Mother Nature Calls

I'm giving this album a five-star rating partly because I love it, but also partly to spite two of the three idiots that wrote the worst reviews of an album I've ever read, one of which I believe is Lee Mavers (to those of you who don't know, he's the talented yet unquestionably headstrong and stupid former lead singer/co-founder/destroyer of John Power's former band the La's). His mother probably wrote the other review. I must admit, I was a little leery of purchasing this album based on these three reviews, but I was pleasantly surprised. This is one of those albums, like Oasis' Be Here Now, that was unfairly criticized for reasons unbeknownst to anyone. I must say I disagree with David Groves almost song for song. The album starts off on a stronger note than All Change. Free Me is a powerful song that's Britpop from start to finish. On the Run is wonderfully written, and has a different kind of beat unlike any Cast song I've heard before (check out the demo version on the Live the Dream single, it's fantastic). And what's wrong the repetition on Guiding Star, and why would somebody count how many times they sing it? That would be like counting the "yeah, yeah, yeah yeahs" in the Beatles' She Loves You. Hey, Adam Bell, how many times did the Clash repeat the line "London's Burning?" I think Live the Dream is the second strongest song on the album, with I'm So Lonely being the first. I'm So Lonely is a song that wouldn't sound out of place on John Lennon's Double Fantasy album (it could've replaced one of those awful Yoko Ono songs). That's the sound that I immediately equated it with upon first listen. I've made two Cast fans by playing them Live the Dream, so I really don't think it's very amateur. I wish David Groves could've expanded on that statement a bit because I'm really perplexed by it. The album ends on a high note Never Gonna Tell You What to Do and Dance of the Stars. And, of course, the album contains a hidden track, which is a beautifully melancholy, yet simple tinkling piano version of On the Run accompanied by a backwards guitar. I'm not going to sit here and tell you that every song is great. Like most albums, some are better than others. I think if you like Cast, then this album is one you'll leave in the CD player for quite a while. I don't think the three prior reviews were very fair, so that's why I wrote this one. The first two are just asinine. The third one seems well thought out, but I'm confused why David Groves would write eight paragraphs to tell you not to buy this album. Why would anybody waste their time unless they really didn't like this particular band, and do you think somebody who doesn't like a certain band is going to write an objective review? I mean I dislike Creed, but I wouldn't write a negative eight paragraph review, urging you not to buy the album. David Groves pleads for something different and berates the repetitiveness, yet he longs for the songs to sound like the ones on All Change, particularly Walkaway. That album was great, but shouldn't bands be encouraged to expand and seek out new musical horizons? David Groves sounds like one those people who would've given Bob Dylan grief for going electric or the Beatles Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band because they lost their mop tops. The bottom line is, if you're a Cast fan and a lover of Britpop in general, you'll enjoy this album. It's not All Change, but it's not supposed to be. I consider it a step up for Cast. If you still live in 1992 and long for a La's reunion, then don't buy this album. They're gone, and, thankfully, John Power and Cast have emerged, keeping the Liverpool beat alive. One last thing; if you're really a Cast fan, pick up some of singles from this album. They contain some great non-LP b-sides like For So Long, Canter, and a great cover version of Bob Marley's Redemption Song.

this album is a great peice of rock n roll and sounds verry much like their fellow brit rockers oasis do on the albums standing on the shoulders of giants and heathen chemistry though was released 7 years ago vocalist tom powers is a dead ringer for later day liam gallagher the first song youl swear is an oasis song the next adds variety and the third song im so lonely is an istantly adictable peice of pop with mellow acoustics and a zeplinesque guitar solo on the whole the first half of the album sounds amazeing though the second half does disapoint as the band move more toward pink floyd style grand opera but just dont have the style to pull it off however the first 3 songs alone are worth the paying price absoloutley a must have if you like bands like oasis if you liked oasis last 2 albums youl love this one it fits in nicely with those two and amazeingly was released several years before them amazeing

Every once in a great while, I have found myself popping this one into the CD player, because I consider myself a Cast fan, and yet, I marvel in somewhat of a disbelief at how shockingly weak and tossed off this record is. I actually don't think the debut "All Change" was a masterpiece in its own right, but still, if the term 'sophomore slump' was ever applicable, it's right here. On "Mother Nature Calls", John Power seems snake bit, tossing off one mind-blowingly bland and insipid Brit-pop tune after another. I'm more than a little amazed that producer John Leckie could have possibly thought that this was a strong batch of songs. People often complained that Noel Gallagher had nothing to say lyrically, and if that was the case, I don't think they'd even know where to begin with Power's lyrics here which are platitudinous and generic beyond all belief, taking the term 'scraping the bottom of the barrel' to new heights. He goes berserk with repetition on numerous songs, seemingly thinking it provides some kind of mantra-like quality, but with his self-absorbed nasal delivery partly to blame, he fails miserably at achieving a hypnotic quality and instead winds up being simply horrendously repetitive (the chorus on "The Mad Hatter" is probably the most brain-frying demonstration of this). On the more positive side, I'll admit that "Mirror Me" is quite good. The lyrics still leave a lot to be desired, but the grungey riff over a one-note bass line works well, and the Mellotron on the bridge sections is ear-catching and effective. "Never Gonna Tell You What To Do" has a notable dreaminess to it, although again, shoddy lead vocals from Power and ludicrously simplistic lyrics cut it right down. I'd also be remiss if I didn't mention the orchestrated ballad "I'm So Lonely", a fine piece of songwriting with a memorable looping guitar riff, although the orchestration does get to be too much, giving the tune a regrettably sappy flavor. Still, even the relative high points can't be given an unqualified recommendation, and is further indicative of how weak "Mother Nature Calls" really is. Cast did bounce back with the next album, 1999's "Magic Hour", which contains some certifiably great songs, and then they bounced back even stronger when they came back after a 10+ year hiatus for 2012's "Trouble Times" which, somewhat incredibly, gets my vote for Cast's best album.

This album is the wost cast album as was later admitted by the lead singer/songwriter John Power. It fails to excite like their debut or prove as moving as their third album. If you like cast for what they do best - interesting pop-rock then you may be disappointed by this flat record. As for the previous reviewer Scott Shea, for someone who believes David Groves wasted his time for doing an honest, if negative, review you seem to spend a lot of time in your review criticising him! Double-standards?

Das ist so 'ne Sache mit Musik-Rezensionen. Für den der's mag, ist das 'ne Superplatte, für den, der mit so'ner Musik nichts anfangen kann, vielleicht der letzte Schrott. Ich auf jeden Fall mag's und für mich ist es eine der Über-CDs der letzten Zeit. Insgesamt gesehen: (aus meiner Sicht) absolut empfehlenswert! :-)

Used it to study and prepare for a promotion interview .

Mother Nature Calls was the 1997 follow up to Cast's debut album All Change. This is the first time its ever had a reissue since its initial release. If you're a Cast fan you already know its a great album and some people I know even prefer it to All Change. This issue is from Edsel (under licence from Universal) and comes in a robust hardback book style case, very smart and more durable than the standard fidgety Deluxe versions that Universal have recently issued. The full album and b-sides are here and all lyrics are included even for the b-sides which is a nice touch of detail. A DVD is included containing a new interview with John Power, all the promo videos and TOTP appearances and a few Jools Holland tracks they did. Many bands at the this time were starting to issue singles as duel CD's to increase sales (as well as 7" and 12" vinyl). Cast were no exception and every single from this album had a CD1 and CD2. This makes 21 b-sides from 4 singles! All are present here including the live tracks. This is great for completists and saves buying up all the old singles on Ebay. The downside is that not much room is left for anything else. Two BBC session tracks have been included but these were already issued on the Cast BBC Sessions album a few years back and thats it. No demo tracks, no unreleased tunes or alternative versions. I guess there simply wasn't room. All in all though its an excellent reissue and the fact that all 4 albums have been done in the same style means they look great on the shelf together. For Cast fans this has everything you'll ever want anyway - full album, b-sides and a great DVD.

But it's Cast so still gets 4 stars from me. If your not a fan of the band then this might be more like 3 stars for you. Don't get me wrong there's a couple of nice songs like Live the Dream and I'm So Lonely and the standout track Guiding Star which is more like what you would expect from the band, but you would suspect that when they made this they were in an expertimental phase and maybe they should have stuck to the tried and tested formula. Some of the tracks are a bit slow and don't really go anywhere with the experimental sounds prominent but fortunately the good equals the bad and makes it worth a listen. If you have just discovered Cast and don't want to buy all the albums I would strongly advise you to buy The Deluxe Edition of All Change and Magic Hour first and maybe download the mentioned songs from this.

Very dreaming cd. Different from their early cds but still a good cd.