Category Archives: The World’s Not Big Enough

JOHN DU CANN The World’s Not Big Enough

FacebookTwitterEmailShare

… John Du Cann…had an uncanny ability to tap into the spirit of the times: mainstream pop with mid-60s group Attack;psychedelia with late-60s Andromeda and then prog-rock with Atomic Rooster…recorded in 1977…has a pop punk feel…of interest to Atomic Rooster and Status Quo fans.

Colin Shearman, Q, July 1999


…at times seems on the verge of catching the energy of the punk movement that sprang up about that time…A tight rocking album well worthy of attention and it’s a pity that it’s taken twenty years to see the light of day. Well packaged with informative notes and twelve high quality bonus tracks added to the original fifteen songs, this is another welcome addition to the Angel Air label.

Terry Craven, Wondrous Stories (June 1999)


…three-minute punk-ish pop ditties that could just as easily been blaring out of speakers contemporaneous to anything by The Cars, Blondie or Cheap Trick. “Power Pop” …and much better than the rest,
I think.

Atomic Rooster fans…know that this is going to be great rock and roll but they would have never guessed at the form it would have taken. Status Quo fans will want to snap it up for the contributions from both Andy Bown and Francis Rossi. Everybody else, don’t be a dummy and get this thing as soon as you can!

Music America, (July 1999)


Utterly convincing, packing much the same kind of mood and power as the early Ultravox…the first-ever release for a phenomenal piece of new wave rock and also the first release for a dozen demos, outtakes and oddities recorded by Du Cann and Rooster drummer Paul Hammond around the time of the Rooster reunion.

Jo-Anne Greene, Goldmine, (June 1999)


…while this album is never punk it does fit into the power pop category very well. This is guitar oriented pop and while at times it sounds quite dated, that only adds to instead of detracting from its charm…not at all a bad album, and one that anyone into the late Seventies would do well to search out.”

Feedback, (September 1999)


In keeping with the era’s back-to-basics bent, the sound is crisp and muscular. DuCann’s scrappy, propulsive riffs yield consistently good results, particularly on the swaggering pop-punk of “You Didn’t Know Any Better”, “When I Was Old” and “fashion Fantasy”…The album also packs 11 bonus demo tracks, most as good as their album counterparts, snappily produced by Status Quo’s Francis Rossi (who also contributed rhythm guitar)…Bassist John McCoy (Ian Gillan), keyboardist Andy Bown (Herd, Status Quo), and Cliff Bennett (Original Mirrors) lend stolid unobstrusive support (even Atomic Rooster drummer Paul Hammond pops up on a few tracks). All in all, this is a thoughtful reissue; file as an irresistible “might-have-been.”

Discoveries, (September 2001)


The album has a very commercial feel to it with short songs that have catchy sing along lyrics to them, ideal for radio…

Alistair Flynn, Classic Rock Society (September 2002)


…it’s a mainly hard rock platter adding boogie, pub-rock and new wave into the mix. As usual, the CD is packed with sleevenotes, photos and extra tracks.

Joe Geesin, Record Collector (October 2002)

FacebookTwitterEmailShare
Posted in JOHN DU CANN, The World's Not Big Enough | Leave a comment