DISQUS

DwDunphy · 2 months ago

This whole album gave me that creeped out feeling I had when I heard Pat Boone's version of "Tutti Fruity"

rwcass · 2 months ago

And it made me think these boys are big fans of Gus Van Sant's 1998 remake of "Psycho."

John · 2 months ago

Check out the credits on the original releases of these songs in Australia. Full live band playing real instruments. Not that you'll print anything to admit your assumptions about all that "Mac", "PC" and "Garage Band" programming were wrong, will you?

rwcass · 2 months ago

There's no way for me to get my hands on the liner notes for the original albums here in America, but if you say real musicians are credited on the Australian releases, I believe you. The instrumentation still sounds canned, though. Thanks for reading.

John · 2 months ago

Thanks for the response- sorry I doubted you!
I'm in an Aussie band myself and I know how it feels to have a reviewer denigrate your work for reasons that simply aren't true. It really annoys me, so I thought it only right to point out the flaws in your argument.
However, unlike most Australian reviewers, I'm glad to see you acknowledge this part of your argument may not be based on fact. Much respect for that.

rwcass · 2 months ago

"However, unlike most Australian reviewers, I'm glad to see you acknowledge this part of your argument may not be based on fact. Much respect for that."

I will never claim I'm perfect. It's just that the liner notes for the American edition of "Reach Out" aren't much help. I'd never heard of Human Nature before I was assigned that review, and like I said in the review, no copyright dates are given that indicate some of the songs are four years old. However, after you wrote, I looked up the original release of "Reach Out" on allmusic.com. I'd referenced it for my review, but I failed to look at the "credits" page. Sure enough, there are the musicians' names. I'll see if they're also listed for the other two albums from which the American "Reach Out" gets its tracks. I'll change my review to reflect that, but it still sounds like GarageBand to me. My sarcasm shall remain untouched, mate!

All kidding aside, let me ask you -- are these guys big in Australia? And what's the name of your band? My exposure to Australian pop and rock is mostly limited to what I've heard by liking Evan Dando and the Lemonheads since he loves Australia and groups like Smudge and the Eastern Dark and, by extension, the Hummingbirds. Are any of those groups still active?

Thanks again for writing. I always welcome corrections.