How good is the Rats reunion?

ArrGee · Back To Boomtown

How good is the Rats reunion?

bigbosscentral · House on Fire

Well said. Seeing the Boomtown Rats at the Isle Of Wight Festival was the single greatest rock n roll show I have ever seen

ArrGee · Back To Boomtown

bigbosscentral wrote:
Well said. Seeing the Boomtown Rats at the Isle Of Wight Festival was the single greatest rock n roll show I have ever seen

I have to disagree. They were far better in Cork, mainly because they played for a lot longer!

I wasn't actually at the Isle of Wight, but I did see it broadcast on YouTube.

BVD1965 · Banana Republic

Well, to be honest, when I heard about it for the first time I was very skeptical and not really interested. Didn't see who was waiting for this and thought it was a compensation for the somewhat unblessed split up of 1986. But after seeing some footage of the Isle of Wight concert and other recent live stuff I changed my mind. So much that I decided to come over next month to the UK and to attend the London Roundhouse gig. No other band has done that before!!! (I hope this is correct English, anyway you know what I mean). Maybe The Jam would have done the same to me, but they will never do a reunion again. But we thought that about the Rats too...

I hope they do a lot of rehearsing now; to me the Isle of Wight gig sounded sometimes a little bit hesitating (I understand after 27 years(!!!), but I'm convinced that they will sound better during their upcoming tour. May be a guitar technician can do some good work, because I think Garry and the new guitar player sound too much the same, though they use different type of amps. In particular Garry's amp sound is too flat. Do use a good tube amp set up (wet-dry-wet) with amps like a Mesa Boogie, the Dutch Van Weelden amp (Joe Bonamassa), EVH or Engl, crank it up to 11 and use the volume button of the guitar to make a nice range of crystal clear to heavy distorted sounds. As Eddie van Halen says: Volume=Tone and he's still right.

But having said that, I can't wait so it's No Sleep 'til Roundhouse...

Mark L · Loudmouth

I'd say 9 out of 10

No prizes for guessing what would make it 10

Jules · The biggest Geldof fan in the world, bar none!

30 out of 10 for me. Simply amazing. I think I'm going to wake up soon and find out it hasn't really happened.

noelindublin · Loudmouth

BVD1965 wrote:
Well, to be honest, when I heard about it for the first time I was very skeptical and not really interested. Didn't see who was waiting for this and thought it was a compensation for the somewhat unblessed split up of 1986. But after seeing some footage of the Isle of Wight concert and other recent live stuff I changed my mind. So much that I decided to come over next month to the UK and to attend the London Roundhouse gig. No other band has done that before!!! (I hope this is correct English, anyway you know what I mean). Maybe The Jam would have done the same to me, but they will never do a reunion again. But we thought that about the Rats too...
I hope they do a lot of rehearsing now; to me the Isle of Wight gig sounded sometimes a little bit hesitating (I understand after 27 years(!!!), but I'm convinced that they will sound better during their upcoming tour. May be a guitar technician can do some good work, because I think Garry and the new guitar player sound too much the same, though they use different type of amps. In particular Garry's amp sound is too flat. Do use a good tube amp set up (wet-dry-wet) with amps like a Mesa Boogie, the Dutch Van Weelden amp (Joe Bonamassa), EVH or Engl, crank it up to 11 and use the volume button of the guitar to make a nice range of crystal clear to heavy distorted sounds. As Eddie van Halen says: Volume=Tone and he's still right.
But having said that, I can't wait so it's No Sleep 'til Roundhouse...

I'm not really a techie but you might like to read Garry speaking about his guitars and amps from an 2009 interview with Chris (BTR) from the Rats official site:

Chris: Tell us about your guitar and the equipment you use to get your sound?

Garry: I have a guitar which I made myself from a piece of ash Simon gave me which came from a tree that was blown down in Kent in "Michael Fish's Hurricane" in 1987. It is essentially a Les Paul Junior copy with Gibson hardware and Seymour Duncan JB and Jazz pickups.

My other guitar is a Gretsch Silver Jet with TV Jones Power-Tron pickups. I bought it after I discovered that Malcolm Young and Billy Gibbons use Gretsch guitars with very similar construction. I remember seeing Phil Manzanera from Roxy Music playing one.

I have two Ampeg amplifiers, an 18-watt Reverbojet J-12R and a 60-watt VT-40. I use two distortion pedals - an old DOD 250 overdrive pre-amp and a Fulltone Full-Drive 2 and a Boss ME-30 which I use mainly for delay. I have made a true bypass footswitch for the ME-30.

Chris: Is this the same set-up as you used in the Boomtown Rats?

Garry: The first amp I used with The Boomtown Rats was an Ampeg B-25B, which is a 50-watt bass amplifier which sounds great with a guitar. I fell in love with the Ampeg sound through that amp, which is the one used for most of the guitar parts on the first album. On the first three albums I used the B-25B and an Ampeg V-4 100-watt head with two 4x12 cabs. I experimented with various other bits of gear, such as a Roland JC-120. The Roland had a nice full sound and was almost like a valve amp if you used a compressor.

Chris: I really like the guitar sound you used on 'Talking in Code' on the 'On a Night Like This' live Video/DVD. My fave ever guitar sound. The song sounded better than on the record. Any idea how you got that sound - cos I'd like to try and recreate it if possible?

Garry: Thank you. I think I used an Ibanez Strat copy, with Bill Lawrence pickups, through a Boss Compressor, a Boss SD1 distortion, a Boss Flanger and a Roland Digital Delay, set at 220ms, into a Roland JC-120 amplifier. The amp had a clean sound and that famous stereo chorus. Good luck!

noelindublin · Loudmouth

In a nutshell as good as I could have dreamt.

I've seen the reformed group three times live (Crawley warmup, Cork and Devon) and all performances were superb. Crawley was laid back and very friendly. Cork and Chagstock were very similar, in terms of audience reaction and crowd size and general good vibes.Not a cigarette paper between them.

Met all of the band, however briefly over the last few years. Biggest surprise was meeting Geldof and getting a chance to ask a few questions, which he answered in his own very considered way.

The two new songs so far have disappointed me. That's not to say there won't be some new songs I like. The odds on a new album in the next few years are quite good. Maybe the band need to just do more basic guitar orientated songs, with some raw passion.

Derek The Dane · V Deep

IOW was great but to short,the Hurtwood Park Polo club was AMAZING.10 out of 10 and that came from my brother seeing the Boomtown Rats for the first time and now has borrowed all of my Boomtown Rats cds and brought the new classic hits cd.

BVD1965 · Banana Republic

noelindublin wrote:
I'm not really a techie but you might like to read Garry speaking about his guitars and amps from an 2009 interview with Chris (BTR) from the Rats official site:
Thanks Noel. I like to read that stuff and now I understand a bit more about Gary's sound.
Well, it's absolute not my intention to bore you people with tube talk, variacs, bias and all that stuff. But to me in general playing music is firstly all about full and convincing rich Sound with a capital S. I think the Rats could have a much fuller sound on stage with a good guitar rig set up and well balancing between Gary and the new guy, Darren. You don't need distortion pedals at all if you buy a Mesa Boogie for example. If you play a Gibson Les Paul (copy), I want to Hear a screaming Gibson Les Paul. Like Slash, Gary Moore (did) or even Billy Duffy.
Edward van Halen, Brian May, Steve Vai, Satch, Luke and even The Edge, all these guys won't play a note before the rig and guitar set up is right.
But hey, I admit, it's about taste, it's very much about musical influences, tech knowledge and it's what Garry hears in brain and ears. If he likes it that way, who am I to condemn? The question was: How good is the Rats reunion? Well, I'm glad Garry is back with the rest of the Rats and I can't wait to see them. Play on Garry! And maybe the other Gerry... would be nice.

suss · In the Long Grass

Derek The Dane wrote:
...my brother seeing the Boomtown Rats for the first time and now has borrowed all of my Boomtown Rats cds

Did he get a good deal on the van hire?? biggrin

As for ranking reunion (ok Bob, regrouping if you are reading this), it's quite simply a dream come true....

I'd go so far as to say the Cork gig was probably the best gig I've attended ever. Combine the band on absolute top of game with first full headline gig with a brilliant responsive crowd with beautiful summer evening and a few sherbets up front and, for me at least, it doesn't get any better.

Lisa · Mondo Bongo

Hurtwood Park was brilliant to see (being a small venue and being privileged to see them peform for the first time in their new/old grouping) - but in a different way, IOW festival was amazing too. Great to see a crowd enjoy them who weren't necessarily there just to see them.

Have to say for me though that the first "mini-reunion" (ie Simon and Garry, plus Darren and Pete) I saw in a little field in Norfolk was the one I have fondest memories of. Just to see the songs performed live - which was the first time for me. And they always say you remember the first time

Just the anticipation and wondering what it would be like - and it living up to my wildest expectations. In a weird way, although I obviously want to keep hearing the songs live again and again, there comes a point where there is a feeling of how can you expect any subsequent gigs to be better than the last. I suppose that is why it's good when they play a range of venues as then it is a different experience each time, depending on size, crowd etc.

ArrGee · Back To Boomtown

Lisa wrote:
Have to say for me though that the first "mini-reunion" (ie Simon and Garry, plus Darren and Pete) I saw in a little field in Norfolk was the one I have fondest memories of. Just to see the songs performed live - which was the first time for me. And they always say you remember the first time

Interesting you say that because The 100 Club is the one I have the best memories of. It wasn't my first time as I popped my cherry back in 1979 at The Rainbow, but given that I had never expected to see anyone perform a full set of Rats songs it was absolutely amazing.

Cork was just slightly better than Hurtwood simply because it was a full on gig and I was able to have a few drinks which always adds to the occassion. Dublin at the end of last year was also superb as it was a very small room upstairs in a pub with a blazing fire at the rear. Whyteleafe was like a night out down the local and meeting some mates. Great atmosphere, though not really like a proper gig.

The only mildly disappointing one in recent years was Blackheath. The set was abridged and the meagre crowd were rattling around in there.

manatthetop · In the Long Grass

100% after friday night in belfast. In my opinion Bob should give up on the solo stuff 100% better as bob boomtown. Bob solo would never in a millon years get a full house like this Open your eyes man

ArrGee · Back To Boomtown

ArrGee wrote:

And the promise of a new ep

Shame they had to spoil it...

It's only about 21 out of 10 now.

daggerrat · Never In A Million Years

Hi Guys,

I just cant believe that they are back together , i think i may wake up tomorrow and realise its all been a dream .

Since the IOW things seem to be accelorating, how far can this thing go.? . Im feeling like i am back in 79 probably cos i wanna be 17 again but you know what great, long live the Rats. Lookin forwart to Cambridge and then London, probable see if i can sneak another one in. But lets hope theres more from the boys next year.

Keep doin the Rat

Daggerrat

Jules · The biggest Geldof fan in the world, bar none!

ArrGee they aren't playing the new tracks live, so we can forget them.

Marti-Anne · Like Clockwork

The Rats were my first band. Finally got to see them in the eighties. I only heard about the reunion by chance via youtube last week!!! Couldn't believe they had reformed and was a little apprehensive about watching the Isle of Wight clips. Bob and the boys have still got it and sounded amazing!!! Love Back to Boomtown so I hope that they change their mind about adding that before the Manchester gig. Can't wait!!!!!

Mark L · Loudmouth

Back to Boomtown is a very good track and certainly up there. Would love to hear this live in Mcr too.

ArrGee · Back To Boomtown

BVD1965 wrote:
... Personally I do not like those "All generations fail" and "Nothing's changed" thing. We know that and we still do nothing about it, because most people are not in the position to change the world. Bob did try to change the world and I love him for that anyway.
Some songs are too long: Banana Republic, Do You In and Mary of the 4th Form for instance. They're good musicians, but they're not virtuoso and they don't have the right skills to improvise. Only Simon can, maybe, but you don't want a drum solo of course from a former punk band. Especially Mary, it's an uptempo song, please don't extend it, because it's get's boring to me if you make a 7 minutes version out of it.
The future of the Rats? I don't know. Maybe they can do a next tour, maybe some festivals, but the new songs, hmmmmmm, it's not the Rats sound of old.

I don't really like that either. This generation has been successful in many ways. As an example, minorities are no longer casually abused. There is still poverty in the world, it is not to the same degree and Geldof himself should be very proud of that achievement. The hard fought freedoms won by our generation seem to be rapidly eroded by fanaticism.

I agree the songs should be abridged rather than expanded. There even seems to be a new She's So Modern verse, with the inevitable Boomtown reference. If Banana Republic and Mary were played straighter, then there could be another song or two in the set. One of the best things about the Bradbury/Barton Rats was how tight the sets were. They used to play Mary twice on a good night!

The future is touring rather than recording as that ship has probably long sailed, but the question is can they do another "comeback" tour. Without doubt, there is a certain curiosity that is selling tickets, but will anyone go and see them next year? I think they should do the festivals next year, especially the televised ones like Glastonbury. Fifteen minutes on the BBC during Glastonbury would be superb promotion. Plenty of bands have gone onto bigger and better things as a result of barnstorming sets on the Pyramid stage, and not just headliners.

-- Edited by ArrGee on Sunday 27th of October 2013 06:32:18 PM

ArrGee · Back To Boomtown

Mark L wrote:
Back to Boomtown is a very good track and certainly up there. Would love to hear this live in Mcr too.

Maybe they could dump the eponymous song and play Back To Boomtown instead.

BVD1965 · Banana Republic

To me it's still No sleep 'til Roundhouse. I've seen some live footage on YouTube (Dublin, Belfast) and it's like 1978 again or even better! Very energetic and Bob plays his role as angry "young" man again and he does it right. At the same time it's difficult to read the body language: I don't know if he's really enjoying all this or this is the way to be freed from his frustrations over the past decades. Personally I do not like those "All generations fail" and "Nothing's changed" thing. We know that and we still do nothing about it, because most people are not in the position to change the world. Bob did try to change the world and I love him for that anyway.

Some songs are too long: Banana Republic, Do You In and Mary of the 4th Form for instance. They're good musicians, but they're not virtuoso and they don't have the right skills to improvise. Only Simon can, maybe, but you don't want a drum solo of course from a former punk band. Especially Mary, it's an uptempo song, please don't extend it, because it's get's boring to me if you make a 7 minutes version out of it. Ironically they use a snippet of Golden Earring's Radar Love, but these guys can improvise songs for 20 minutes and at the last chord you're still not bored. Come on Rats, play more songs instead of a little bit boring long versions. Please gimme Nothing Happened Today, Keep It Up, Blind Date, Late Last Night, It's All The Rage, A Hold Of Me, (Watch Out For) The Normal People, etc.

The future of the Rats? I don't know. Maybe they can do a next tour, maybe some festivals, but the new songs, hmmmmmm, it's not the Rats sound of old. So at the moment it's very exciting, nostalgic, about feeling 12 again when I first heard about them and immediately became a fan, though most of my mates were fans of the Pistols or Stranglers. But after a year or so, I doubt they have a future and become very successful again. Don't become a Michael Schumacher.

diffbrook · House on Fire

Year in year out tours deffo not. But maybe they can do something similar to my other band "Squeeze". They tour the Uk, every 2 years and in between do the festivals. I think the Rats could sustain that.

Btw, squeeze are finally recording an albums worth of new songs, after 7 years of reforming. So, there is sometime left for the Rats to record something new.

ArrGee · Back To Boomtown

diffbrook wrote:
... tour the Uk, every 2 years and in between do the festivals. I think the Rats could sustain that.

The Rats and their audience ain't getting any younger. Had they been touring on and off for the last twenty five years that may be a policy, but I think they should adopt the Elvis Costello approach and just play here, there and everywhere. Lots of festivals next year, followed by another Autumn/Winter tour. Still amazed that aside from the aborted Australia/New Zealand tour, no dates have been announced outside the British Isles. I would have expected some European dates to have been announced.

BVD1965 · Banana Republic

ArrGee wrote:
Still amazed that aside from the aborted Australia/New Zealand tour, no dates have been announced outside the British Isles. I would have expected some European dates to have been announced.

Well, that's the reason why I come over to London this Saturday. Personally I don't believe they will do a "European" tour, maybe a festival like Pinkpop Classic in The Netherlands (would be a good song: I don't like festivals ), but even that I doubt about. There's not enough promotion, they will not be on the cover of a Dutch or German music magazine, don't know what their target group is according to the new songs, I think there are no more DJ's at radio stations over here who know other songs than Monday's so it will be very difficult to do an European tour (moneywise). And it's embarrasing after 27 years to play only at small venues I think, because the audience will not respond like you guys do. They simply have waited too long.

But in the mean time, let's party in the UK /Ireland / Scotland, that's fine with me!

ArrGee · Back To Boomtown

BVD1965 wrote:
... it's embarrasing after 27 years to play only at small venues I think, because the audience will not respond like you guys do. They simply have waited too long.

Interestingly Geldof does more solo dates in Germany than the UK. And he even announced solo dates in the Netherlands even if they were cancelled.

daggerrat · Never In A Million Years

I agree re the comments chaps but all in all when you give such a slice of your life " as Bob did " to saving millions of starving people i guess we have to maybe not except these comments but understand why the great man does it, we have all gone crazy at BTR gigs whilst he has been saying these things both in conversation and the contents of his songs so its no real suprise that he still does it. Lets just keep doin the Rat and enjoy it whilst it lasts.

Interesting also your comments re future gigs, i think that the response to this tour/Disc sales will have a big say on what happens in the future, are you happier seeing the Rats in the smaller venues or do you think that they should do larger indoor venues and festivals in 2014

Daggerrat

Derek The Dane · V Deep

I will be amazed if The Boomtown Rats call it a day now.All the gigs(it seems) have sold well and the band are on top form.I guess at the end of the day it is down to Bob,but I will be suprised if he ends it after the current tour.

daggerrat · Never In A Million Years

Yes i think you are right Derek, lets hope they are around for a few years yet. Leaving in about an hour for Cambridge, cant wait seems ages since we bought the tickets, seems like the gigs have all been well supported and have been enjoyed by those there, other than the odd dubious reporter still in nappies

All the best

Martin

Jules · The biggest Geldof fan in the world, bar none!

I think those reporters still in nappies weren't even at the venue. It was all thoroughly made up.

ArrGee · Back To Boomtown

daggerrat wrote:
...are you happier seeing the Rats in the smaller venues or do you think that they should do larger indoor venues and festivals in 2014?

I'm happier seeing them in small crowded venues. There may have been more people at Blackheath than Dublin last year, but the atmosphere at the latter was far superior.

I don't want to see them do larger venues than those on the current tour, and whilst ticket sales seem to be healthy, as far as I know only one date in Dublin has sold out.

In purely practical terms, they best way forward would be festivals next summer. The upside of a festival is that the band get their fee and get a chance to raise awareness without having the burden of the ticket sales.

I don't know exactly how many saw them at the Isle of Wight (including live, on the web or on TV), but if say about 1 or 2% of those who hadn't previously seen the band decided to see them on this tour that would be a good chunk of the audience. Had they done Glastonbury, then that would again translate into even more decent sales.

I can see Geldof (and by association Pete Briquette) calling it a day at the end of this year and doing other things. Why else would they release a Hits CD, a Box Set, a new EP and tour in such a short space of time? People will buy into it once, but will they next year? I'd say enjoy the announced dates as you don't know what will happen after it.

Simon and Garry could always re-enlist Bob Bradbury. However, that would almost certainly mean a return to the small venues.

noelindublin · Loudmouth

Everywhere they play the are getting almost full houses. No cancelled gigs, largely enthusiastic reviews. Also the tour is a headline tour, rather than being on a bill at a festival.

When I saw those first awkward official reunion photos I was as worried as the guys in the band seemed. Will this really work?No city in Britain or Ireland so far has let down the Rats,and I doubt any of them will.

Geldof is getting the adoration he has craved, walking out to packed houses almost every night. It's a hard drug to give up, so not sure exactly what the next move is.

-- Edited by noelindublin on Thursday 31st of October 2013 02:36:03 PM

noelindublin · Loudmouth

manatthetop wrote:
Hopefully a new album. They already have 4 new songs out. So just another 6 to make up an album I hope. Yeah your right great to see the gigs are turning out full. Goes to show more rats fans out there than even I through. All great stuff

To be honest I don't think any of the new songs are good enough to get on a new album. They'll have to start from scratch, and try again. If those four songs are considered good enough, then something is wrong. A lot of Geldof's solo tracks from his last two albums are much better than this new Rat material.

I'd love to hear their version of White Light, White Heat by The Velvet Underground. Maybe they will record this if they do a new album.

-- Edited by noelindublin on Thursday 31st of October 2013 03:37:10 PM

manatthetop · In the Long Grass

Hopefully a new album. They already have 4 new songs out. So just another 6 to make up an album I hope. Yeah your right great to see the gigs are turning out full. Goes to show more rats fans out there than even I through. All great stuff

manatthetop · In the Long Grass

In my opinion out of the 5 solo albums you could have got a very good double album. Regarding the new songs I think they are ok sounding abit like some of the songs of Geldof's last album. Abit rushed sound to me that Geldof was more up for this than he let on

ArrGee · Back To Boomtown

manatthetop wrote:
In my opinion out of the 5 solo albums you could have got a very good double album.

You'd get a very good ep.

Great Song of Indifference
$6,000,000 Loser
Scream in Vain
Systematic Six-Pack

Might just about squeeze an decent album out of everything.

manatthetop · In the Long Grass

I'd go for,

Soft soil,

10.15

When I was young

Chains of pain

A sex thing

Mudslide

Birthday suit

Derek The Dane · V Deep

Still think Veg of Love and Sex,Age and Death are great albums.The other 3 are still better than Mondo Bongo and V Deep.

ArrGee · Back To Boomtown

Derek The Dane wrote:
Still think Veg of Love and Sex,Age and Death are great albums.The other 3 are still better than Mondo Bongo and V Deep.

V Deep is quite possibly the worst Rats LP, but it is better than anything Geldof has ever done solo. House on Fire, Up All Night and He Watches It All are three of their best songs, and The Bitter End and A Storm Breaks are as good as any solo Geldof track. Mondo Bongo is better than V Deep with at least half a dozen great songs.

Mark L · Loudmouth

Never been taken with The Bitter End, much prefer Million Years. House on Fire, He Watches It All and Up All Night all superb. Skin on Skin is also quite good.

Have to agree this is the worst of the 6 albums, with the Little Death and Charmed Lives such lazy, throwaway tracks, I am surprised anyone green-lighted them.

It's a measure of how good all the other albums are, however, that V Deep is still very listenable overall and as one reviewer once said 'shows flashes of the old Geldof genius' here and there.

We could have done without dancing poodles in a Japanese boudoir (must be fake because the paws are (deliberately?) the wrong way round on one of the poor mites) but Million Years was a great track, it's just the public were just starting to go all New Romantic.

ArrGee · Back To Boomtown

Mark L wrote:
... but Million Years was a great track, it's just the public were just starting to go all New Romantic.

I never really liked Million Years. To me it sounds like a bad rewrite of Heroes with the Spector wall of sound. There are definitely more than the odd flash of genius on the album. He Watches It All is as good as anything the Rats ever did. I agree that Charmed Lives and The Little Death weren't really up to scratch. I'd probably add Talking in Code and Skin on Skin to that list as well. Interestingly, House on Fire and Up All Night which are two of the best tracks were Mondo cast offs. Had they replaced Another Piece of Red, Please Don't Go and Under Their Thumb, Mondo Bongo would have been a far better album.

Mark L · Loudmouth

I love the defiant lyrics of Million Years and the emotion in Geldof 's voice not to mention Simon 's superb drumming which, centrally, has a touch of 'In the Air tonight' about it. Although the video was a bit daft, I got the idea Geldof was trying to convey that even in the most mundane of tasks (going to the fridge for some milk) he could be shot down, with someone always ready to record his every utterance (the secretary taking constant notes)

A Hold of Me 1981 style.

Derek The Dane · V Deep

If you were to put the best 5 songs from both Mondo Bongo and V Deep together you would have a fantastic album.Take the 5 worst from both and you will get The Little Death.

manatthetop · In the Long Grass

You have a fair point. But Mondo Bongo will always get my air play over V Deep any day

ArrGee · Back To Boomtown

Derek The Dane wrote:
If you were to put the best 5 songs from both Mondo Bongo and V Deep together you would have a fantastic album.Take the 5 worst from both and you will get The Little Death.

I have always thought there was one great album to be created from those two. Maybe I'd slant it a little more towards Mondo Bongo (6 v 5).

Mark L · Loudmouth

But presumably Million Years would not be there as the opening track to Five Bongos?!

manatthetop · In the Long Grass

Ok New album then Let's call it Mondo Deep or Deep Mondo

1 Elephants grave yard

2 Never in a million years

3 Banana republic

4 Skin on skin

5 Go man go

6 He watches it all

7 Please don't go

8 Talking in code

9 Under their thumb

10 House on fire.

That's my pick if this was to be the case I would buy this album 100% and al strong songs in my opinion.

ArrGee · Back To Boomtown

manatthetop wrote:
Ok New album then Let's call it Mondo Deep or Deep Mondo
1 Elephants grave yard
2 Never in a million years
3 Banana republic
4 Skin on skin
5 Go man go
6 He watches it all
7 Please don't go
8 Talking in code
9 Under their thumb
10 House on fire.
That's my pick if this was to be the case I would buy this album 100% and al strong songs in my opinion.

With no consideration of running order and * for singles ....

Go Man Go *
Elephants Graveyard
Banana Republic *
Fall Down
This Is My Room
Straight Up
Hurt Hurts
Up All Night
House on Fire *
A Storm Breaks
The Bitter End
He Watches it All

Bonus Tracks/B Sides

Real Different
Man At The Top
Never in a Million Years

Marti-Anne · Like Clockwork

If I was restricted to 10 tracks!

Up All Night

Never In a Million Years

Hurt Hurts

Under Their Thumb

Elephants Graveyard

Talking In Code

House On Fire

Straight Up

Banana Republic

Fall Down

would add Cheerio as a cheeky additional track at the end

ArrGee · Back To Boomtown

Marti-Anne wrote:
If I was restricted to 10 tracks

... cheeky additional track at the end

Go and add another couple, they had 12 on Mondo smile

I'll have ...House Burned Down as my cheeky track.

manatthetop · In the Long Grass

Well if we are going for added tracks/bonus

Man at the top

Europe looked ugly

Real different

Marti-Anne · Like Clockwork

ArrGee wrote:
Marti-Anne wrote:
If I was restricted to 10 tracks

... cheeky additional track at the end
Go and add another couple, they had 12 on Mondo
I'll have ...House Burned Down as my cheeky track.

Arr Gee you've twisted my arm
got to be Skin on Skin and He Watches It All as additional tracks

Mark L · Loudmouth

Singles starred

Go Man Go *
Elephants Graveyard *
Banana Republic *
Skin on Skin
This Is My Room
Straight Up
Hurt Hurts
Up All Night
House on Fire
Never in a Million Years
Real Different
He Watches it All

Bonus Tracks/B Sides

Europe Looked Ugly
Man At The Top
Don't Talk to Me

ArrGee · Back To Boomtown

ArrGee wrote:
Small gigs at Polo club and a pub
Big gigs at the Isle of Wight and Cork, plus Chagstock
Two new songs
Lots of good interviews
A UK and Ireland tour where they play virtually sold out dates in London and Dublin
And a rarely broadcast concert on TV at the weekend
And the promise of a new ep
What else? Fingers and Cott suddenly joining the party?

Cott did join the party briefly, there were a couple of other songs, Two Live CDs, all the albums re-released and now The Isle of Wight gig broadcast.

The best year of the Rat since 1979.

manatthetop · In the Long Grass

Hear, hear. Well put. Plus 4 new songs.

ArrGee · Back To Boomtown

ArrGee wrote:
ArrGee wrote:
Small gigs at Polo club and a pub
Big gigs at the Isle of Wight and Cork, plus Chagstock
Two new songs
Lots of good interviews
A UK and Ireland tour where they play virtually sold out dates in London and Dublin
And a rarely broadcast concert on TV at the weekend
And the promise of a new ep
What else? Fingers and Cott suddenly joining the party?
Cott did join the party briefly, there were a couple of other songs, Two Live CDs, all the albums re-released and now The Isle of Wight gig broadcast.
The best year of the Rat since 1979.

The reunion is the gift that keeps giving! Throw in the Radio 4 show and another load of festival appearances along with another UK tour. Also no Ratlife 2 ep! And another hits CD for those who have the songs umpteen times (self included).

I suppose the question now is what was the best year of the Rat since 1979. 2013 or 2014? For me, 2013 still just edging it thanks to Cork but still six weeks to go.

2015 could be even better. I still think they should play Glastonbury. If Dolly Parton can do it then The Rats must!

noelindublin · Loudmouth

The thing, oddly or not, that stands out for me is the, literally, big stages. Certainly at Cheltenham and Guildford in 2014. All the gigs felt like proper big time rock and roll, very good crowds,almost full to capacity, and the knowledge that the crowds did come out. There seems to be a strong residue of goodwill towards the band that has lasted all these years and as a fan I'm humbled by all this.

Part of me feared that the whole reunion would be a bit of a disaster but it turned out the exact opposite. Certainly 2015 is looking good too, for more gigs and maybe some surprises.

manatthetop · In the Long Grass

100%. In my opinion, even better this time round, and what great gigs they give. Has got me digging out all the old songs again. Not that I ever stopped playing them. But I am sure my kids will forgive me one day LOL. Roll on 2015 Hope Ireland is on this list this time round.

Jules · The biggest Geldof fan in the world, bar none!

I have to say I'm astounded at how well they've been received. Before the reunion I couldn't imagine who might buy tickets, other than us diehards and a curious old fans. Aside from a rather quietism Bournemouth, all other stand alone gigs have. Been close to sellout. The festivals are getting huge and happy crowds