The Farm – Spartacus

A superb album! A must for all collections to cover the Manchester scene of the late 80’s / early 90’s.

Surprisingly good even after 27 years. Timeless album. Music not to be taken too seriously but it's got heart put into it. It's lovely. The grooves are nice and I can totally understand why it was a hit. It really put together the cultural environment of that day. It combined brit rock and groove music in a way that wasn't done before. I remember to this day how I went to a local record shop just to get this. It was placed on the window, I spotted it right there as I walked in. I did not even know how it would look like and was quite surprised by the cover. This has something similar in it as Snap's World Power, Technotronic, Deee-Lite albums and some of the rap music like MC Hammer. I always associated it like that. 4/5

Sadly, this one lacks the best remix of the bunch, the Terry Farley remix of "Very Emotional", with its slinky, nocturnally velvet groove. I'm not sure why they left it off, but it was a mistake to do so.

Excellent indie/dance crossover material from Liverpool's answer to the Happy Mondays. Some fantastic indie tracks, such as their classics 'Groovy Train', 'All Together Now', 'Family of Man' and 'Stepping Stone'. Expect deep dancey basslines, guitar-led rhythms, occasional piano riffs and the constant jeering vocal attitude of Hooton and Grimes. This album features all The Farm's classic indie hits plus the B-Side remixes from Boys Own legends Terry Farley and Rocky and Diesel. The Farms fresh produce was often sold at The Hacienda to thriving teens who were asked ‘..what happened to the attitude…you used to have at school?’.

Not as bad! This UK chart topping album by The Farm, a band that came from nowhere before this release and went there after it again, has been put down on many occasions. Sure, The Farm were copyists rather than inventors, and as instrumentalists (as well as Peter Hooton as the vocalist) they were mediocre. The latter can be witnessed when listening to the self-produced original version of Family Of Man which is not on this album but on the B side of the Stepping Stone 12" and sounds somewhat embarassingly naive. But - The Farm did write some decent tunes, and the expert production of Madness' Graham McPherson guaranteed a certain quality control of their output.
The singles taken from Spartacus are its commonly acknowledged highlights: Groovy Train still rocks many a dancefloor, whereas All Together Now has survived the commercial radio variety erosion. The album's third single, Don't Let Me Down, is one of its weaker tracks. But then it also features further cool indie tunes as Hearts And Minds and Sweet Inspiration, whereas Higher And Higher and Very Emotional (preferably in their original versions) are good club tracks. Special mention to the harakiri guitar solo in the new version of Family Of Man.