When I Was Born For The 7th Time Review

When I Was Born For The 7th Time was the CD for my commute, the 1997 album by Cornershop. A break through album to use the modern term as this was the album that contained by far their most well known song in Brimful Of Asha, the tribute to Asha Bhosle, and to playback singers in general.
The album is hit and miss on the whole, the full and proper songs with lyrics and melody are perfect, but as I have mentioned previously, Cornershop do these little interludes mainly made up of beats and and odd bursts of sitar etc. This falls flat for me, I like songs and the tracks that I consider “songs” make up a pretty good album.
We have the original un fatboy slimmed version of Brimful of Asha, a slightly slower pace to it and less reliant on loops, not to say I like the fatter version, I have the single, its a great, great pop record, think about this for a second, that was 13 years ago!! Also we have the marvellous, Sleep On The Left Side, Good Shit, Candyman, Funky Days Are Back Again, a fair to middling version of Norwegian Wood and my favourite track on the album, Good to Be on the Road Back Home, which features Paula Frazer.
The songs with lyrics are so good it does make up for the other songs but as someone that hates all of these interlude things on records, I never understand how they come to be released? What’s the benefit, as an artist it’s not really getting something worthwhile out, it doesn’t release your tortured soul or even give fans something they are desperate for, its merely a cynical album filler. What good, what purpose, what benefit to listener and artist is 3 minutes of drum loop with recorded effect and bongo over the top? At the record company meeting who was it that piped up, THAT has to go on the album? I don’t know, I don’t understand I don’t think, but I do know 13 years later I can buy the MP3’s I want and not feel cheated at the end of it by buying into Cornershops. musical masturbation. 5 out of 10.



Sleep On The Left Side by Cornershop

Handcream for a Generation

My morning CD was Cornershop this morning with the follow up to their breakthrough album, Handcream for a Generation.
I think this is the most perplexing album so far. I will come to why in a moment but just a quick note on Cornershop. I used to work with the percussionist from Cornershop, Pete Bengry. That is my Cornershop fact.
Now as to it’s perplexiness. The way I see this album is that they saw the remix worked on the single Brimful of Asha and let that dictate their sound. Its an odd album that is disjointed and has elements which are really really good, opening track Heavy Soup being the one that springs to mind. But where it should be diverse, its just a rag bag of ideas, over produced and performed unsuccessfully. It sways from reggae, to rock, to house music, all with a fatboy slim sheen. This is Clinton, the Cornershop side project but with the Cornershop name attached in a cynical attempt to sell more records. It just does not work for me though.
I really was very disappointed in its overall feel, its random at times and certainly forced, none of it seems genuine and “4 real”. Its uninspiring and cynical and all good points are lost and wiped out by the bad. The worst being a 14 minute noodling epic featuring Noel Gallagher. Dreadful, absolutely dreadful. They should be ashamed by that, but they aren’t. 0 out of 10. This is a CD that just may be bouncing off the tarmac of the A38.