. McComb sounds a bit bored, but it's still a tremendous song either way. The inclusion of the actual "Born Sandy Devotional " song is a bit of a surprise but it's a fine tremulous apprehension soaked number , though no more than a edit. More strident and up -tempo is "Keep Your Eyes On The Hole" with urgently strummed acoustic guitars and a beseeching vocal. The lovely lilting "25 To 5" runs into the mournful lingering "Do You Want Me Near You" sung by Alsy McDonald then "Evil Graham Lee takes over the vocal duties for the fantastic sing-a-long "Once A Day" a Bill Anderson cover which has the albums most memorable lyrics. "Look At me /I'm only drinking once a day/once a day, all day long /and once a night, from dusk to dawn/the only time I wish that you weren't gone/is once a day ,everyday ,all day long". The title track speaks of isolation and madness to ominous thrumming instrumentation while "Just Might Fade Away" , "Better Off This Way" and "Only One Life" are all lugubrious slightly lethargic songs sung with an air of torpor and too much time in the baking sun. "Kathy Knows" is a bit eerie with strings twanging like stretching tendons. Which leads us nicely to the albums opener "Suntrapper" which is the one track with the fission of dramatic tension and under the surface intensity that marked BSD and may well have been written during those sessions.
New listeners to the Triffids are better staring with the BSD or Calenture albums, but anyone familiar with those who hasn't listened to "In The Pines" before will, as I've already suggested be a little shocked by how meagre this album is. Lacking the portentous and effulgent orchestration that was to characterise their albums, at least up until "The Black Swan" this may be rather too skeletal an experience. But here is a band in wanting to get back to basics and enjoy the process of doing so. I think its great and while it's not in the league of BSD or Calenture its superior to "The Black Swan", an album recorded at much more expense
And one which provided an unworthy swan song.....no pun intended.
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