I have a copy of said Western Stars album, and its quite good on the whole, although it is a bit patchy in parts as you might expect. Its a collection of tracks by Bristol bands from the late 70's and early 80's. Those of you who are in Bristol might be interested to know that I spied a couple of copies in the 2nd hand section of Replay Records in between the Bear Pit and the Bus Station last time I was in there. Pretty cheap too.
The Art Objects track is very proto-Aeroplanes, and has quite a political lyric. Not sure I'd agree with the "savage apocalyptic guitar frenzy" description but it does kick off eventually! The Various Artists track is more poppy and has a very early 80's sound, very listenable. Stealing what sounds like the first bar of the Byrds "Feel A Whole Lot Better" before veering off in a different direction was always likely to grab my attention! They've been remastered ("lovingly" according to the sleeve notes!) and its been put together by SugarShack records, who are excellent in all other respects, and it sounds fine. I'm not sure if the original production on a couple of the tracks stands the test of time, but its an interesting album.
PV1
From: Drdaeve@ao...com
Reply-To: blueplanes@st...net
To: blueplanes@st...net
Subject: [Blueplanes] vintage Langley on CD.....
Date: Sun, 1 Feb 2004 15:21:48 EST
Friendsloversplanes....
if you visit this webpage...
http://www.sugarshackrecords.co.uk/diary/default.htm
...you can purchase Western Stars Vol 1 - The Bands That Built Bristol, a
compilation which includes 'Hard Object' by the Art Objects - Langley's precursor
project to the Blue Aeroplanes. Features Gerard and John Langley & is a total
classic track...savage apolalyptic guitar frenzy.....the other survivor from
that era is Wojtek. I'm old enough to remember the Art Objects performing this
live...they were pretty full-on in those days, several guitars, mad
dancing..well, like the BAs. Identical, in my view, apart from the name. Last time I
mentioned the Art Objects to GL (backstage at Exeter Uni on the Swagger tour) he
basically disowned this early work, said it was all rubbish...don't know if
Hard Object has been remastered or what for this compilation....if you trawl
the site you'll find a list of Bristol gigs from 1977-1981...note that GL has
been doing his thing for 26 years...also on the compilation are tracks by
'Various Artists' - who were the Art Objects minus GL and WD...
stay cool brothers & sisters
DrDx
