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I'm with you. House on Fire is superior although I think Million Years deserved better than the low 60s as its highest chart position. Not helped by the terrible choice of artwork for the sleeve, devoid as it was of the band's name and only a cryptic clue to the song's title. With a better video and if it had gone first, Fire would have cracked the top 20.
Always liked the 'wall of sound' type of song, and the lyrics resonate more in that one, for me at least.
Maybe my views are tainted by House on Fire, in my memory from the time, being another example of the band branching out into yet another experimental genre, and I don't think Bob's voice was so well suited to it. Can't deny they played it well though, and possibly their best use of brass.
Million Years just brings back memories of the end of what seemed an eternal wait, with a strong song that should have fared better (agree about marketing/packaging but in truth their ship had long sailed), and great angst ridden personal lyrics.
I prefer Never In a Million Years though without doubt House on Fire is very good too. I love the dense, wall to wall production of NYM,the lyrics which have some sort of defying quality, though not made completely explicit, which adds to their semi mysterious quality. Very close to the emotional core of Geldof,and I would for me anyway, say that this song hints at the spirit of the Boomtown Rats musical soul.
Yes it has a certain vague hint of Bowie's Heroes,and was produced by Visconti, but don't let the lazy comparisons fool your ear. This song/composition is not a cheap, knock off of Heroes, no more than Rat Trap is a cut rate Springsteen. NMY is a standout Rats track and Geldof has always admitted that he was very surprised when it was not a hit. It would be great to hear it live, though I supsect it will not be widely remembered.
No problem with House of Fire, the Rats high pop minor hit. A great summery tune. Well the only 'problem' possibly is that the brass sound really makes the tune, and all the players were hired in, so most of the sound is not the Rats playing, but the session players. That is the session brass sound totally dominates the tune, making it a sort of Rats and their friends effort, rather then just the core band.Hard to know if Geldof or Visconti was the 'musical director' at that time?
Lots of bands have this 'problem'- all the extra players on an album can sometimes overwhelm the bands intrinsic sound- too an extent it continued on In The long Grass, and started on Mondo Bongo- but maybe Bob was taking the famous Tesco slogan to heart.
Let's be clear, for me there's not much in it. This'll probably pan out as per our Rate the Singles comments, although I accept songs can move about a bit depending on various factors. I love the defiant lyrics and as Suss said, it did seem like we had been waiting ages and ages for the next single. I was amazed it failed to chart, and as I have said elsewhere on here, it is a great song and sounds even better live.
House on Fire nudges it though for me. Great opening brassline on the radio, said 'We're not finished yet' and like Noel says, it had a perfect summery feel. Then, instead of consolidating things with He Watches It All, they went with Charmed Lives.......
Let's be clear, for me there's not much in it. This'll probably pan out as per our Rate the Singles comments, although I accept songs can move about a bit depending on various factors. I love the defiant lyrics and as Suss said, it did seem like we had been waiting ages and ages for the next single. I was amazed it failed to chart, and as I have said elsewhere on here, it is a great song and sounds even better live.
House on Fire nudges it though for me. Great opening brassline on the radio, said 'We're not finished yet' and like Noel says, it had a perfect summery feel. Then, instead of consolidating things with He Watches It All, they went with Charmed Lives.......
Not sure about others but I tend to 'stay true' to my feelings on how I first heard or viewed the songs when they came out back in the day. I remembe, just about, hearing NIAMY on the radio for the first time, rather unexpectedly , one day in deepest winter 1981.
It seemed to sum up a lot of my very inarticulate feelings about life in general at that time. Still think the song reveals some of the deeper part of Geldof's persona, and really hit the spot for a sixteen year old at the time. Obviously not too many others felt the same, as the song is perhaps not an obvious 'Rats hit.
Maybe my point is that we don't listen to music in laboratory conditions with white coats on. Our opinions about formative musical exposure are lived experiences, from our youth or at least at times of high receptivity to the music we are listening to.
I can just about remember watching the Rats perform House On Fire on TOTP. I remember thinking it was great that the had a hit single, albeit a minor chart placing that should have gotten higher. The home video was a bit disappointing, but it hardly mattered that much.
PS i think NIAMY video is pretty good, the biblical floor 'humour' and sinking ship theme was pretty apt- somebody knew something as Bob knocked back the Fishermans friends, and tried to keep the lads afloat. I read his dad was a member on Dun Laoghaire Yacht club so maybe he had a little experience of sailing.
Love all the feed back here. Some great points of view, don't get me wrong I love never in a million years myself, and this should have been a hit. But House on fire, for me any way just has that chill feeling takes you to place's. And as was pointed out has that summer feel about it. Just a good wee all round song.
Peter Powell loved it and introduced it with Garth Crooks who was a 24 yr old fairly famous footballer at the time. The Rats flew back from Greece to perform it in the studio with the video considered too weak to air, although Bob later declared it was as good as Duran Duran's foreign-based efforts.
Never liked Never In A Million Years,always thought Bob sang really well but apart from that I just find it boring.The last 90 seconds is like they ran out of ideas and tried to do a Diamond Smiles ending but failed.House On Fire could have been a bigger hit if it had been on Mondo Bongo and released as a single after Banana Republic.
Don't think much of a million years either. House on Fire is far more interesting, especially the LP version. Not sure it would have been a bigger hit after Banana Republic, but would definitely been a very good lead single off V Deep and would probably been in the top twenty.
Not sure about others but I tend to 'stay true' to my feelings on how I first heard or viewed the songs when they came out back in the day. I remember, just about, hearing NIAMY on the radio for the first time, rather unexpectedly , one day in deepest winter 1981.
I disagree. You view things in different contexts as life experiences shape you/affect you and as you understand more and age.
Ironically, I could have written this sentence: 'I have a kinder opinion of Blow now, but for a long time I though it was awful. Reading the lyrics helped to make more sense and now I think it's good enough, from originally nearly hating it'.
Not sure about others but I tend to 'stay true' to my feelings on how I first heard or viewed the songs when they came out back in the day. I remember, just about, hearing NIAMY on the radio for the first time, rather unexpectedly , one day in deepest winter 1981.
I disagree. You view things in different contexts as life experiences shape you/affect you and as you understand more and age.
Ironically, I could have written this sentence: 'I have a kinder opinion of Blow now, but for a long time I though it was awful. Reading the lyrics helped to make more sense and now I think it's good enough, from originally nearly hating it'.
Wonder who wrote that?!
Obviously as one matures or goes senile or whatever your feelings can change. The vast majority of my feelings and attitudes about the Rats songs have remained consisted, more or less.
Re Blow the song is fairly recent rather then being 30 years old, so my initial feelings about it were based on just hearing it a few times , and not actually reading the lyrics. As ever Bob is a great lyricist, and a lot of the time the words seem to reflect some situation in my life. That makes the song resonate personally for me, but without really reading the lyric one can be just put off by the unusual high pitched tone of his singing.
I have a theory that some of the Bob haters of this parish might reevaluate his music a bit if they actually bothered to read the lyrics sheets of SAD and How To Compose Popular Songs. So many great lines can get lost unless one bothers with the lyrics. I say this as a music fan who rates good lyrics highly.
We see things through the prism of time. I don't find Benny Hill as funny as I once did and find Ben Elton funnier now than in the mid 80s. Attitudes and the prevailing winds alter us.
Bob and the Rats have always been number one to me, but I find their output is interpreted differently, sometimes imperceptibly and sometimes (as with Blow) significantly, as time marches on or according to the mood I'm in.
I suppose that includes me. I have listened to all his records (at least twice), but I don't really like them. Hate is a strong word. More like indifference for me. Hate is reserved for the likes of Genecide (sic), Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel and all associated.
Me too. Good mix. One of the best songs on V Deep. We were on a fortnight's family holiday in Portugal with another family in early summer 82 and V Deep was frequently played. By week 2, a few people could be heard humming the brass line and singing 'like a house on fire' almost on autopilot. Talk about incessant musical indoctrination!
Some of the contributors to the above forum struggle to find any more negative adjectives for House on Fire when shown recently on BBC4.
I wouldn't worry too much about criticism. There are plenty of examples of rock stars dissing each other and their music. Great fun to seek these out online. There a lot of bitchiness around and some hilarious quotes.
Also great fun to look for bad reviews of 'classic' albums. Numerous examples of NME, Rolling Stone etc back in the day tearing into albums that now are generally considered amongst the classics.
If House On Fire got to number 24 or whatever then enough people must have liked it to make it a minor hit. The guy that said that Geldof has never written a song that was not a direct rip off of another song is plain wrong. Wonder what song Mondays rips off or someone's Looking At You or Lookin' After No 1? I listen to a lot of music and trust my judgement of the Rats music despite frequently seeing some pretty barmy things written about them.
PS Really enjoying A Hold Of Me on vinyl (sounds much better than on cd) and Skin On Skin and Up All Night US 45. Hanging in there for the new album which now seems more likely to emerge sometime next year. The summer schedule hints at a pretty active mid year period.
