The Blue Aeroplanes
Liberastion - Setanta 1993
Tracks: 1. Coats / 2. Cowardice and Caprice / 3. Julie / 4. Spitting Out Miracles / 5. Ceiling Roses / 6. In the Mystery / 7. Season Ticket to a Bad Place / 8. Bury Your Love Like Treasure / 9. Days of 49 / 9. Teaching English Through Sex and Death / 10. Winter Sun / 11. What Do You Mean (What I Said) / 12. Do the Dead Know What Time It Is?
Comments:
"Spitting Out Miracles" from 1987 was The Blue Airplanes' third and final album for the label Fire, before the group came to the larger Ensign label, where the group with very fine albums such as "Swagger" and "Beatsongs" really made its name.
“Spitting Out Miracles” is more uneven than the two subsequent albums, but the group's typical characteristics with fine guitars and Gerard Langley's usually spoken vocals are present. There may be a somewhat more folkish mood (at least on some tracks) than usual with both mandolin and violin as prominent on several tracks.
The group has a tradition of having two or more guitarists in the line-up and also that among these to have regular replacements. However, the group has managed to maintain good continuity and uniformity throughout the almost 40 year long career. The guitarists here are Richard Bell and Dave Chapman and both contribute nicely along with Gerard Langley to the songwriting.
Among my favorites on “Spitting Out Miracles” actually three are Langley / Bell collaborations. "Cowardice and Caprice" is almost classic Blue Aeroplanes with fine crisp melodic guitars; of course with spoken Langley vocals. More folkish is the title track, while "Days of 49" is almost pure folk in a Dylan / Fairport Convention style with a nice violin.
The numbers written with Chapman are less catchy and perhaps a little more experimental. A couple of tracks are somewhat fluid meditating
And may lead the mind towards Jim Morrison and the Doors; like the final number "Do the Dead Know What Time it is".
A fine album that probably sowed seeds that really blossomed on subsequent albums; typical of the group's development, guitarists Chapman and Bell on the next album were replaced by Angelo Bruscini, Rodney Allen and Alex Lee.
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