Cresta

Twisted	Gobbledygook	The Dylans	Somewhere Soon	Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches Although this band is largely responsible for defining the circa 1990 rave culture, their music is far removed from the bass-heavy electronica usually associated with dance clubs. Ten songs on this album are characterized by lazy tempos, groovy bass hooks, and artfully simple per...
Cleopatra Grip	Turtle Soup	It's Great When You're Straight...Yeah Heavily steeped in the funk, ex-Happy Mondays frontman Shaun Ryder comes off here like a Mancunian George Clinton as he babbles over top of a skilled, polyrhythmic unit that's far tighter than the slapdash Mondays. --Jeff Bateman	Night on Earth After having been dropped twice by EastWest, they have now landed with the Eagle label and are destined to take over the world.	Bed

unsung beauty
The Hollow Men were a great band who were unjustly lumped into the same multi-colored batch of britpop "it bands" as The Stone Roses, Inspiral Carpets, Happy Mondays, etc. therefore, they seemed to have mostly been ignored as "just another band on the Madchester scene." although they do share some of the same audio elements as many of their peers, The Hollow Men had one ace up their sleeve that helped them to stand far and above the crowded sea of trite bands: better songs (oh yes..and a better publicity shot; one that featured the band brushing their teeth in unison...quite memorable)! Cresta is a more than worthwhile album and it's tracks are full of grace, charm, and maturity that still sounds amazing 10 years later. the music on this record is absolutely lovely and bristling with wonderful melodies and thoughtful song arrangements. their songs spring forth with a sense of wide-eyed wonder and life thanks to the singer's beautiful voice, which has a breezy gentle appeal; and the crystal clear production adds buoyant energy beneath these fine cuts. if you like bands like The Smiths and The La's, then The Hollow Men's albums (this and the brilliant Twisted) should be next on your list of "cd's that i missed the first time around that i need to buy now!" you'll thank me later.

no one will read this, but i will write this
5 stars on this is not the same as an amg(all music guide) 5 stars, which means perfection more or less, it also means the inlcusion of some songs carry the lesser material to the point that it is still perfect, with it's flaws. i could name countless 5 star albums that simply aren't so, but i won't name names. this is an album with few moments of weakness, though on repeated listens favorites will be chosen, and will be listened to more than the album as a whole, but hey, other than scritti politti's masterwork CUPID & PSYCHE 85, and ALMOST the case with adam ant's FRIEND OR FOE, it's hard to find those "put it on and let it go" albums, filler is a fact of life, sorry. but the high points on this album start right away with the fun soaring "don't slow down", which is some perfect hybrid of chapterhouse playing with the bounciness of the happy mondays, which is alot of the vibe i get through the album. it has the wonderful feel of a mid-nineties uk album when genre crossing was being done, sometimes sincerely (happy mondays/stone roses/blah blah blah) sometimes not (no names remember). this has that madchester sound, but with atmospheric tricks that show they or the producers were into or aware of the "shoegazer" sound (that is a condescending term that while nasty, is the only quick reference way to describe bands like ride,mbv,lush,chapterhouse,early moose,secret shine(very underrated band, go out and by the reissue on tonevendor.com, if you're a fan of the afermentioned bands, it will be money well spent). so it has a bouncy dance feel, that is tempered with well placed instrumentation, david ashmoore's GREAT sexy half-sung half-talk croon that is at once sincere/condescending/and seductive. this is an album that i will hold the torch of for the rest of my days. god bless and god bless the hollow men, wherever you are. jj.