Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Their One and Only, 12 Aug 2002
By A Customer
My own copy of this cassette has been played so often it's almost gone now. From the opening howl to the final crashing sneer Gaiman reinvent the whole music thing, only with real shoes on and their own leather jackets. Backed up by flame-haired songstress Tori Amos (keyboards and mango) and wood-coloured-haired songster Stephen Merritt (ukelele and bunny rabbits) the whole of NEIL displays the kind of invention that gave us, for example, traffic lights and "I can't Believe it's not butter!". Gaiman are now just shadows on the wall that is rock and roll, their faces filed under "Where Are They Now?" but all of them, Stig, Jerry, Moley and the little guy, entered rock and roll Valhalla with this cassette. And they don't care who knows it.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Unique Sound, 5 Jun 2002
By A Customer
From their Vaudville debut to their ill-fated standing room only show at Madison Square Garden, Gaiman defined their own genre. This album is a perfect introduction to the band, its roaming half-hour tracks reminiscent of Wagner as interpreted by Bob Dylan. Lyrics morph almost imperceptibly between languages: twenty-three tongues appear at least briefly in this recording. The final track is a post-modern interpretation of the earliest music ever recorded by humankind-a primitive series of notes and lyrics found on a stone tablet in the ruins of Sumer. This album, however, is far from primitive. It is difficult to find-as rare as a first-edition unabridged copy of The Princess Bride, and as worth the time and effort to track down.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This is the best ever!@#, 4 Jun 2002
By A Customer
In short, Gaiman's new work, NEIL, is just the sort of thing one expects at this stage in the band's career. The tracks still have their original "recorded under the bridge" sort of quality, but it's obvious that bringing them out from under those greasy tarps and into a proper studio has done nothing but strengthen their quality. Also, their songwriting has enormously bettered itself. Although all the punks loved the London Underground scene, and their Japanese flair was poetic (that monk? that fox? forget about it), what the boys wanted more were songs about chicks (singing about stars is all well and good, but this new track, about this girl Coraline, or Cordelia, or something, well, it rates right up there next to Oingo Boingo's MARY.) Gaiman has not forgotten its roots, though. it still has plenty of songs about the Timeless (or is it Endless?) Dysfunctional Family, and, in short, I can see by this casstette that Gaiman will continue to grow in this genre. Also, on a personal note, I'm glad to see that the sales on this have not slowed, even after the attempted mud-slinging of that gross Todd and the McFarlanes. Thank you.
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