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Full of energy, but not ones I listen to at all often. I think Can't Stop is the worst track on ATFTT and was not far from Bob's thoughts when he wrote Up or Down for ITLG. There's only one great Rat track in which Bob implores a medic to present him with a solution and it's really different to Can't Stop. Literally.
Full of energy, but not ones I listen to at all often. I think Can't Stop is the worst track on ATFTT and was not far from Bob's thoughts when he wrote Up or Down for ITLG. There's only one great Rat track in which Bob implores a medic to present him with a solution and it's really different to Can't Stop. Literally.
Just one wee thing you have over looked here Mark Bob did not write Up or Down That was Pete & Simon You must be getting to that stage in your life when thing's are being forgotten Ha ha
I didn't forget, I just didn't remember to check. So you're still right re the memory!
He would still have had substantial input though (he sang it, after all) and so perhaps I should have said Can't Stop was never far from the group's minds when Up or Down was created. Other's may disagree, but it's what immediately came to my mind when I first heard Up or Down in early '85.
Doesn't change my view that Can't Stop is an average track only and Tonic's only real let-down. So much so, that if So Strange had replaced it and Can't Stop was Rat Trap's b-side, I would regard Tonic as overall a very slightly better album than Surfacing, whereas I regard Surfacing as very slightly better than Tonic because of Can't Stop being on the latter.
... if So Strange had replaced it and Can't Stop was Rat Trap's b-side
I'm not sure So Strange was in the can at the point the album was released. It may have been recorded after A Tonic for the Troops along with Late Last Night in anticipation of the third album. However, It's All The Rage could have been the B-Side as that is an older song.
That said, I like Can't Stop. Maybe the weakest track on A Tonic for the Troops, but better than the majority of tracks on all the subsequent albums. I don't think there are any weak tracks on either of the first two LPs.
I've always thought Can't Stop was the letdown track on ATFTT, but it suffers by comparison with the brilliance of majority of album. Agree it's better than numerous subsequent offerings. Also agree with Mark that it would have made a good B side. Pretty sure It's All the Rage was already in the repertoire by then so strange (no pun intended) that it was never committed to vinyl sooner. That would have made ATFTT nigh faultless. Normal People is another track that didn't grip me at the time, but I've grown to like it more.
I've always thought Can't Stop was the letdown track on ATFTT, but it suffers by comparison with the brilliance of majority of album. Agree it's better than numerous subsequent offerings. Also agree with Mark that it would have made a good B side. Pretty sure It's All the Rage was already in the repertoire by then so strange (no pun intended) that it was never committed to vinyl sooner. That would have made ATFTT nigh faultless. Normal People is another track that didn't grip me at the time, but I've grown to like it more.
Arguably the US version is better, but I prefer the UK version despite the so called weaker tracks. Can't Stop and Normal People may not be as good in isolation, but like all great albums you have to hear it in its entirety. Then they make sense. Same with This Is Hardcore by Pulp. In isolation, few of the tracks really stand out, but all together it's a masterpiece.
But sometimes a song needs to be isolated to be fully appreciated. I never really though so much of Someone's Looking initially as part of the album, but when it was on its own as a single, it sounded great.
'I'm not sure So Strange was in the can at the point the album was released. It may have been recorded after A Tonic for the Troops along with Late Last Night in anticipation of the third album'
Although Noel shared a great link last year to what the Rats were doing in their early days, we all missed this in March this year! Clearly, Late Last Night is a product of '77 but So Strange was being performed a year later so may have just missed Tonic. The stupendous It's All the Rage was a product of '77 so would have amply replaced the weakest track, Can't Stop on Tonic.
