Album Club, December 2018: Placebo - 'Ball of Eyes'

[Album Club]

The Album Club rota for this year comes to a close with Charlie's (Sophistry) choice of Placebo 'Ball of Eyes'. As always, please listen to the album in its entirety before you comment and/or vote.



Placebo - Ball of Eyes

https://img.discogs.com/7m8-w-xcJo4Z-15pZEkU8akjJRk=/fit-in/340x334/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():qualit y(90)/discogs-images/R-1592633-1230840131.jpeg.jpg


Not to be confused with the Alt-Rock band from the 90s! This is one of the most incredible jazz-funk albums ever recorded. It has now been used by a huge number hip-hop producers for samples but, aside from the beautiful little snippets of sound which can be cut from it, each song is, in its complete form, a beautiful work of art. It was composed by Marc Moulin in 1971 and is the first of the albums recorded under the Placebo name. The other Placebo two albums, "1973" and "Placebo" are also incredible and definitely worth listening to! Stand out tracks include: Inner City Blues; Humpty Dumpty; and Aria.


YouTube:

https://youtu.be/INc7Y4qUhbs

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/album/74OvK12g3Vsc3cfksBoX7C

[Marco]

Love it - very groovy/funky and with an infectious '70s hippy vibe', just my kinda thing! Well recorded, too... Been listening to it on Tidal, and enjoyed it so much I'm going to seek out the vinyl version... Top tunes, man - great recco:thumbsup:

Shades of Curtis Mayfield:


https://youtu.be/ -cmo6MRYf5g

Marco.

[Ian7633]

I rather like this album, not heard anything by them before I will be listen to more of their work. I agree about a Curtis Mayfield feel ( Freddy's Dead is one of my all time favourites ), it has that tight, funky thing going on, how 70's is that. I'm off to listen to some more. 10/10 from me.

[Marco]

This is also superb, Ian:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5fffdZ0eR0&list=PLNqrSmnY3xHjn62B0UB6j70RedGfbpMJu

Marco.

[Tim]

Spinning it now, I'm familiar with the band name as a guy I used to work with was a Jazz/Funk junky, but can't recall having heard them myself before.

EDIT:
Just finished playing it - not really my thing, but I'm not sure Spotify does it justice as it sounds a little 'flat', bet it sounds good on vinyl. Reminded me in places of Steve Winwood, which I liked. Not something I would buy though.
6/10

[martian sunrise]

Excellent choice. New to me. Loved it. 8/10

[Sophistry]

Love it - very groovy/funky and with an infectious '70s hippy vibe', just my kinda thing! Well recorded, too... Been listening to it on Tidal, and enjoyed it so much I'm going to seek out the vinyl version... Top tunes, man - great recco:thumbsup:


Glad you like it, Marco. Unfortunately, the original records are worth crazy amounts these days...

[User211]

Not keen. I think I prefer the contemporary Placebo by a wide margin.

It is almost cool but misses something, I think. 5/10.

[Marco]

Glad you like it, Marco. Unfortunately, the original records are worth crazy amounts these days...

Yeah, I can imagine, but I have a few contacts!;)

Good stuff though - I think it would sound good played loud and proud on my bad-ass sound system, in my even badder-assed car:D

Marco.

[Marco]

Not keen. I think I prefer the contemporary Placebo by a wide margin.

It is almost cool but misses something, I think. 5/10.

Yer taste's in yer bum!:ner::booty::eyebrows:;)

Marco.

[Sophistry]

Yeah, I can imagine, but I have a few contacts!;)

I would love to be introduced to those contacts!!

[high.spirits]

Not quite in the same league as Curtis Mayfield although I can see some similarities.

I found it went on a bit, not enough variation for my liking so only 6/10 - sorry.

[YNWaN]

I just don’t get ‘funk fusion’ at all - it just irritates me and sounds like twiddly rubbish, session musicians warming up and unable to think of anything to actually play. I’m sure it is technically very competent, but so what! I gave this a score of 1 but would have happily given it 0. I rarely find myself in agreement with anything Justin writes but in this case I would also prefer to listen to the post punk Placebo.

Marco did ask for some contentious posting in the Album Club ;).

[struth]

not sure i like or dislike this... last track was best, possibly as it was the last track and was a bit different from the rest, that sounded like an early 70's cop show soundtrack. That said it isnt bad either and was interesting to listen to....once. 5/10

[AJSki2fly]

Not quite sure what to make of this album - I gave it 6 for the reasons below

In parts I quite enjoyed it, then at other times I found it quite simplistic and became bored. Early on I was not sure if it was Jazz Fusion, Jazz/Funk or Soul, it felt confused. Track 5 Aria seemed to go nowhere, at least for me. Showbiz suite was clearly Jazz Fusion, but elements of a big band feel, and a good trumpet solo. I am not sure why but for me it all felt a bit laid back. Oh La La is just bizarre compared to the rest.

It reminded me of another album but I cannot think which one it is.

[Barry]

Placebo - Latin for 'I will please', and this album does just that.

I like it for the reasons others don't: it is sufficiently varied to hold my attention. Some of it is like Curtis Mayfield, some of it is like Soft Machine. Some tracks I preferred to others, but it was all enjoyable to my ears.

Who cares if it is Jazz; Funk; Jazz-Funk; Soul-Jazz; Jazz Fusion; Soul Fusion; ConFusion or even Cold Fusion? Music doesn't have to be pigeon-holed into any catagory.

What this album does is put a smile on my face - and that's good enough for me. 8/10

[User211]

Yer taste's in yer bum!:ner::booty::eyebrows:;)

Marco.Nah it's shite. Face it, loser:wink:

[Edward]

Managed to have a listen - unsatisfying.

Clearly the members are talented and can get tracks together. Some interesting innovative stuff. Some good bass lines that provided structure to the stuff going on around.

But, for me, just too unemotional. Bland and insipid. No real soul as it were. I like music to tell a 'story' and have emotion - even if the music is not a genre I listen to normally. This album just left me cold. Fine for a plinky plonky nightclub of the 70s in the background type of music - but not for my listening at home.

Sorry. 3/10

[Leeken]

3/10

Reminded me of restaurant music,I nearly crept out of the toilet window half way through but unfortunately I stuck it out

[lovejoy]

I came in expecting Placebo as in the rock band thinking 'I never realised they had an album called Ball of Eyes' and then I realised that I was actually thinking about The Smashing Pumpkins, and not Placebo at all, so now I'm totally confused ;-).

I like this though. It's the sort of music I would have known, loved and grown up with if my parents had had better taste in music than John Denver and Barry Manilow. This is the sort of stuff I can imagine making car journeys that much more enjoyable - I'll have to try this in the car.

Every track is quite different too. Not dwelled any particular style so the whole thing is kept fresh. That last track does seem a little out of place but is only short so an interesting way to close nonetheless.

The only thing that annoys me is that the Spotify version sounds as if it has been recorded from an off-centre piece of vinyl. My wow and flutter sensitive ears are going mental. I hope this is just the Spotify version and not the recording itself..

7/10

[martian sunrise]

humpty dumpty is excellent. i have listened to this several times and it is great./

recently repressed, too, if you fancy 180g pringles...

[Discopants]

Just found this part of the forum, spotified this and thought it had some cool tracks but wasn’t keen on the title track and the last track.

I span the 2018 posthumous release i presume, Lost and Found this is a better sound quality copy than ball of eyes on spotify and only 3 much longer tracks. This is much more like my cup of tea and ive marked it.

Thanks

Martin