The fever's gonna catch you...

...when the bitch gets back.

That's right! Botley's home! After a luvverly 4-week holiday in the fabulous British Isles. And what should I find waiting patiently on my doorstep but a copy of The Delicate Sound of Thunder CD. I decided to review it for all of you because I've never heard it before. And because I love you

There's nothing in particular wrong with the sound of this record, but the production is unevenly polished... the drums are flat and boring, the percussion flourishes get in the way, the synths are too heavy and the rhythm guitars are generally just wrong.

Dave is as passionate as always, but it's like the rest of the band are either too grandiose or just not there. Occasionally, especially on the synth-heavy bits, this record suffers from what I call "planitarium music syndrome", where the keyboards sound like they were just used to make muzak for planitariums and nobody bothered to change the settings. Oh yeah, and the saxophone dude grunts too much during his solos.

SOYCD 7/10 - Not bad, but Rick's keyboard horn solos sound cheesier than usual, and the guitar solo just before the vocals start is missing. Guitar solos are pretty much carbon copies of the album version, vocals a bit edgier than on PULSE.

Learning To Fly 9/10 - A really good reading, but it's missing some of the texture added by the cool synth/guitar noises on the LP.

Yet Another Movie 10/10 - Quite simply, beautiful.

Round And Round 10/10 - Ditto.

Sorrow 8/10 - What can I say? The performance is great, but the guitar and vocals and percussion and everything just lack the sonic touches which make the LP version so incredible.

The Dogs of War 7/10 - Hammond organ far too quiet. This one just drags on far too long. The album version is more concise.

On the Turning Away 8/10 - Beautiful synth and vocal work, but there's still something missing.

One of These Days 0/10 - Awful. Simply the worst version of this song ever. Everything happens at exactly the wrong time, and there's none of the tension and rage bubbling under the surface.

Time 6/10 - Clocks at the beginning are WAY too quiet. Planetarium music syndrome during intro. Cheap, reggae-like guitar work during Dave's verses. Rick sounds overly self-conscious during his verses. Starting Gun Solo drowned out by cheesy percussion.

Wish You Were Here 9/10- Stripped down, very well-sung and nicely played. I like it. A lot.

Us and Them 2/10 - An almost lathargic lack of energy. No real climaxes, just platitudinal swells. The rawness of the original is missing entirely, reducing this mammoth song to muzak for supermarkets. Especially in the sax solos.

Money 4/10 - Starts off okay, and parts of the interupted middle are quite funky. But the background singers... why are they here? They ruin all semblances of Dave's MIND-BLOWING guitar solo just after the switch to 4/4 time. They're just annoying, and they do not deserve a solo (during which some idiot in the crowd yells "take it off")!

Another Brick in the Wall, Part II 1/10 - Not quite as cheesy as the version on Live At Berlin, but a close second. The mix is entirely all out of whack... the kids chorus sounds like it's being played from the bottom of a toilet, the second guitar solo is utterly awful, the drums are just wrong. Roger's perfect bass guitar inflections are sadly missed and replaced by dreadful slap bass worthy of Milli Vanilli.

Comfortably Numb 3/10 - They lost me at "Hello". Lifeless vocals. At Dave's first verse, I felt like I was stepping into a planitarium. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise, the guitar solos are just the same as PULSE only not as passionate and fevered.

Run Like Hell 5/10 - Pretty damn cool as always, but not as transcendantly rockin' as other versions. By the time they got to "Run, run, run, run" I was practically CRYING for Roger.

Overall: 6/10

__________________
what do you teach your children about me?
what do you teach your little children about me?
pimp, thug, bling drug lord of the undergrounded kings
how can you be so sure i won't call down the rain?
what do you teach your little children about me?
you point your gun, wait, hide and run. i see it plain