Still rate The Hurting (TFF) as one of my fave LPs so recommend that. Wasn't so sold on the Big Chair one.

Also got Christians album with b/w cover (not sure if there were others but that was the one with the hits). Name escapes me for the moment. Again, well worth getting, especially for a quid.

Upgraded to CD with Hurting a few years back, and have thought of doing same with Christians, which is a vote of confidence. There are a fair few LPs I wouldn't do that with.

Got a second hand cd of Pulp's We Love Life, which I had not heard before, and must say I was very disappointed with it. It's not a complete disaster but by Pulp's high standards felt let down.

The songs I liked were Weeds 1, The Trees (good but hardly earth shattering), and Sunrise. Bob Lind was lyrically confusing though a reasonably good tune and most of the other songs were so so.

Wickerman, Jarvis' Sheffield tour guide from hell was for me a  bit mundane and dull and  too long.  I always  wonder if people who are really big fans have a higher tolerance for their favourite bands music, allowing them to experiment and perhaps indulge themselves, while the more casual fan will be a bit less sympathetic or 'understanding'?

Next album up for me is Paul Simon's Rhythm Of The Saints. The Obvious Child was one of the singles, but the rest of the album I have yet to hear, but it is supposed to be good, the South American jungle version of the African moods of Graceland.

suss wrote:

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Good point, upgraded was wrong choice of word. Just meant I listened to them enough to warrant going for the slightly more convenient and versatile format. Remember vowing that I wouldn't ever buy CD copies of my vinyl way back when, as vinyl sounded great so why pay again, especially when CDs were around the £15 mark.

Then I realised some CDs added bonus tracks and I cracked. Now that CDs show up new from as little as a pound or two I don't think twice about buying albums I've still got on vinyl. Must be 30-40% duplicated now....

The Christians was eponymous I've just checked, which explains why 'title' didn't spring to mind. Very good album though...Hooverville was a favourite. Suffer the Children prob my fave track on the TFF one. Edited to add, somewhat ironically, or possibly Memories Fade 

Never quite 'got' Simple Minds appeal I must admit, apart from Don't You Forget.... which was decent, if not classic. Maybe I was just tainted by jealousy about Patsy Kensit.

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 With all three of them (Christians, Tears for Fears, Simple Minds), I wasn't a fan, but the odd song did appeal.  The Simple Minds album was Once Upon a Time (their biggest seller) which had Alive & Kicking on which was why I was tempted.

Interestingly they had six albums which tanked prior to Promised You a Miracle which gave them some success, but what really made them was Don't You Forget About Me being in The Breakfast Club.  Now if only the Rats had a song on a film soundtrack back in 1978 or so...

noelindublin wrote:

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 I always  wonder if people who are really big fans have a higher tolerance for their favourite bands music, allowing them to experiment and perhaps indulge themselves, while the more casual fan will be a bit less sympathetic or 'understanding'?

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To some degree.  I am a big Rats fan, yet there are quite a number of tracks on Mondo Bongo & V Deep I dislike, but there is enough good on the albums to forgive them for the likes of Another Piece of Red and Charmed Lives.  

With Pulp there isn't much pre Separations I like, but from that point on there isn't really a bad song.  I can see why people wouldn't like We Love Life, but I thought it was a superb album.  Maybe not as good as His 'n' Hers, Intro or Hardcore, but on a par with Different Class and Separations, and certainly better than anything else released at that time.

The last newish album I listened to was Radiohead's King Of Limbs, which was only eight tracks long and was decent enough, with two or three really good songs, most were okish, and a few redundant pieces.

Two songs which stood out were Lotus Flower and Separator, but I doubt Radiohead will ever equal Ok Computer or The Bends, and I also doubt they wish to, or ever become in any way formulaic.

Despite there being loads of good music around in the nineties, my album of that period would go to Geneva for the album Further from 1997. It was totally at odds with Oasis and all that guitar swagger and it is one of those albums that always brings a lump to my throat- of course in the world of musical justice Geneva are totally forgotten, while Oasis still churn out dross in various guises. The first few Belle and Sebastion albums from the mid nineties were also brilliant, less so their latter work when they became a bit more popular.