Rating: - A Hybrid US/UK Version would be a 5 star CD.
"A Tonic For the Troops" found the young Rats in sarcastic snide humor, willing to take on topics as timely as tabloids or as close to home as life on the dole in the classic "Rat Trap." I was lucky enough to have bought the US version of the CD, which included an improved re-recording of "Mary of the 4th Form" and "Joey's On the Street Again" and a different sequencing. Quite frankly, I could not live without the exuberance of "Like Clockwork," "She's So Modern," and "Rat Trap." Maybe one of these ... Read More

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Rating: - WITTY & MELODIC ROCK
Although they emerged in the punk era, the Boomtown Rats cannot simply be lumped together with the angry sounds of the Sex Pistols or early Clash. Some of the themes on this underrated album mirror the rebellion of punk, like Rat Trap or Don't Believe What You Read, but the clever lyrics and catchy tunes have more in common with the work of Elvis Costello or early Nick Lowe. Songs like Me And Howard Hughes, I Never Loved Eva Braun and Like Clockwork have melodic hooks and almost Stones-like vocals. ... Read More