I only purchased The Only Ones debut album after playing to death the fabulous "Even Serpents Shine", their second release. I knew the critically acclaimed "Another Girl, Another Planet" but hadn't heard any of the other tracks before. I thought it was a good album, but not a patch on "Even Serpents Shine" and at the time I thought "The Whole Of The Law" was the best track on the album.
Because of the "Another Girl, Another Planet" single, The Only Ones, led by singer/song writer Peter Perrett were considered to be punk/new wave but this album had a wide range of musical styles with very little that was punk rock. Instead, there was some lounge lizard jazz, samba beats and three gentle, slow numbers. It was simply a collection of very good songs, which lyrically tended to be either about suffering in love, or warnings over the danger of drugs.
The stunning "The Whole Of The Law" starts the album with sensuous sax, gently strummed electric guitar, terrific bossa-nova drumming and an emotional vocal. There is also a great sax outro to finish. It's a song of rare beauty, in just under two minutes.
"Another Girl Another Planet", the hit single that never was, follows. Despite being re-released several times and hailed as a classic by most critics, it was never a Top 50 hit, but regularly features on the "Best Of...." punk/new wave compilations., It has a super intro, an out of this world guitar solo, a memorable chorus and great lyrics, and is rightly considered to be a rock anthem. "I always flirt with death, I look ill but I don't care about it." & "Space travel's in my blood, there ain't nothing I can do about it, long journeys wear me out, but I know I can't live without it".
"Breaking Down" has a much slower tempo, with jazz overtones until the chorus and the girly backing vocals. The electric piano solo though can only be described as jazz.
"City of Fun" is an uptempo 60s style rocker but is a bit of a filler, and the weakest track on the album.
Side One closes with the epic "The Beast" which weighs in at nearly six minutes long. It begins slowly, beginning with gentle guitar and cow bells but ends with some guitar pyrotechnics for a big finish. The beast in this instance is heroin. "Run from the beast, there's danger in his eyes. He's been looking for you for a long time, you might think this is funny, but I'm not laughing, I know it couldn't happen to me" & "'I've tried to show you your whole life in print, you can lead a horse to water but you cant make it drink, think about it! All you gotta do is think about it, there's no cure".
"Creature Of Doom" has a slow, grand opening before launching into a jerky rhythm before a glorious chorus. It's another song about the danger of drugs "I know something that you don't know".'
"It's The Truth" is a gentle song with the intro being just the lead vocal, acoustic guitar and girly backing vocal. It's another brilliant melody, and the second verse has an understated organ accompaniment. The song finishes with a short, tender guitar solo. "I gotta talk to you but it's the last time I'm ever going to".
The tone changes with the frantic "Language Problem" which is probably the closest The Only Ones get to sounding like punk on the album.“My parents told me that love don't exist just for pleasure so I guess I'll throw in some pain for good measure.”
The gentle tone returns with "No Peace For The Wicked" which is semi acoustic, semi samba, and has a killer guitar break.“Why do I go through these deep emotional traumas ? Why can't I be like I always wanted to be, carefree?”
The album closes with "The Immortal Story", another contender for the best track on the album award. A lively romp, with some more samba flavoured keyboards, a call-and-answer vocal by Perrett leading into a cacophony of guitar histrionics and feedback from John Perry to end the album. “I used to dream of this. I'd lay awake at night imagining this" & "Travelling down the road that leads to to fame and glory, this really is the immortal story".
Listening again to "The Only Ones" 46 years after its release it still sounds very good, and I liked two slow numbers "It's The Truth" and "No Peace For The Wicked" more now than I did back then !
Track Listing :
Side One :
1. The Whole Of The Law
2. Another Girl, Another Planet
3. Breaking Down
4. City Of Fun
5. The Beast
1. Creature of Doom
2. It's The truth
3. Language Problem
4. No Peace For The Wicked
5. The Immortal Story
Released 1978
UK Chart Position : 56
Another Girl, Another Planet ( No 56 - 1992 re-release )
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