The Blue Aeroplanes
Life Model - Beggars Banquet 1994
Tracks: 1. Broken & Mended / 2. (I'm A) Smart Drug / 3. Ghost-Nets / 4. Frightened at Night / 5. Daughter Movie / 6. Open / 7. Honey I / 8. Vade Mecum Gunslinger / 9. Mercury (Hold/Protect/Love) / 10. Fragile
Comments:
"Life Model" was the successor to ”Beatsongs”, which was released in 1991 by EMI and produced by Elvis Costello and Larry Hirsch. The collaboration with EMI stopped shortly after the release of "Beatsongs" and the band's follow-up to ”Beatsongs” was delayed until 1994 when the album, "Life Model" was released on the Beggars Banquet label.
The group's core line-up was largely unchanged and musically, the "Life Model" is well in line with the two fine predecessors. The opening number "Broken & Mended" was the band's last single to chart and has been a favorite at gigs; it's a solid and pretty heavy rocker. There are other great tracks on the "Life Model" with the characteristic fine melodic guitars and lead singer Gerard Langley's vocals, which work like a cross between singing and reciting poetry to music; but with a great melodic voice.
Here I would like to highlight "Smart Drug", "Open", "Mercury Hold" and "Fragile" of which the last three are nicely lifted by female vocal harmonies.
The Blue Aeroplanes made a return to a major label when EMI re-released "Swagger Deluxe" as a 2-CD version in January 2006 and followed it with an album of new material called "Altitude" later that year, released on EMI's Harvest imprint. The group then recorded an album of cover versions of classic tracks that were originally recorded by artists signed to the Harvest label. The album, called Harvester, was released by EMI / Harvest in 2007.
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