The Crooks

The Crooks - Just Released

Reviewer: Bruce Eder, All Music Guide

The Crooks' Just Released originally appeared in England in 1980 on the Blueprint label, where its '60s-influenced mod revival sound made it into a cult favorite. The record, built almost entirely on originals by co-founder Tim Parry (aka "Jimmy Fingers"), still rocks with a lean, powerful sound strongly reminiscent of the Jam -- everything here is well played and fervently sung, but even with the occasional Chris Dean number interspersed, there's a certain sameness to the songs. The best song here is the muscular cover of the Steve Marriott/Ronnie Lane-authored "Understanding," and there's nothing quite as memorable as the single "Modern Boys," with its catchy hooks and chorus, or its B-side "Bangin' My Head," neither of which was on this LP. Among the four players, Parry and Dean make a great guitar duo, and Chris Broderick's bass work is astonishingly fluid and nimble, but Micky Sparrow's drumming is still the most impressive component of the band's sound a quarter-century later -- if this band was compared to the Who (and they were), it was his playing that helped cast that illusion.


Size: 37 mb
Bit Rate: 128 kb


Tracks:

1. All The Time In The World
2. Waiting For You
3. Let's Get Together
4. Sound Of Today
5. Hold Me
6. 1000 Faces
7. Beat Goes On
8. You Don't Have To Tell Me
9. I'm In Love
10. Me And My Friends
11. I Don't Love You
12. Understanding
13. Modern Boys
14. Bangin' My Head


The Crooks - Just Released