The Boomtown Rats – “In the Long Grass”

The Sleeve:

The Liner/Sleeve Notes:
None.

Personal Review:
Bob Geldof is genius. Enough said.
The album opens with the track “A Hold of Me” – which is an amazing track and you could solely base a whole album off of it. The Rats definitely have the chemistry together that not a lot of musicians can pull off, then again, I may just be saying that because I’m a hardcore Boomtown Rats fan. Bob Geldof has a very distinct voice, that makes the whole album work. Next up is one of the greatest Rat tracks ever, “Drag Me Down” – “like a ship that’s going under, bring me home in rain or thunder!” the whole track is amazing and delightful. “When the record is over, and the passions been spent. The movie winds down and says the end in french!” I do see this track as more of an ending song, not so much as a second song on the A-Side. But hey, that is just my opinion here. Next up is the track “Rain” – which was originally titled “Dave” – which was about the Rat’s original sax player, Dave MacHale, who had a breakdown after his girlfriend OD’d on heroin in a public washroom. The reason for the title change, was because US audiences found it to be too ‘homosexual’. (eeeyup.) Anyways, the song, no matter which way you prefer it, as I prefer it as “Dave” is such an amazing track. Next up comes “Over Again” – which starts off a little slowly, but is still a pretty good track. No complaints on it! The chorus is pretty good too. The A-Side closes with “Another Sad Story” the first three tracks on the album were personal favorites of mine, and like they made up most of my feelings thus far, this song however, has a pretty steady and nice chorus that I feel is pretty good, and a nice way to end the A-Side.

The B-Side opens with the track “Tonight” (no, not the Bowie song, sadly.) – which is a pretty good track, no complaints on this one, I do find the line “you scratch my back, and maybe I’ll claw yours” – to be pretty good. Creative line. Next up comes the track “Hard Times” which doesn’t even give you a second between tracks, literally, “Tonight” ends and “Hard Times” begins, (that sounds like the name of a cheesy 80’s movie.) “Hard Times” is a pretty good track. Then comes the track “Lucky” – which has a pretty funky beat to it, but overall, it’s not one of the stronger tracks. This album doesn’t quite hold up to the their other album “The Fine Art of Surfacing” – which is slightly disappointing, as that album has so many great tracks. Next up comes the song “Icicles in the Sun” – which again has some pretty funky bass-lines, and weird musicianship. Bob’s vocals are strong, but still, the song doesn’t stand out much to me, besides the “Do do do do do” part… But that’s because doing that is amazing, everyone knows that. The album closes with the track “Up + Down” – which is an alright track for ending the album, but it’s still not a stand out track. So, if you were ever considering getting into the Boomtown Rats, this is definitely not the track to start with.

Interesting Facts:
None.

Track Listing:
A1 – A Hold of Me
A2 – Drag Me Down
A3 – Rain
A4 – Over Again
A5 – Another Sad Story

B1 – Tonight
B2 – Hard Times
B3 – Lucky
B4 – Icicles in the Sun
B5 – Up + Down

Label:
PolyGram

Catalog Number:
VOG 1 3346

Studio Musicians & Other Album Credits:
Produced by the Boomtown Rats
Engineered by Martin Salvador Rex
Mixed by Bob Clearmountain

Trombone – Pete Thoms
Sax – Ian Richie, Gary Barnacle & Martin Dobson
Backing Vocals on Hard Times – Molly & Polly

Other Albums I Own by The Boomtown Rats:
The Fine Art of Surfacing
Mondo Bongo
Rat Tracks

Released:
1984

Related Vinyls:

Hiding Out: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Debbie Harry – “Rush Rush (Special Extended Remix)” Peter Schilling – “Error in the System” Jiří Korn – “Magic Jet”