Cast of Thousands (The Adverts album)

Cast of Thousands
Studio album by The Adverts
Released 1979
Studio The Manor, Oxfordshire; The Barge on Regents Canal, London
Genre New wave, punk rock
Label RCA
Producer Tom Newman
The Adverts chronology
Crossing the Red Sea with The Adverts
(1978)		 Cast of Thousands
(1979)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]

Cast of Thousands was the Adverts' second album, released in 1979. It featured a noticeably different, more experimental sound than their debut effort, Crossing the Red Sea with The Adverts.[1][2][3]

Background

The album was produced by Tom Newman (known for his work on Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells), who played synthesizer on "I Will Walk You Home".[1][4] Doctors of Madness frontman Richard Strange guested on synthesizer on the title track.,[5]

Reception

Contemporary critics were generally dimissive of the album and the band's change of direction, but it has since been reevaluated.[2]

Writing for AllMusic, critic Dave Thompson said, "A flagrant departure from even the most extreme expectations, Cast of Thousands not only cast the band adrift from the new wave mainstream, but it would also alienate all but the most adaptable of the band's following".[1]

A retrospective review in The Quietus noted that the album was still not "an easy listen", but praised the "wild, free and comparatively sophisticated" version of the band, and called the title track a "thrilling, rolling, tumbling, swirling mess of adventure and hope".[2]

Track listing

All tracks composed by T. V. Smith

  1. "Cast of Thousands"
  2. "The Adverts"
  3. "My Place"
  4. "Male Assault"
  5. "Television's Over"
  6. "Fate of Criminals"
  7. "Love Songs"
  8. "I Surrender"
  9. "I Looked at the Sun"
  10. "I Will Walk You Home"

Personnel

The Adverts
  • T. V. Smith - vocals, guitar
  • Gaye Advert - bass
  • Howard Pickup - guitar, vocals
  • Rod Latter - drums
  • Tim Cross - piano, synthesizer

with:

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 https://www.allmusic.com/album/r28741
  2. 1 2 3
  3. ↑ http://thequietus.com/articles/04366-the-adverts-cast-of-thousands-reissue-review
  4. ↑ http://www.firerecords.com/the-adverts/
  5. ↑ Thompson, Dave (2000). Punk. Ontario: Collector’s Guide Publication. p. 55. ISBN 1-896522-27-0. ;
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