Royal Trux debut album: C or D?

Bad blood bad blood bad blood bad blood's gonna fall on YOU .... especially for bringing up something decent for a change at this place of all places (ILM being a haven for curiously diehard fanboys of otherwise deservedly forgotten 80's twit-Brit effete muzak).

Anyway, a resounding yes. Or C, I mean. Sort of a post-apocalyptic version of "God Bless the Red Krayola and All Who Sail With It". Any record which features "Strawberry Soda", "Esso Dame", "Jesse James" and "Hawk'n Around" HAS to be a classic. Royal Trux didn't top it until the next one ...

Omar to thread..

It's cool but 'Twin Infinitives' has more sonic variety

I like the other self-titled Royal Trux album just a little bit better. They are both great though.

I'm here. :) I always thought it was the least interesting of the bunch, too foggy somehow especially the very Sun Ra-ish 'Hashish'. I played the record recently and it totally made sense. So classic. Probably that boxset helped to put it into the overall context of The Trux' output.

Still the truly classic stuff is the Twin Infinitives/Royal Trux/Cats & Dogs continuum.

"Hey, hey, strawberry soda pop. . . . " Classic.

Oh so classic.

what every one else said

but i would imagine that these albums are the kind that sound SO much better on vinyl yes?

Omar - what's this abt a box set?

Classic in the word's true sense. I actually think it's a far more cohesive, 'vision'-filled effort than Twin Infinitives. TI can be thought of as an attempt to top their debut by flying wildly in all directions and hoping for the best, and not really hitting it. There's a reason they switched to (relatively) conventional blues rock after this album.

Unfortunately, of their early works, most critics seem only to have heard TI, which they rightly dismiss as a failure. If they could just be persuaded to experience the wonder of the first album, their perspective on RTX would be much the better for it.

Unfortunately, of their early works, most critics seem only to have heard TI, which they rightly dismiss as a failure

Unfortunately this is bollocks. a) Critics by law have to like TI, it makes you look harder than everybody else (IIRC NME gave it a 9/10). b) It's a total triumph. :)

Andrew, Singles, Live and Unreleased was released on vinyl as a three record box-set, beautiful package, a monument, etc. On cd it's a mere double-cd thingy. Or does three records not pass the International Standard For Boxsets? ;)

I have that one album where they're, like, all fucked up junkies or some shit like that.

Omar: I should have been more specific. When people do dismiss the early phase of Royal Trux (ie. their first two albums), they do so through Twin Infinitives. And while I agree that the album has more musical layers and takes more risks than its predecessor, the risks never pay off for the listener IMO. They venture into interesting territory, but they don't quite know how to harness what they find there.

hadn't they cleaned up by the time of Twin Infinitives? Or am I wildly mistaken?

yeah , me and alex sf were just talking about these albums. strawberry soda pop!!!

I hear you Harman but (of course ;),

they don't quite know how to harness what they find there.

which is exactly one of the reasons why it's so fascinating.

I always thought Twin Infinitives WAS the debut. So it's that one w/Str Sodapop on it, huh? One of the two albums entitled Royal Trux. Fucking weirdos. Did you guys ever see the home video thing they put out? It's like them trying to make coffee out in this shack in the middle of nowhere around the time they released the second of those eponymous albums. By that time they'd cleaned up, it was obvious, they were complete wrex. My favorite is still UK EP.

That first things genius, in a majestically fucked-up kind of way. TI is great too! screw the critics. As to them cleaning up - last bit of gossip i heard had Jennifer in Rehab and Neil releasing his second solo album! Still haven't heard the first one durnit! The triple live thigns is so good it makes me weep; it covers all kinds of moments and stages amd is higlhy recommended for any fan of Da Trux, who may well be my favourite band when i consider it. The best record, however, is still Cats and Dogs. Makes me wanna drink beer and shoot the windows out of the Government building