venta: (Default)
[personal profile] venta
A month or two ago, ChrisC and I were taking a stroll to Greenford tube station to view one of the last wooden escalators on the network before it is replaced. We have all the fun :) (Mind you, at dusk you get a much nicer panoramic view of West London than you might expect from Greenford's platforms.) Anyway, he mentioned the 1p Album Club.

The basic premise of this is that you get paired up with somebody, you buy an album priced at a penny on Amazon Marketplace, and you send it off with your recommendations to your somebody. A nice idea, don't you think?

Obviously, the idea is that you recommend an album you enjoy. Now, it doesn't make sense for ChrisC to recommend albums to me. If he likes an album, then he owns a copy, and thus I have access to it already. He expressed his intention of buying a 1p album on a whim and sending it to me.

Which, by the time an anonymous padded envelope turned up containing a CD, I'd forgotten. However! Here is my review...


First of all, a warning: if you don't like your music twee, look away now. Despite being named after a Morrissey B-side, The Boy Least Likely To is as twee as a twee thing heading to an international twee convention wearing a hat crocheted by Josie Long. The artist responsible for the cover of The Best Party Ever is credited in the sleevenotes with "drawing and colouring". The first track opens with a plinky-plonky glockenspiel. There is a song about Panda Cola. If any of those things makes your hackles rise, then you will hate this album.

I, however, quite like a bit of twee now and again. And this CD is immense fun, for pretty much all of the reasons mentioned above. I'm even willing to forgive it the banjo.

The songs are catchy, and interesting; they're sweet and sometimes sad. It's got simple lyrics that sometimes turn out disarmingly clever, or funny. Despite being almost self-consciously over-cute, it's sincere and never tips over into pastiche. If you like this kind of thing, you'll like it :

All round, I'd say excellent value for a penny.

If anyone fancies a 1p album-swap with me, drop a comment in the usual manner :-)

Date: 2014-02-26 02:30 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] phlebas.livejournal.com
Sounds like fun - yes please!

Date: 2014-02-27 12:52 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] venta.livejournal.com
Excellent! I shall drop you a mail for the purposes of exchanging address details.

Also: http://1palbum.tumblr.com/post/74298894928/a-shortcut-to-finding-1p-albums-our-own-amazon-custom may be useful :)

Date: 2014-02-27 12:55 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] venta.livejournal.com
Or maybe I won't mail you - I seem to have an MF address for you, which I believe will no longer be valid?

My address will still work if you wish to initiate (or venta at livejournal will also work).

Date: 2014-02-27 03:20 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] phlebas.livejournal.com
Emailed you (and thanks for the link - I'd got as far as sorting all CDs by price ascending, but it's handier to be able to sort by other factors!)

Date: 2014-02-26 06:14 pm (UTC)
zotz: (Default)
From: [personal profile] zotz
Sounds good, yes. Let's go.

Date: 2014-02-27 08:42 am (UTC)
zotz: (Default)
From: [personal profile] zotz
There are a disturbing number of really excellent albums on there for 1p. And a lot of right crap, too, of course. The problem is finding a good one that I don't think you'll already have.

Date: 2014-02-27 12:53 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] venta.livejournal.com
Whereas me finding something that you don't already own will be trivial :-p

ChrisC just sent me this link, which may prove helpful: http://1palbum.tumblr.com/post/74298894928/a-shortcut-to-finding-1p-albums-our-own-amazon-custom

I'll email you for address-swappage.

Date: 2014-03-04 05:24 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] satyrica.livejournal.com
I quite enjoyed the album so trotted along to see them playing in Hoxton a few years ago; it was pretty good but I don't think I'd quite processed the full scale of their tweeness on the record, live it came across as full on naff; they seemed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves thought so it was hard to begrudge them too much

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