LUNCHAudienceEclectic Prog |
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Quibbling over categories aside, I am nonetheless glad for the opportunity to review an album that has long been a favourite of mine, in any genre. LUNCH is one of those perennially-treasured albums that I fondly revisit again and again.
The band's sound is driven by Werth's strong voice (somewhat reminiscent of CCR's John Fogerty) and acoustic guitar -- there are no electric guitars or synths -- and the tenor sax of Bobby Keys. Drums, bass, piano, vibes, marimba, trumpet, trombone, flute and accordion fill out the mix, and impart a joyful atmosphere to the proceedings.
Taste is a highly individual thing, but I can't understand why my fellow reviewer Hugues Chantraine has given this terrific disc such a poor rating. For the record, LUNCH is not a concept album, but simply a fun CD, and not one to take too seriously. This is perfect music for friends, good times and cold beer! I enjoy every song here, but some are particular standouts: The opener "Stand by the Door" is about as close as this album gets to "Progressive Rock," and gets under your skin (in a good way!) from the first listen, with its plaintive lyrics, infectious chorus, and superb harmony vocals. This magnificent song should have been a hit!
"Hula Girl" is a happy little ditty, replete with whistling, vibes and marimba, and sees Werth singing of his love for his "Polynesian queen." This number never fails to put a smile on my face!
"In Accord," with its double entendre title, is a masterful example of the songwriter's craft, and especially notable for its clever lyrics, which employ musical terminology to describe love: "I just have to tell you girl, that I'm in tune with you. You just tipped the scales my way -- saw your notes were true. Made my mind up now, you've got to come and sing with me. Something tells me by your tone, we won't sing out of key...." Werth's impassioned voice and powerfully strumming acoustic, accompanied by Keys' wailing and statacco sax, really shine here!
"Thunder and Lightning" is also a winner for me -- a passionate declaration of love that serves as another superb showcase for Keys' sax, and Werth's guitar and vocals. A fabulous song!
Next, the catchy music and lyrics of "Party Games" eminently suits its title, and the western-themed "Trombone Gulch" ably keeps the session moving at an up-tempo, joyous pace.
My overall favourite, though, brings this excellent musical repast to a regrettably early end: At over five minutes, "Buy Me an Island" is the longest selection on this all-too-brief recording, and finds Werth singing of his desire to escape the rat race: "I'm gonna buy me an island in the sun -- stay there till my days are all done. Life's gonna be coconut trees and swimming in the sea for me -- and no one's gonna take that from me." When Werth harmonizes "Da de-do-do, do-do do dooo" along with the sax for the superlative final minute, my heart soars along, and a masterpiece of classic English rock comes to a very memorable close.
Thus, I urge all to take another look at the LUNCH menu -- its offerings are actually quite tasty! Highly recommended indeed, for those fans of classic British rock who like to smile!
Progressive albums were at that time mostly concept albums and Lunch certainly doesn't fall into that category. It was/is essentially a collection of singles many of which stylistically bear some similarities but that hardly makes for a "concept album".
I can fully understand how someone who fell in love with House on the Hill might consider Lunch to be a disappointment as the overall style is entirely different. The waiter brings you a tunamelt when you were expecting pastrami on rye and you probably don't care if it's the best tunamelt in town it's still not your beloved pastrami on rye. Fortunately I appreciate variety and that's probably why I always enjoy Lunch.
The first song is by far the best having at least some nice melody and refrain. After Stand by the door, things are going worong. Hey-hooray songs without really memorable instrumental passages attack a poor progressive listener who made such a mistake and buy this album. (In fact, my wife likes this album, sometimes easy rock songs are attractive for people, but not for prog fans)
There is not so much to add to this album. Two stars, because a lot of worse album exists, BUT better ones are also.
While it is generally recognised that Audience's previous release "The house on the hill" was an excellent jazz/prog rock album, the views on "Lunch" are far more divided. "Lunch" should have seen Audience delving deeper into the jazz/prog sound they had created so well on tracks like "Jackdaw" and "House on the hill". Unfortunately, they made a very average album of pretty basic songs.
It all starts off brightly enough with "Stand by the door", a fine commercial piece with a strong refrain and some excellent vocal harmonies. The song is reminiscent of "You're not smiling" from the previous album.
Unfortunately, it's downhill from there on. Howard Werth's highly distinctive vocals are still here of course. While for many they were an instant turn off, there is no denying they were a major factor in the sound of the band.
"Seven sore bruises" is little more than a standard pub rock song, with strong retro feel. "Hula girl" is a light pop number with a pleasant but unremarkable melody. It is the sort of song you hear as background music at holiday camps! "Barracuda Dan" is another throwaway piece, this time a sort variant of ELP's "The Sheriff". "Trombone gulch" is a undistinguished romp. All these tracks are well under three minutes in length, a good indicator of the superficial nature of the album as a whole.
"In accord" finally sees Audience moving back towards "A house on the hill", being an altogether more substantial piece which may have later inspired the WATERBOYS. The brass section is particularly notable here, the piece having a heavy, ROXY MUSIC feel. "Party games", "Buy me an island" and "Thunder and lightning" try to offer something slightly more interesting, but they remain uninspired.
This, Audience's fourth release, turned out to be their last original album, the band's lifespan having been tragically short. The brevity of the album and the eclectic mix of mediocre songs indicates however that the tank was empty. In 2005, the original line up reunited for some live performances. Sadly, they were not supported by Genesis, as they had been in the early 1970's. It remains to be seen if there will be any new material from the band.
When I got this album, I could not believe what I was hearing. I've never witnessed such decline in any other band. Most bands get worse over a period of years (GENESIS spring to mind), I just dont know what happened. By this time, Audience had ditched their unique sound partly due to the fact that they had taken on some not needed session musicians. The result is a batch of below par commercial songs, that more often than not, sound like novelty records. For some reason, Howard Werths vocals sound strained and irritating. Not one good track on the album at all, such a shame regarding the quality of the previous 3. Avoid at all costs.
Songs like Stand by the Door and In Accord are very good songs which reminds me of Audience great debut album. There are also some pretty horrible stuff here too I´m afraid. A song like Hula Girl is really bad but generally the songs are really good. It´s not the most progressive album you´ll ever hear though.
The musicians are very competent and especially singer Howard Werth stands out with his in your face attitude. What a powerful singer. Keith Gemmel´s flute and especially sax is also very present on the album. This is usual business for Audience. They have hired a couple of more horn players on Lunch though which helps the more soulful feeling to emerge.
All in all it´s an ok album, but really not too recommendable. I will always listen to their great debut instead of this. 2 stars is all I can give.
I enjoy the bejeezus out of this album. No, it is not nearly as good as "House on the Hill" and it probably isn't as good as the first two either, but it's a decent album, still light years beyond alot of other things and at least darn interesting.
See, the problem I have with Audience, that no one ever points out on here or anywhere as far as I can tell, is that this band is not strictly speaking "normal." Well, what do I mean by that? First of all whatever form of this music is, what it was when it came out, to my ears this sounds like a grunge band, think Soundgarden or Mother Love Bone specifically, and that it's very pop and seventies instead of dank and nineties, but the gist of the music is very similar. Which is kind of weird to think since Audience weren't exactly an electric guitar band. I guess this isn't exactly a problem, just one of those other things, like doing what my records tell me, that make me feel a little touched, ya know? THEY DO SOUND VERY GRUNGE! I promise it's not a delusion!
Also, they sound less grunge on this album than on "House on the Hill" which is roughly 3.1415926 times better than this album. Still a good record though, a spin every couple months should be enough to charm the pants off a camel and the toes off a sloth. Works good with substances should also be another disclaimer (raises glass of kool-aid and tokes on a hookah filled with a non tobacco herbal mixture of basil, oregano, sage, and ((sigh)) hair...) Honestly close to a 3.5.
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