The 1985 Listening Post - Pale Fountains - ...From Across the Kitchen Table

Pale Fountains - ...From Across the Kitchen Table

#51

February 1985

Pale Fountains

…From Across the Kitchen Table

Genre: Jangle Rock

3.75 out of 5

Highlights:

Limit

These Are the Things

I wasn’t much blown away by the first Pale Fountains record. And, I guess, not that many people were, either, inasmuch as after this one, their second, they were done. 

The well-produced tube way busker sound comes off better here and is an improvement over the first. But, that’s all it ends up being. Occasionally they sound like they are trying too hard to be original and different and just sound forced. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RY5E_QKFpA8&list=PLBJ7ztNazTVAop8mmNxggcIucQahzo36H 

The 1984 Listening Post - The Pale Fountains - Pacific Street

The Pale Fountains - Pacific Street

#53

February 1984 (Housekeeping)

The Pale Fountains

Pacific Street

3 out of 5

Highlights:

Natural

The first 30 seconds of “Reach” suggest one kind of band and the, the song takes a hard left turn to semi-twee, dream pop and I’m in. Then the second song starts off, just like “Reach” with some crooning introduction and they do it again, only this time they spend a little more time on the ballideering than the rock and I’m out. Hmm…
They seem to have one gear, treacle, and I’m about to give up until they kick up the jams on “Natural”, which comes in the nick of time. 

But the rest of the record is so smooth and comfortably confident it’s almost easy to forget that the songs aren’t really that great. Not much to hold on to, I found myself longing for Paul Weller to step in and fix them. 

This album is only available for streaming (and incompletely) on Youtube. Sorry. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cztytBTEICw&list=PLEEE6B346AE9E7DC9