I'm cheating a bit now. Technically, I don't own this album - but I do own the 2CD set which compiles all three Only Ones albums together, and since I make the rules, here it is.
I saw the Only Ones just once, in Durham in 1979 on the Even Serpents Shine tour, and they were just fantastic, although I don't recall the latter albums having the same impact as this, their debut.
As an appetiser, this CD has the debut single Lover Of Today, a solid enough rock song, and its B-side (remember B sides, kids?) Peter And The Pets - clearly they didn't want to waste a better song on a B-side.
The album proper starts with the short, and lovely The Whole Of The Law, ending with a sublime sax break. But it's followed by possibly the finest three minutes in the history of rock and roll - the not-quite hit single Another Girl Another Planet, a song I'll never tire of.
Following that, anything will be anti-climactic, so wisely, next they placed Breaking Down, a song so despairing and dark, it's almost funny, with a rather nice jazz electric piano beak in the middle. City Of Fun is upbeat and likeable, while The Beast is much darker but quite wonderful. However, Creature Of Doom struggles to maintain the mood, with its bouncy style, and It's The Truth is fairly ordinary, but it's followed by the utterly wonderfully bleak No Peace For The Wicked, perhaps the most desperate plea for help ever, and thoroughly absorbing. The Immortal Story ending the album is, by comparison disappointing and nondescript.
It's an album of peaks and troughs, but those good songs are so wonderful, that they buoy up the more ordinary ones. A great debut album
4* - not flawless, but enough greatness to merit this rating
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