Track Listing
DISC 1: JUST RELEASED:
1. All the Time in the World
2. Waiting for You
3. Let's Get Together
4. Sound of Today
5. Hold Me
6. 1,000 Faces
7. Beat Goes On, The
8. You Don't Have to Tell Me
9. I'm in Love
10. Me and My Friends
11. I Don't Love You
12. Understanding
13. Modern Boys - (bonus track)
14. Bangin' My Head - (bonus track)
DISC 2: LIVE AT THE MARQUEE CLUB 1/3/80 PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED:
1. All the Time in the World - (live)
2. Bangin' My Head - (live)
3. What's Goin' On - (live)
4. Let's Get Together - (live)
5. I'm in Love - (live)
6. My Town - (live)
7. In Trouble - (live)
8. Understanding - (live)
9. It Can Only Get Better - (live)
10. Waitin' for You - (live)
11. Hold Me - (live)
12. 1,000 Faces - (live)
13. Beat Goes On, The - (live)
14. I Need You - (live)
15. You Don't Have to Tell Me - (live)
| Details | | Producer: | Simon Boswell | | Distributor: | Navarre | | Recording Type: | Studio | | Recording Mode: | Stereo | | SPAR Code: | n/a |
Album Notes
Audio Remasterer: Town House.
Liner Note Author: Chris Hunt.
Recording information: Marquee Club (01/03/1980).
Just Released: The Anthology by the Crooks consists of their 1980 album Just Released augmented by their single "Modern Boys" b/w "Bangin' My Head," both sides of which are rather more memorable than the LP's contents. Not that the LP is bad, just not quite as strong across 12 songs as the 45 was across two, a three-star album adjacent to a four-star single that owed more than a bit to the Jam. But the second disc is where the real value is, a never-released live recording from the Marquee Club in London. Most of the repertory is shared with that studio album, only it's about twice as good here, and that goes for the playing and the singing -- the whole disc is one of the most bracing live albums of its era and by itself would be worth what Castle is asking for this double-disc set. Listening to it, one wishes that the Soft Boys could've left behind a live document this good. The only peculiarity is that their set includes "Bangin' My Head," the B-side of their single, but not the A-side; still, there's not a false or wrong note here on a truly great and unique legacy. ~ Bruce Eder
The Crooks' Just Released originally appeared in England in 1980 on the Blueprint label, where its '60s-influenced mod revival sound made it into a cult favorite. The record, built almost entirely on originals by co-founder Tim Parry (aka "Jimmy Fingers"), still rocks with a lean, powerful sound strongly reminiscent of the Jam -- everything here is well played and fervently sung, but even with the occasional Chris Dean number interspersed, there's a certain sameness to the songs. The best song here is the muscular cover of the Steve Marriott/Ronnie Lane-authored "Understanding," and there's nothing quite as memorable as the single "Modern Boys," with its catchy hooks and chorus, or its B-side "Bangin' My Head," neither of which was on this LP. Among the four players, Parry and Dean make a great guitar duo, and Chris Broderick's bass work is astonishingly fluid and nimble, but Micky Sparrow's drumming is still the most impressive component of the band's sound a quarter-century later -- if this band was compared to the Who (and they were), it was his playing that helped cast that illusion. ~ Bruce Eder
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