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Vinyl Album

Artist:The Rumour
Title:Purity Of Essence
Label:  Stiff
Country:UK
Catalogue:SEEZ 27
Date:29 Aug 1980
Format:LP
Collection:  I Own It     I Want It 
Community: 9 Own, 1 Wants
Price Guide:Valuation Page
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TrackArtistTitleComposerRating
A1The RumourMy Little Red BookH. David, B. Bacharach6.0  Rate
A2The RumourI Don't Want The Night To EndN. Lowe8.0  Rate
A3The RumourHave You Seen My Baby?R. Newman7.0  Rate
A4The RumourFalling In Love With A DreamS. Goulding, M. Belmont6.0  Rate
A5The RumourTulaB. Schwarz8.0  Rate
B1The RumourWriting In The WaterB. Schwarz7.0  Rate
B2The RumourHoustonA. Bodnar8.0  Rate
B3The RumourIt's Gonna Work Out FineSeneca, Lee, New Lyric: B. Schwarz7.0  Rate
B4The RumourMore Than She Will SayB. Schwarz6.0  Rate
B5The RumourPyramidsB. Schwarz, Lobo, Bodnar7.0  Rate
B6The RumourThat's The Way The Ball RollsG. Parker6.0  Rate


Notes

Produced by Alan Winstanley

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Comments and Reviews
 
Magic Marmalade
14th Nov 2021
 Review
First off, let's talk about that fantastically ugly cover...

...If you were to judge this particular album by it's cover, you might well wonder what on earth the music is like inside; Perhaps concluding it was some kind of late sixties hangover Victorian accordion based psych twizzling.

But you'd be quite some distance off the mark.

...As, despite the mega-paisley appearance, this is more punk-ish new wave -ish, pub-lite rock, which has more in common with a range of other band's music that was going on at the time...

(And, for some of whom, these guys were not coincidentally, the session musicians)

... There's a strong whiff of the Cars first album, The Jam, Wilko Johnson, Elvis Costello and an assortment of variious New Wave-ery going on.

I can't say I was that taken with the "Max" album previous, that I have (and is seemingly ubiquitous in record crates), as that was a little too much of lean toward the pub rock thing running parallel to the punk scene...

...But this is a much more bouncy, upbeat, tuneful, and melodic affair... lot's of great songs and tunes to get you nodding along.

The music is great, and the harmonies and backing vocals are all top notch, but the problem is really two things here:

(other than the cover! :)

Firstly, there's no convincing lead vocal on any of the tracks... they just don't have the lead vocalist required to push this all up a level. Not bad, just a bit flat and, well, sounding like a band member doing a run through of the vocal until the real vocalist arrives.

...And secondly, that flatness is a little in evidence in the music itself. Noticeable the more so, because the musical styles they are approximating, or emulating that I mentioned earlier, has all that, and this suffers by way of contrast... doesn't have the punch, and snap, and distinctiveness of those others... and bouncing a little ineffectually off all their respective musical walls, without committing too strongly to one, in order to leave dent.

This is really evident on the track (which is a good one, but could have been better, if there was more commitment): Writing In The Water, which is very strongly flavoured with The Police, especially, Message In A Bottle... they just can't compete with that kind of delivery.

But there's a couple of songs where they do elevate the whole thing (mostly due to those harmonies), like Tula, I Don't Want The Night To End, and Houston., but the rest is, a nice, jolly bounce, but which does seem to run a little out of steam towards the end, but only a little... and maybe gets a little more introspective too.

The other noteworthy track is Pyramids, which, while in terms of the song itself, is probably one of the weaker ones, but about two thirds of the way through bends with wailing, otherworldly guitar effects into a psych mind popper of a droning noise-fest - far out!

And to conclude the weirdness, and get back to that cover, it's a top-loader, with the spine text on all three other sides, left, right, and bottom.

Vinyl and pressing is nice though.

I think this will punch through my criticisms over time though, as it has all the hallmarks of a "Grower", that will just seep into me, by degrees, through the strength of the tunes.

It's also cheaply bought, so well worth a couple of coins of anyone's money.







6 people found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?
 
 
David Whiteley
7th Jun 2020
 Added press release with The Rumour discography. It also confirms the release dates of this album and the single "My Little Red Book" Buy 81.
 

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Linked Releases

Germany - Stiff - 1980

Netherlands - Stiff - 1980


See Also

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The Rumour - Max - Mercury - USA (1977)
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