CITY BOY

I used to have two of the seven LPs that British six-piece City Boy made in the mid-70's, early '80's. Especially "The Day The Earth Caught Fire" from 1979 was a big favorite and still is. When I hear the lush art rock with heavy guitars and complex vocal arrangements on the re-issue published in 2008, I am very happy again. It's Queen, A.C.T, Sparks, Styx, Ten CC and (go crazy) Saga mixed together.

The album contains stories about the fact that the earth will soon be hit by a devastating disaster. This is pinned down in eight songs of which the opening title track and the almost 12-minute closing track Ambition are the absolute highlights, despite the fact that all the intermediate songs do not renounce anywhere.

Some bombastic music like in the opener is always nice and it is commendable how one manages to create a turmoil atmosphere without becoming hectic. That high voice is very reminiscent of that of Roger Taylor (Queen). Speaking of Queen?? the lead vocals of Lol Mason have a big resemblance to Freddie Mercury and that's great. Furthermore, this song has a neo-proggy keyboard solo and a nice guitar moment.

City Boy is compositionally especially creative. For example, the four-quartered Ambition is a true magnum opus full of melancholy, theatricality and melody. All this is supported by an orchestra led by Louis Clark, a well-known conductor at that time for e.g. ELO. Rhythmically, the song is also very strong. Shifting the accent in Rev-On is truly genius. It's nice that in the euphoric final movement all three lead singers are present: Lol Mason, Steve Broughton and Roy Ward.

The album may sound like a child of its time, but that's not due to the somewhat slick sound quality.

Orginally posted on www.progenrock.com

CITY BOY had a nice little career in the UK from the mid-seventies into the early eighties. "Dinner At The Ritz" is their second studio album and the only progressive one apparently. Man they seemed to take that 10CC/QUEEN route for the most part here, and AOR and Glam Rock come to the fore too of course as part of that. Some really catchy tracks here, and I wonder if the opener "Momma's Boy" or what follows "Walk On The Water" were ever hits in the UK. Sounds like radio material those two.

The title track is where that 10CC/QUEEN vibe is strongest. "Narcissus" is kind of dark until the chorus arrives where it turns poppy but with determined vocals. A pretty good song. These guys know how to create great material, I'm just not into some of it, but at the same time I get the appeal. See my QUEEN and 10CC reviews. "Goodbye Blue Monday" is the most adventerous piece on here in my opinion. Opening with synths before changing when the guitar arrives. Man this is CARDIACS-101 except that band hasn't arrived yet. Oh, so this is their inspiration. This song though changes throughout as they move on to a vocal/piano romp. Back to CARDIACS inspiration as themes are repeated and some humour too.

"The Violin" is certainly that. Well more like cascading strings as reserved vocals take over. It builds as the story continues with the focus on the vocals and lyrics. Violin before 3 1/2 minutes then vocals return with those strings. Hey we're only half way through, but that second half is like the first in many ways. Gotta love the bass to start the closer "State Secrets-A Thriller". A catchy vocal track but with some depth which I love. Catchy too. A great way to end it.

The first two tracks and the title track are keeping me from going 4 stars. I just find that with that one two punch to start that I'm listening to the FM radio back in the day. And the title track is too QUEEN-like. There is a reason why this band is under Prog-Related. Still, this is an album that gets a lot of props from Prog fans.

So another album requested for review. This is for the album Dinner At The Ritz by City Boy, a progressive pop rock band. They are a rather more obscure band, but they are fairly known in the Prog sphere as a band similar to those like ELO and Supertramp. They have a bit of a cult following from what I've seen, so with that, I figured to check them out and see what they were all about.

The first song that starts this album is Momma's Boy. This is a really neat song, lots of ebb and flow from a more standard pop rock sound to a more hard rock sound, it even goes to a nice little guitar solo. You can definitely hear the influence these guys got from the pop music of the 70s, but this also leads into a specific issue I have with this album and that is you can tell they wear their inspiration on their sleeves. Normally I don't mind it, but as a big ELO fan, when I first heard this song it made me feel like I am just hearing a B-side on albums like Famous Last Words and or Face The Music. While I do like this song, it doesn't leave me impressed since I have heard way better interpretations of this exact sound.

The next song is Walk on the Water. Similar in vain to the last track, different sound though, less artsy and more straight forward, yet has the same problems as the former.

After that, we got Narcissus. This song is actually really different from the former 2 songs, being a lot more eclectic and progressive. This feels like they are trying a cooler more hard rock approach to their music and straying away from the ELO based Prog pop they have done. It's honestly super cool, and pretty refreshing to hear a more original sound not based on influence. This is what I want more on this album, which makes this my favorite song of the album by far.

Next song is the title track, Dinner at the Ritz. This feels like a combination of all the last three tracks. You can tell and see the influence on their sleeves, but also you can feel they are using said influences more original here and you can feel them really setting a mold down here. Really nice, and really artistically interesting.

The next song is Goodbye Blue Monday. This is very much like the first two tracks where the inspiratitors are basically shown in front of you with the sound. Honestly when I first saw the name, I kinda instantly thought of Mr. Blue Sky, which can tell you a bit about what I feel about this album. I cannot say it's bad, but I cannot say it's exactly original. What I want more is Narcissus and Dinner at the Ritz, not Goodbye Blue Monday and Walk On The Water.

The next song after that is The Violin. This is a more acoustic track that utilizes a violin in the track. It has a bit more of a soft rock sort of sound. It's actually pretty darn good, it feels as original as the title track and Narcissus while also not being some sort of rehash of those two songs. It is also pretty calming too, giving you a breather from the more eccentric pop songs of the former, giving you a nice little calm song to just relax too. It's very nice and I like it a whole lot.

And finally the last song, State Secrets - A Thriller. Sad to say this is again a rehash of the similar sound found on Goodbye Blue Monday and the first two songs. It's kinda weird, this album doesn't really have many problems, production is good, vocals and instrumentation are great, it's just a bit bogged down from the influences that I feel cannot live up to their inspirators, and with them doing it so often, it's kinda hard to feel a sense to comeback to this album when so much better exists, that's what I think at least.

So overall I am mixed on this album. It has a lot of great songs, but most of those songs are basically copying the homework written down from much more popular and recognizable bands to where I cannot really say I want to or feel obligated to go back to this album again. It's not that it's bad, it just feels super unoriginal.

Dinner at the ritz is one of the best art rock albums ever..

After a good debut album city boy manages to write a set of songs sounding tighter and more focused than before. this would be their most complete progressive album ever. The band is featuring some heavy guitars but still manages to have a light feel to their music due to their great vocals which are never dark but always positive and uplifting , that's why it is so easy to get into . the music always sounds professional and complex because of how all instruments blend with each other creating a complete mould. There are no fillers here , every song has something to offer , and i'm glad they had a good production and recording to support their music. The music contains some super great breaks stating of the high standard music delievered , it can remind you of 'crack the sky' , 'supertramp' and some 'queen' maybe , fusing some cabaret , funk and a good dose of humor. songs have that bright vibe to them , featuring some great vocal harmonies , beautiful blistering guitars with great riffs and some sharp accurate solos , top that with their fine rhythms carried out with very good drums and bass.

The music ranges from short effective rocky songs with heavy guitars and some intricate rhythm to long more progressive songs. the highlight for me is 'dinner at the ritz' featuring some very good singing , suiting the song perfectly , before a change of music occur , showing their exquisite humor with those funny vocals , adding some great saxophone to the mix , leaving me with only applause , another one is ' state secrets' starting as a rocky tune and in a second turns to funk rock creating a main funky theme out of vocals , guitar , noises and a couple of piano notes , you should really hear this to believe , it then continuing to rock , closing this album with a bang. 'the violin' features another side of the band focusing on a beautiful ballad with ( of course ) very good violins arrangements , acoustic guitar and a lead beautiful violin touches.

The good rating certainly is appropriate. City boy manages to create a wonderful and diverse album with a lot for prog fans to appreciate. If you are interested with the prog related genre you shouldn't miss out on this. my 4 star rating is gonna put the album down a bit and i wish it wouldn't happen but i would give this a 4.2 on a prog related scale. Super excellent addition to your prog collection. Nice cover too...

CITY BOY could best be described as 10CC with a hard rock fetish, or SUPERTRAMP with less distinctive vocalists, or QUEEN without the hooks, or the British KAYAK, or, you get the idea. Not a lot of identity wrapped up in this package, and literally dozens of bands were doing this as well or better, not that this style lends itself well to one-upmanship other than in the commercial department. Sadly, that is where CITY BOY was most ignominious, barely establishing more than a cult in select realms like individual floors of university dorms.

If one group track could lay claim to being well known, it would be the title cut here, a surprisingly powerful progressive song with a pleasant pop sensibility. It was the darling of the sci fi set at the time. Several other decent if overly clever short tunes are included, like "Modern Lover Affair". "New York Times" sounds like ELO right down to the Eldorado-styled ending. They also almost pull off another prog coup with "Interrupted Melody" but it seems a tad disjointed, and you can forget about the 13 minute closer other than as confirmation that CITY BOY's closest association with the progressive movement was temporal.

By all reports things went down from this not particularly lofty peak. Recommended only to those who are red hot for groups of this ilk.

The fifth albun from the Britanic band CITY BOY " Day the Earth Caught Fire" is a very good example from 70's Art-Rock style.. The sound is a mix of influences of , 10 cc, Sweet, Styx ( mainly in the vocal choirs). The albun in itself, in spite of presents some interesting moments in a form of riffs or maybe some eletric guitar and keyboards solos, is very far of a progressive rock music and is more close of a a little more elaborated hard rock.The best moments are in the track 1 "Day the Earth Caught Fire" with a moog solo and a good vocal arrangement and a the final guitar solo, the track 7 "Machines" a heavy song in ALICE COOPER's "vein" with a guitar solo in BOSTON or maybe STYX' style and the track 8 "Ambition" with 5 distinct párts ( the more close of a progressive song ). My rate is 3 stars !!!

In the mid 70s, a series of British groups combined elements of classic prog, adding some heavy rock a la Zeppelin and some hints of glam (T. Rex, Gary Glitter and early Roxy Music). Some went on to massive fame (Queen, Bowie), so-so celebrity (Sweet) and no distinction whatsoever (City Boy). Wiki defines glam as "Visually it was a mesh of various styles, ranging from 1930s Hollywood glamour, through 1950s pin-up sex appeal, pre-war Cabaret theatrics, Victorian literary and symbolist styles, science fiction, to ancient and occult mysticism and mythology. City Boy are among those rare bands that had definite talent but only 2 albums hit any kind of renown, the "Dinner at the Ritz" and this one. Obviously, the title here implies a science fiction slant (a famous classic movie whose storyline is the following: panic has engulfed the world after the United States and the Soviet Union simultaneously detonate nuclear devices and have caused the orbit of the Earth to alter, sending it hurtling towards the sun) and the songs are reflective of the hysterical eccentricities that were extremely newsworthy at the time. I purchased the vinyl back when it came out as I was intrigued by the then media reviews of this concept album and ever since I was always compelled to slide this one alongside Sheer Heart Attack and Desolation Boulevard, as there are some uncanny resemblances. Lol Mason's high pitched vocals akin to Freddie Mercury and Brian Connolly, Mike Slamer's loud guitar crunches in the Andy Scott/Brian May school of rock rifferama, steady bass and power drumming that certainly recall Taylor or Bonham from Roy Ward , who sings a bit too. The differences are mostly in the person of Max Thomas, a deft keyboardist who paints the ivory symphonics with aplomb. The title track is a marvelous slice of rock harmonics, a bruising, highly melodramatic opus that could easily have been penned by the Bohemian rhapsodists, with its massed choirs, insanely catchy chorus ("Run for your life"), moody synth backdrops, and cyclonic beats. A slippery axe solo only adds to the pop-corn drama. Wow! "It's Only the End of the World" is ballsier, almost basic heavy rock, drummer Ward taking over the mike and sounding like a rock 'n roller, aided by the lush massed backing vocals, guitars weaving in and out and doomsday ahead. Lots of fun, "sports car driving off a cliff" kind of a track! "Interrupted Melody" has an almost Springsteen-like flavour, a piano-driven exposure of the sleazy life of girls of the night, lustily teasing the unified choir vocals that parallel the brash guitar, a depressingly lurid story encased in yet a brilliant song. Slamer's solo is devastating, enough to make any May fan stand and applaud. "Modern Love Affair" is breezy, a typical brit rock song, a hint of pub cabaret and lots of rock and roll, a perfect foil for some vocal/guitar histrionics and a chorus that never fades from memory. "New York Times" has quite an intro, instrumental fracas that will wink at the Queen boys (Queens, New York, get it?), huge orchestrations that will recall George Martin's work with the Fab Four, again with that Cabaret feel, a sizzling axe solo and some dizzying dynamics. Drummer Ward really has nice pipes here, elevating this track to lofty heights. "Up in the Eighties" is another sweltering winner, swerving contrasts, a sense of "deja entendu"(look it up!), I swear I hear Dr John's "Are You in the right place?" . The pub was too hot to bear any more pain. "Machines" is where things get hot and heavy, a raunchy workout with crunching riffs, bruising bass and tectonic drum beats, Ward singing like a madman while bashing his kit, the squeaky synth backed chorus is like something from the Sparks, totally unexpected but deeply appreciated. The guitar solo sounds like Bill Nelson on steroids! The lyrics continue to astound by their doomsville frankness. Now of course, you have to wait to the finale, the whopping 12 minute+ "Ambition" suite in order to anoint this with duly stamped prog credentials and rightly so. This is one hell of a roller coaster, replete with 3 segments that clash, crash and smash as the planet goes down the tubes of its own destruction, a button pushed, humanity vaporized. An epitaph to political stupidity, at a time when the chance of nuclear obliteration was quite real, even possible (Too many near misses, from 1960 onward). The manic "Rev-On" section is hot and juicy, almost deliriously close to hard rock where it not for the swooping synths and clavinet. The singing here is primeval and endearing, Steve Broughton, Lol Mason and Ward all contributing to the vocal melee. This is a brilliant unknown gem that deserves high praise and way many more devoted fans, including the royals . 4.5 Urban punks

I might as well share my opinion of this compilation album since I already covered all of its material during my City Boy retrospective. The main question is whether a newcomer should invest into a 70+ minute anthology or just go with the actual studio albums? My answer has always been the latter, since compilation albums rarely manage to capture an entire carrier, especially when we're talking about a versatile band like City Boy. Surprisingly, this is really not the biggest concern that I have with this so called Anthology album.

It's not even the fact that this album doesn't have a single track off the band's seventh and final record It's Personal, although the later re-releases have No Ordinary Life added in as a bonus track. Nor is it the irritating decision of not placing the tracks in their chronological order (or any other logical order, for that matter). No, my main concern comes from the idea that there's just too much average material here that really doesn't do much for me.

I can understand why you would include the title track off Heads Are Rolling or the band's first ever single, Hap-Ki-Do Kid, which was also performed during their first Top Of The Pops performance. But then there are forgettable tracks like Need A Little Loving and Surgery Hours (Doctor Doctor) that I doubt that even the biggest fans would consider even remotely essential to the band's repertoire. The worst thing about this is that excellent compositions had to be overlooked due to these poor choices. I'm talking about classics like Sunset Boulevard, The Violin, State Secrets - A Thriller, Bordello Night, Cigarettes and Domino, just to name a few!

What I'm basically saying here is that if you want to explore City Boy then start with their band-titled debut album and Dinner At The Ritz. If you're short on cash, then go for the double disc package that features the two albums, released in 1998 by Renaissance Records. There is really no reason to purchase this Anthology since this is far from a Best Of collection, which I'm sure is the reason why such an album title was not chosen for this modest compilation!

***** star songs: Shake My Head And Leave, (Moonlight) (4:26) Dinner At The Ritz (6:43) The Day The Earth Caught Fire (5:26)

**** star songs: 5-7-0-5 (3:13) I've Been Spun (3:24) Beth (2:45) Modern Love Affairs (3:31) She's Got Style (3:20) What A Night (3:02) Goodbye Blue Monday (5:01) New York Times (5:11) Young Men Gone West (4:06)

*** star songs: Heads Are Rolling (3:59) Hap-Ki-Do Kid (3:13) Bad For Business (3:34) Need A Little Loving (3:41) Surgery Hours (Doctor Doctor) (3:04) You're Leaving Me (3:59)

Oh boy, where do I even start commenting on this release? Well, I can start by stating that this is easily one of the best final albums that any band have ever put on tape!

It wouldn't be an understatement to say that Heads Are Rolling was a low point of the band's career which made most people assume that City Boy was over and done with. Even their label Atlantic realized that there was no more hit potential left in the band and dropped them as soon as their contract expired. The band handed in their seventh album to the label before leaving but Atlantic executives decided against releasing the record. Fortunately there was still a distribution deal with Phonogram Records (though Vertigo) that made it possible for the Scandinavian market to actually experience this gem!

I really find it hilarious that the Swedish Wikipedia page for this UK band is actually twice as long as its English counterpart! I guess that we Swedes know a quality act whenever we see one (Warning! This statement is obviously very shallow and you can probably find at least a dozen exceptions to this so called rule). Still, the fact that City Boy was a lot more popular in the Nordic regions remains a fact. I'm obliviously very happy about it since I got to grow up with City Boy.

One can only be amazed when a band actually manages to create a noteworthy album at the late stages of their career. It's Personal is even more than just a noteworthy release, it's easily one of the top two records in the band's career! Tracks like No Ordinary Life, The Police-inspired Names And Addresses are just beautiful while Exit The Heavyweight can pretty much be considered a perfect ending to a short but very memorable career. The rest of the tracks do a good job of creating atmosphere for the highlights, with a minor exception of La Guerra De Mondo since the track simply sounds out of place with the rest of these cheery pop tunes.

I would be lying if I said that It's Personal was a Progressive Rock album, but let's not forget that City Boy was never really a Prog band to begin with, hence their Prog Related-tag. If all you're after is a great rock album with a few touches of Art Rock then look no further!

***** star songs: No Ordinary Life (4:12) Names And Addresses (4:15) Exit The Heavyweight (4:34)

**** star songs: Rat Race (3:14) The Blind Leading The Blind (4:08) Lovers (4:21) It's Personal (4:33) Who Killed Dolores (4:03)

*** star songs: La Guerra De Mondo (3:51)

A slight misstep...

City Boy lost two of its original members after their previous release, The Day the Earth Caught Fire, managed to completely miss the attention of the mainstream audience. Steve Broughton and Chris Dunn were important to the signature style of the band and seeing them leave did create a lot of hollow room, especially since the remaining quartet decided to carry on without any replacements.

Let me start by addressing the album's cover since it never really appealed to me and I honestly can't imagine how anyone could have green-lighted it. Book Early was the most unappealing album cover up until now but Heads Are Rolling definitely drops the bar a few more notches which makes Book Early seem not that bad in comparison. The cover really has not connection to the music that it tries to represent since this album is just as colorful and vibrant as most of the previous albums.

Although the overall style is still the same, the quality of the compositions is really not on the same level as before. The first three tracks starts the album off on a weird note that does take a while to shake off. Fortunately we have tracks like Change In The Weather, The Police-inspired Domino and Speechless that returns the album on the right track for a while. This doesn't really hold for too long and the quality sinks once again with The Sound Of The Bell and the ultra cheesy ballad You're Leaving Me.

Heads Are Rolling shows City Boy at their career low, which is quite understandable since the band needed some time to reorganize themselves in order to get back on track. Most fans actually didn't get a follow up to the story until only a few years back when the band's seventh and final album It's Personal finally got a proper release, but more on that in my next review!

**** star songs: Change In The Weather (3:44) Domino (3:45) Speechless (3:35) Bloody Sunday (3:25) Life On The Balcony (4:57)

*** star songs: Mr. Shoes (3:24) Heads Are Rolling (3:58) Need A Little Loving (3:41) The Sound Of The Bell (3:41) You're Leaving Me (3:58) Heaven For The Holidays (3:34)