Tampered with perfection
Tom Dixon | St. Louis, MO United States | 03/02/2005
(3 out of 5 stars)
"I Love this album, the US version! I have the vinyl and the cassette. Each song is great in it's own way. I have been waiting for years for this cd to be released. So much the better that it is Remastered. While the remastering is superb, I am very disappointed in the way the song "Rain" was omitted. I like "Dave" the single version, but the track one version could have been omitted. I am indifferent to the plight of Heroin addicts (even if it produces great poetry). I prefer the poetry using rain, with the images it can conjure. In this case dark, at the end of a relationship, it is still beautiful. Many great songs have been written using the imagery of rain, for example "Rain" by The Cult. The more I listened the more I started to notice other tracks differing from what I am familiar. Also "Drag Me Down", I prefer the US version! Lastly, the problem of the track line-up. At least Bob Geldof apologized in the liner notes for the change, though it sounded half-hearted. I would have given this review 5 stars but for my preferences. Just because I'm a fan doesn't mean I give an automatic 5 stars.
It would be nice if other reviewers stuck to the business of reviewing rather than adding commentary on other reviews. It is very immature and unnecessary. The regurgitation of commentary from Geldof's autobiography is rather silly and unoriginal as well. It's humorous and invasive that one would suggest burning a copy on a site meant for sales of the original product. When jamming music it is not my preference to take the time to use program features on my cd player in order to hear the tracks in a particular order. That would be a mood killer. If that was Geldof's intent, it is counterproductive to sales. The simplest of minds can figure out that music is a business. If it doesn't sell, you're out of business. And YES you have picked a fight d-bags!"
Boomtown's final bow
Tim Brough | Springfield, PA United States | 01/22/2007
(4 out of 5 stars)
"The Rat's had had it. From their wild and wooly days as young bucks to this final statement, they'd weathered the highs and lows of rock stardom, including the triumph of Live Aid. And yet the record company hacks couldn't quit meddling. As "In The Long Grass" was being prepared for an American release, Columbia got nervous that the amazing "Dave" would appear "too gay" for general consumption and forced the band to re-cut it as "Rain." And the horns on "Drag Me Down?" Had to go...
So with one last indignity suffered, The Boomtown Rats issued "In The Long Grass"...to once again a totally indifferent USA. Yet, this is easily the most mature and consistent album Geldolf and the boys ever did. The urge to do mad style jumping is absent, the songs extend a pessimistic and cynical view (considering Geldolf's African/Live Aid experience, understandably so), and the songs hold a tightly hewed vision minus the theatrics. Geldolf had stared real horror in the eye during his trips to Ethiopia, and suddenly writing a sequel to "I Never Loved Eva Bruan" probably felt juvenile.
The band plays their tails off on "In The Long Grass." Johnnie Fingers had ditched the PJ's and gone through a divorce, and both "Another Sad Story" and "Lucky" bite deep. Geldolf's "Drag Me Down" and "Tonight" are among the best work he's ever done. Lest you think things are all dour and darkness, there's the absolutely funky "An Icicle In The Sun." And in my mind, "Dave" remains a classic just waiting its turn at rediscovery. Geldolf's exhortation to a suicidal friend to keep holding on is bloody brilliant:
Dave, I see you bleed,
I know you feel the squeeze.
But please, believe,
the view from on your knees deceives.
Keep going, Dave.
Geldolf and The Rats parted ways after "In The Long Grass," and he embarked on a solo career that grew more pedantic and preachy as it continued. He needed his mates more than he realized, but nonetheless, "In The Long Grass" (which is slang for keeping a low profile) gave the Boomtown Rats a powerful note to leave the stage with."
Track Listings (14) - Disc #1