But Second Solution is, by all objective measures, a far better song than Prisoner of Society! The band have always stated this, and that Prisoner of Society was only added to the single to keep management happy. With a more polished jazz-esque groove (jazz snobs may dispute this!), Second Solution also has a better guitar solo, more poignant lyrics and a wonderful build-up to the screaming outro.
But Prisoner of Society is somehow incredibly emotive. I know it's stupid, but I love it.
Maybe it's rose-tinted glasses on my behalf, but I reckon the production techniques on this CD have stood up very well over time. The guitar mightn't have the raw power of say Audioslave, but with the hint of a hillbilly sound, its style has held up well. On the downside, the double-bass sound is missing most of its character and the recording of the cymbals is quite messy.
Prisoner on the Inside (the theme from the TV show "Prisoner"- check out Ella Hooper's cover for a completely opposite approach!) combines the great lyrics of the original with The Living End's punchy punkabilly style.
The live version of Misspent Youth is... ahem... quite rough. The singer seems to run out of breath a few times and it often seems the song is hanging together by a thread. Strange is a bit slower and holds together a lot better, but another pretty raw live recording. The highlight of Strange is the guitar solo section, featuring some great changes of pace and brilliant supporting work by the backing instruments.
These days, this EP could be viewed as just a pretty rough punkabilly offering. However, it introduced an interesting new style and there's some great songwriting potential just below the surface.
This came out when my sister graduated from high school, so it became a bit of an anthem for them along with Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) by Green Day.
ReplyDeleteYou have to appreciate a song from our generation that even your mum likes, and my mum heard Prisoner of Society at aforementioned graduation and told me she got right into it. Can it still be deemed cool because your mum likes it? Why not? Let's go the opposite, Mum completely surprised me when she said this, so perhaps she was reliving her old school Rolling Stones days.
I listened to their Live at the Wireless recording in Sydney years and years ago where they played Prisoner on the Inside and Tainted Love (another awesome cover) and it just fit their way.
Great music that just doesn't date.