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WBN




Ian notes:
>Yes, a very happy skippy album indeed.  (please note the sarcasm)
>The difference with Quad is that Pete was putting the angst of 
>adolescence into a character named Jimmy.  Though it's dark, 
>it comes from Pete's imagination, therefore it's not as 
>striking. Who By Numbers is as real as it gets.  I should be 
>judged side 
>by side with "Empty Glass" as midlife crisis #1 vs midlife crisis #2.

I felt that the big difference in the two albums was not *lyrically* - as 
Ian states, both albums have quite the incisive bent to the words ("How 
many friends have I really got/That Love me/That want me/That'll take me as 
I am?"), but rather in the sense conveyed in the *music.*

Take away the words to They're All In Love, and you've got a sweet piano 
melody.  Remove the words from However Much I Booze, and you've got a jumpy 
little ditty that could be the flip side of Squeeze Box.

This juxtaposition of inTENSE lyrics and lighter music is one of the things 
that endears this album to me.  Whereas Quad was clearly pubescent angst 
from any angle, WBN took a completely different approach.  The album 
knocked me out because I was heavy into Leeds and Quad at the time, and I 
just wasn't expecting what was on there.  Once I got over the fact that it 
didn't crush my spine like the other two (at least not in the same way), it 
became glued to my turntable for months.


OK,
KLW