Poll The Clock

A below par album, featuring one song that is an absolute classic that is one of his best ever.

Accordingly, "Shipbuilding" should walk this poll even though "Pills And Soap" isn't too bad either.

below par in comparison to what came before but above par compared to what came after, i remember being fairly surprised at how much i liked this album when i first heard it. it seems the lighter, less busy/'clever' little brother to imperial bedroom. still fond of 'everyday i write the book' (which seems to be esp hated by ec detractors and ec fans), and 'shipbuilding' and 'pills and soap' are great though obv ringers (plus the wyatt version of 'shipbuilding' is so many leagues better). voted 'let them all talk' if only as a reminder of what this album generally actually sounds like, good and bad. plus it's as good a midpoint between madness and huey lewis as any other that defines this period of naffer by the minute ec, where the hack is very much starting to overtake the genius but his nose is just above or at the waterline.

below par in comparison to what came before but above par compared to what came after

If you mean "Goodbye Cruel World", sure.

But "Spike", "Brutal Youth" and even the considerably patchier "Mighty Like a Rose" were way better than this.

who hates "Everyday I Write The Book"?!?

That's what I voted for.

voted 'let them all talk' if only as a reminder of what this album generally actually sounds like, good and bad. plus it's as good a midpoint between madness and huey lewis as any other that defines this period of naffer by the minute ec

Well said.

Has to be "Pills And Soap" really.

"Shipbuilding" is unquestionably a great song but Wyatt's is the definitive version whereas this is a bit overblown and Chet Baker's solo sounds 'phoned in (were those hugely irritating echoes put in to cover up technical deficiencies?). Also Carla Bley would like a wee word about the arrangement (see "Caucasian Bird Riffles" on Tropic Appetites).

Otherwise the album's a bit "let's please the NME and be Soulful, Honest and Passionate."

This album is even worse than GCW: I can't even hum "The Invisible Man," "Mouth Almighty," "King of Thieves," or "The World and His Wife."

Apart from Everyday, Pills and Shipbuilding, Let Them All Talk and TKO are the only other tracks on this I can remember offhand, mostly because of the horn section (on loan from Dexy's IIRC).

Goodbye Cruel World - oh dear, that was a stinker and a half. The video for The Only Flame In Town is possibly also the worst music video ever made.

I know this is an old argument, but I can hear how GCW's "Peace in Our Time," "Inch by Inch," and "I Wanna Be Loved" are superior to most of PTC's album tracks; it's the singing and arrangements that enfeeble them.

Wasn't I Wanna Be Loved a cover?

For me, this album and even more "Goodbye Cruel World" sounds like a second rate attempt to sound like Madness or Dexy's Midnight Runners. It was the moment when Langer & Winstanley sounded so much like themselves that they started shaping every production they did to such an extent that it harmed the recording considerably. Making Elvis Costello sound like Madness was almost as weird as when Laurie Latham in 1985 decided he wanted to make Squeeze sound like Paul Young.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Not a lot of votes, and I am not sure if I even bother to poll "Goodbye Cruel World".