Tuesday, August 12, 2008

The Only Ones - Remains - 1984


If The Only Ones had released nothing other than “Another Girl, Another Planet,”- conceivably the best rock song ever- their prominent place in the annals of rock would have been assured. The band, fronted by the enormously talented and almost equally self-destructive Peter Perrett, thus can hardly be faulted for breaking the impossible promise of that, their second single. Still, their three CBS-funded records—uneven as they are—are filled with some truly great rock songs. Largely ignored by both fans and critics, “Remains,” the band’s quietly released (French-only) posthumous demos collection, is dismissed as a mere odds and ends afterthought, and is rarely if ever regarded as part of the core Only Ones oeuvre.
But despite the cold shoulder the album has suffered, it is quite simply the most consistently excellent of all The Only Ones’ longplayers, and possesses an across-the-boards no frills production that adds an air of authenticity to the proceedings, jeopardized by the time of the band’s previous longplayer, the compressed-sounding, Colin Thurston-produced “Baby’s Got A Gun.” Despite having been recorded over several years at various studios and under various conditions, Robert Ash’s and Peter Perrett’s reliance on stellar instrumentation (due in no small part to the intermittent presence of Squeeze’s Glenn Tilbrook [misspelled “Tillbrook” on both the original LP as well as the CD-reissue], whose guitar gets a technical workout he has been able to display in only one of his own band’s songs, “Yap. Yap. Yap.”), allows for a natural echo and thus provides a relaxed spaciousness to the recording. -seedyroad.com

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11 comments:

Anonymous said...

maybe not the best song ever, but awfully, awfully, awfully close. I can listen to a 100 different versions of it and love every minutes of it. Thanks

Anonymous said...

Nice one. I wasn't even aware of this album. But the end of the first track seems to be missing.

Curty Ray said...

The link has been repaired. Thanks for letting me know!

csm said...

I downloaded it again and you've still got the same problem on Track 1 here, Curty!

Anonymous said...

Fantastic to find The Only Ones here .. many thanks!

Canada

Anonymous said...

Thank you for this. I'd not heard of it til recently and had given up hope of finding!

Anonymous said...

Thanks friend, but the first track is corrupt.

Anonymous said...

thx for uploading.
peter has awesome voice!

Viagra without a prescription said...

The Only Ones was a great band in 80's, but unfortunately they lost its popularity over the years, specially because the vocalist said the man in the guitar was gay.

Anonymous said...

Lovely. Ta. First track is still damaged, tho... and why does my vinyl copy of this album (which includes bonus 45rpm)contain a brilliant cover of The Small Faces 'My Way Of Giving', and I can't find a CD copy with that track...?? Odd.

Curty Ray said...

All links have been updated and repaired

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