420. The Saints - Eternally Yours (1978)

















Track Listing

1. Know Your Product
2. Lost and Found
3. Memories Are Made of This
4. Private Affair
5. Minor Aversion
6. No, Your Product
7. This Perfect Day
8. Run Down
9. Orstralia
10. New Centre of the Universe
11. (I'm) Misunderstood
12. International Robots

Review

I should have like this album more than I did, there are some really good things here. First it isn't just run of the mill punk, there are some original innovations here, like the use of brass in the first track for example, and the album does show quite an amount of skill and originality throughout.

Still there was some spark missing here, these are people disillusioned with the whole Punk scene, and for good reason, due to its commercialism and how conformist it had become. Basically if you were a punk you were conforming to a specific style, of clothing, speech, music and all had terribly strict rules. If you wanted to smash the system you had to conform.

The problem is that The Saints really don't deviate enough from Punk formulas, and by this time I, and everyone else is starting to get tired of those same formulas. Sure they try, but aren't terribly successful, but at least they try and therefore have some merit.

Track Highlights

1. Know Your Product
2. No, Your Product
3. This Perfect Day
4. Memories Are Made Of This

Final Grade

8/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

A transitional record for The Saints, "Know Your Product" developed the aggressive punk sound of their debut single "(I'm) Stranded" (1976) while anticipating the horn-driven R&B of their next album Prehistoric Sounds (1978). Regarding its musical influences, singer Chris Bailey later said, "Thank Sam and Dave for the brass section! And Stax's horns." Lyrically the song was a cynical take on consumerism; in a 2004 interview, guitarist Ed Kuepper agreed that it was "like a distant cousin to '(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction'."

Know Your Product: