Great albums from the past…
8 March 2019
Band: THE ONLY ONES
Album: EVEN SERPENTS SHINE – the band’s second LP
Released: 9 March 1979 – 40 years ago
BBC Music wrote: ” ‘Even Serpents Shine’ seems slightly more coherent than their eponymous debut which had toyed with jazz, jerky reggae and new wave while nodding towards both Dylan and the Stones. It’s impossible to separate the band from the myths that grew up around them and their particular pastimes. With this in mind the languidity of most of the material seems to reflect the increasing reliance on things illegal. Perrett’s whine is perfect at conveying a tragic dissociation while still pining for love. This streak of romanticism (in the true sense of the word) seals his place as possibly the last doomed poet of the 20th century…” Full review here
Turn Up The Volume! says: Although The Only Ones‘ indisputable masterstroke ‘Another Girl Another Planet‘ was on their self-titled debut album this follow-up is my favorite. A genuine romantic at heart frontman/songwriter/guitarist Peter Perrett wrote – compared
to the first LP – a more cohesive collection of touching & troubled love musings colored with poetic and melodic guitar lines for this sophomore record. So, yes, I was a little bit disappointed when seeing Perrett (for the very first time), in Brussels in November 2017 (review here) to promote his excellent solo longplayer How The West Was Won that
he only played two songs (Flaming Torch / No Solution) from ‘Serpents‘. Timeless record!
Three of the many highlights: Flaming Torch / You’ve Got To Pay / Out There In The Night
– FLAMING TORCH –
‘I’m always in the wrong place in the wrong time..‘
– YOU’VE GOT TO PAY –
‘I learned my lesson now
I learned it the hard way
If you wanna be in love
You’ve gotta pay and pay and pay’
– OUT THERE IN THE NIGHT –
‘Baby, sometimes I think of you
Out there in the night
All the comforts of home have been denied’
SERPENTS in full…
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THE ONLY ONES: Biography