Captain Oi!
2006
Tenement Steps
About This Album
While the Motors enjoyed considerably greater success with their second album, 1978's Approved by the Motors, than they did with their debut LP, it wasn't enough to keep guitarist Bram Tchaikovsky and drummer Ricky Slaughter on board, and by the time the band's third (and final) album appeared in 1980, the Motors were down to founding members Nick Garvey and Andy McMaster, accompanied by a handful of session musicians. Tenement Steps didn't bear an especially close resemblance to the scruffy guitar-based pub rock combo of The Motors 1; the pop hooks and keyboard flourishes that began to make their presence known on Approved were pushed to the forefront, and producer Jimmy Iovine wrapped up the tunes in a production so slick it resembles Teflon. With their synthesizer-based arrangements, choral punctuations, and dramatic horn and string accents, both "Metropolis" and "Slum People" sound like production numbers from some thankfully forgotten pop musical (the title tune is only slightly less bombastic), and while "That's What John Said" and "Nightmare Zero" sound like they could have been good, straightforward rockers under different circumstances, the versions here don't give them much of a chance.
Track List (try tracks 3,7,8,10 and 11)

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