Lightning Seeds - Sense - 1992

Although this is probably either my first or second favorite Lightning Seeds album, I've always hated this cover art.  It's hard for me to even discuss this album without first pointing out my distaste of this amateurish, high-school quality, lack of proper layout cover.  Even the fonts suck.  I quite honestly made artwork of this caliber in junior high school.  It's obviously air-brushed with a traditional, old-school style with an actual brush.  You can tell by the splattering and the masking and crummy looking clouds.  The layout is abominable, with a single focal point exactly in the center of the cover, and a boring arial-black sans serif font for SENSE.  It's not even that creative.  I seriously SERIOUSLY made better work than this in junior high, about 13 or 14 years old.  Absolute junk.

NOW, I got that out of my system.

This is definitely a brilliant follow-up to Cloudcuckooland with a host of fantastic pop hooks and flares, and classic lyrics and melodies.  His whiny voice that sort of annoyed me on the first album, seems right at home on this one.  This was in my top 5 albums from 1992, right up there with Shamen's Boss Drum, Cure's Wish, and the Other Two.  Even though I was knee-deep in Techno at that time, I still had plenty of listening for other bands, and this album outlived Techno by far.

Even though the singles filled the front of the album, I always thought the back half was the better of the "two sides".  There was a feeling of cohesiveness and a common thread that pulled them together.  I would list my favorite tracks from them, but looking at the last five, I really can't decide.  Maybe Marooned is the best?  Not sure.  I can't imagine listening to one of the tracks without listening to all of them. 

I added the 4 b-sides after the album tracks, and listening to them, they are as good as the album proper, and a unfortunate thing that they weren't originally on the album.  Maybe Lucifer Sam is a little different, but as a whole, the b-sides are nearly indistinguishable from the rest of the album.  The remixes aren't really that good, but I have to add them to this set to make it complete and fill the disk.  Plus, you all might like them more than me.

Anyway, great Broudie material as always. 

Lightning Seeds - Sense - 1992

Ian Broudie & the Lightning Seeds - Smoke Rings & the Four Winds - 2005 & 2009

Technically, there is no such group as Ian Broudie & the Lightning Seeds.  There's also no such album as Smoke Rings & the Four Winds.  But, they are two separate releases, Ian's last solo outing and the last Lightning Seeds album.  Both, are soft and eloquent, but wholly ineffective and forgettable.  It's nice to hear Ian's voice, again, though.

After these releases, Ian released an album with the Wild Swans, and produced Miles Kane's albums.  Other than that, nothing.  Supposedly, he's busy in his home studio, doing what, I don't know.  And if you go to the official Lightning Seeds website, you get nothing but a white screen.  I know that he's been busy for 3 decades, but it's sad to see such a talented musician and songwriter finally call it quits.

But, don't be too disturbed, I still have a couple of his albums to post, yet.  But, enjoy this one, while we're at it.

Ian Broudie & the Lightning Seeds - Smoke Rings & the Four Winds - 2005 & 2009

Lightning Seeds - Dizzy Heights - 1996

My favorite of all the Lightning Seeds albums, and possibly my favorite of all of Broudie's work, Dizzy Heights is a definite must-have for any serious Post Punk collection.  His writing and pop hooks are incredible, and the performance is exceptional.

This was a find of mine that happened mysteriously, as I didn't know it had been released.  I came across it in a closeout bin at the music store several years after it had been released.  I had his previous albums, but I hadn't been following him, so this one slipped by.  I snatched it up, and then scoured the internet for the singles (pre-Discogs, I think I was shopping on GEMM a lot.)  I didn't have everything until about 2009.

Not much more to say than that Broudie is simply brilliant, and everything he plays with turns into a classic.  It's unfortunate that he's only recognized among a small group of aficionados, such as ourselves, and not more mainstream.... 

This is just the album and the b-sides, fitting in at about an hour and seventeen minutes, filling the disc perfectly.  The mixes aren't bad, and I might pull those out later.  But, as an album, this stands well as it is.  I even like his version of Be My Baby....

Lightning Seeds - Dizzy Heights - 1996

Lightning Seeds - Cloudcuckooland - 1990

My first experience with Ian Broudie was with this album during my Senior year in High School.  One of my buddies had purchased this album because of All I Want on the radio.  But, once he listened to it, he didn't like it, so he offered to sell it to me for $1.00.  I was building my collection of music, so anything new I could find was great, and I figured I didn't have anything to lose for a dollar.  It was a cassette, and he had busted the case, but I bought it anyway.

The album is full of Broudie magic and fun to listen to.  The first seven songs are all great, and the rest of the album is pretty good.  The b-sides are nice, and even the mixes aren't bad.  The cover of Hang On To A Dream is even better than The Nice's version (but not as good as Tim Hardin's).

One thing that always bugged me, is that Broudie COULD be a good looking guy.  BUT, he wears those goofy glasses with that hairdo and his big nose.  Mind you, I have a big nose, but I do things to keep it from being the detractor of my face.  He seems to highlight his.  I know that he may be making a statement about how he doesn't care about what people think of his looks, and that's fine.  More power to him.  But, that doesn't make it any easier to look at him.  Call me a hater, but I think he needs a personal makeover...

It doesn't make him any less talented, though, and that's the key.

Lightning Seeds - Cloudcuckooland - 1990

Lightning Seeds - Jollification - 1994

Yes, I have been a Broudie fan since his first album.  What's fun about being a Broudie fan and a Lightning Seeds fan is that none of his stuff is ever released domestically in the United States.  So, back before the internet and the Amazons and the Discogs and Youtubes, you had to go out and hunt to find the material.  You'd pour through music magazines at the book store hoping to see release notes (and praying you could remember them.)  You'd have to become buddies with the record store employees so they would special order stuff, and hold back stuff, and keep an eye open for stuff and let you know if they heard any news.  And that's what it would take.  Not just with Lightning Seeds, but with a lot of groups that I was fond of.  That was the fun.

Now, there's no such thing as not being able to find it.  Discogs has 187 copies of anything you want starting at 13 cents each.  What fun is that?  I can get an entire musical library with demos, b-sides and remixes from groups in about 10 or 15 minutes, depending on where you look and who it is. 

But, I digress.  This album was a great one to hunt down all the material from.  Obviously I only put two of the mixes on here, but I could've put more, as they had some good ones.  Ian Broudie is a pop-hook master, and it's a pleasure to listen to anything he has written.  Take a moment and sample this dude, it's pretty good (and very 90s)

Lightning Seeds - Jollification - 1994