[.ca] Complete John's Children,the

'60s Brit Completists -- Leave Your Collection Incomplete:
Whenever I read anything about John's Children, the constant critique seems to be "they couldn't play." I always take this with a grain of salt, being that countless great bands have been critiqued in much the same manner -- the Ramones, the Sex Pistols, even the Stones in the early years. So, I was expecting something great and primitive and loud. Their cool all-in-white Mod look and the fact they were a British band in the '60s made this an easy sell for me. I'm a sucker for anything Mod-like. Alas, I was indeed a sucker to buy this and the critics were, ahem, correct. This CD is bloody awful. They really, really couldn't play. Bolan's guitar playing sounds like every spotty 15-year-old crankin' it up and out-of-tune at the local music store. The songs are dreadful to boot -- Marc Bolan's warble, which he kept in check in later years on great T.Rex tunes, is on full-tilt irritating overdrive on the awful "Hippie Gumbo"; "Smashed-Blocked" sounds like Neil of the "Young Ones" in an outtake from the Grease soundtrack; and, unfortunately, the rest is just filler. Marc and Mod fans -- don't waste your time and money. I did and all I got was the chance to write this lousy review.

• Smashed Blocked
• Just What You Want -- Just What You'll Get
• Strange Affair
• But She's Mine
• Hippy Gumbo
• Jagged Time Lapse
• Midsummer Nights Scene \oAlternative Version\c\oAlternate Take\c
• Not the Sort of Girl You Take to Bed
• Mustang Ford
• Love I Thought I'd Found
• Remember Thomas A'Beckett
• Come and Play With Me in the Garden \oInstrumental\c
• Daddy Rollin' Stone \oBBC\c
• Hot Rod Mama \oBBC\c
• Perfumed Garden of Gulliver Smith \oBBC\c
• Jagged Time Lapse \oBBC\c
• Sally Was an Angel \oInstrumental\c
• Desdemona
• Remember Thomas a Beckett
• It's Been a Long Time
• Arthur Green
• Midsummer Nights Scene
• Sarah Crazy Child
• Jagged Time Lapse
• Go-Go Girl
• Come & Play With Me in the Garden
• Perfumed Garden of Gulliver Smith \oInstrumental\c
• Midsummer Nights Scene \oAlternate Version\c
• Not the Sort of Girl You Take to Bed \oAlternate Version\c
• Help
• Casbah Candy