Customer Reviews
I was too narrow minded... - By: rob slevin, 28 Nov 2008 
...so ,i never heard the original album. Got the 'daily mail' freebie recently. Everything gets a fair listen these days (except Nickleback), & this is great. Am i listening to the version that all you long time fans seem to dislike/hate, or is this the 'good' one ?, can anybody tell me please. Either way ,I'm most impressed, it's all about the voice isn't it, 5 stars all the time,so beautiful & soulful.However,i see no 5 star reviews of the album,and thats not without good reason,there are a couple of moments where the music meanders aimlessly...i'm not trying to be ironic, but 7 1/2 minutes of 'Iron Out The Rough Spots',is a perfect pointin case. 'Broken Man',follows, & all is forgiven.wonderful. I'm so glad i finally discovered this album. Buy a copy of it !. Somebody else will have to tell you which particular copy,but buy it.
Thank god......for the 25th anniversary Edition !!!!! - By: Carl Michael Fredrick, 02 Nov 2008 This is a "timeless classic" like many cd's from the 80's,i'm happy that the songs have been "edited" to their single release, i already have the original cd & have found at times that the album came across like a remix album,that's great,but was more interestedin the original single edits
awesome sound quality & quite happy to say that it includes bonus remixes & bonus tracks,but not quite sure if these are the original remixes or edit remixes for cd release
surprized at the attitude some reviews hold against this cd or any cd from the 80's surprized at peoples lack of maturity & knowledge,it seems today that most people are more concerned about music from the past not "fitting in" or they seem embarrassed if it sounds of it's "time" or like to put silly labels on it by calling it "DATED"
personally i never had the fear of listening to an album from the 80's
or the 50's,60's,70's & being worried if it "FITTED IN"in today's so called "SCENE" or matched the rest of my cd collection,personally i like music because it's great music & it makes me feel good,i'm less concerned with pleasing my friends & co-workers by trying to "fit in" ,through the music i listen too,i guess society thinks music of the past shouldn't sound the way it does & should conform to the standard of today's music
imagine having the same immature point of viewin the 60's & being concerned how dated the 50's now sound or livingin the 70's & being concerned how dated the 60's now sound or how country music of the 60's
and 70's doesn't sound like country music of today & is "DATED"
the music of the past like the 50's,60's,70's & 80's was produced for it's time,it was not produced for a 2008 society,nobody had a crystal ball that actually worked,the top 40 music of today is not produced for the society of 2055 or 150 years down the road,time & technology will change & music will evolve into something else,music from the past sounds different because of creativity,technology & styles,most people appreciate music from anytime but less people are more concerned about trying to fit in, like their music
Awful - NOT the Original Version - By: J. Peters, 12 Sep 2008 
I owned & loved the vinyl LP of this albumin the 80's. When CD came onto the market, I taped my LP collection & ditched my records & record deck through lack of space. Now, years later, I was keen to re-buy the album on CD.
This version is awful though. Every track (I think) is a kind of disco mix of the original with lots of digital drums & 'scratching' thrown in. Utter rubbish.
One of the tabloid papers was recently giving copies of this CD away, so I got one of those........and it's exactly the same!! Have Sony/BMG somehow lost the original masters or something? It seems it is not possible to buy a CD copy of the original vinyl release.
I'm going to get myself a vinyl copy on Amazon or at a car boot sale, & archive it to CD (I've bought a record deck againin the meantime!) as this seems to be the only way.
Very disappointed!!
warning, NOT the original album version - By: gnagfloW, 17 Jul 2008 
The initial CD version of No Parlez included only longer versions of the hit singles alongside a few other songs. The album versions from the album were, however, nowhere to be found. In the liner notes of this re-release Paul Young describes those versions as being wearing; not an understatement. According to Paul, the album version was always the true version & finally one can listen to it on CD a quarter of a century later.
It took me not a whole lot longer than zero seconds to realize that something was wrong. The starting crushing interplay of bass & drums on Come Back & Stay is nowhere to be heard, the songs simply "starts". When I heard that the middle section where Paul sings "Since You've Been Gone...." is truncated did I realize that this is the single version being used, NOT the original album version. Things get worse: Love Will Tear Us Apart is presented here without the intro on the original album, again it simply "starts". Similar story with Love of the Common People, the long intro on the album has been shortened, similar as to the single version although I am not sure whether its identical, it is a bit longer than the version on his Time compilation. I think/hope I have spotted all the faults.
The production at the time was revolutionary; Lauri Latham (later worked with Echo & the Bunnymen, Squeeze & The Stranglers) came with a distinctive glossy & crisp sound. Although it became soon dated, it sounds today very fresh. The re-mastering is good, it is as if the tapes were cleaned with the separation much clearer. The music has also aged well, Paul Young's voice still gives me goose bumps. A bonus CD is included with the boring 12 inch versions but an interesting version of Tears For Fears' Pale Shelter & 2 great live recordings.
In whole, a major disappointment due to shortened versions, & simply baffling since it is stated that this IS the original album. I thus give it only three stars, which may be generous. Any comments, especially from someone responsible for this re-release would be welcomed.
Prodict of its time... - By: are-jay-enn, 23 Sep 2007 Great album & very much a product of its time. That's good or bad depending on your view on eighties music & production techniques. Good eighties pop is always difficult to beat but this album would have had five stars if it did not feel just that little bit datedin the 2000's.
Young's vocals are as always excellent & the musicians (including the superb Pino Palladino on bass) are too. The backing vox are Kim & Mazz aka the Fabulous Wealthy Tarts (if memory serves) & they were sadly missing from most of the tracks on the next PY album. Most of the songs here are not penned by PY although the one that is, Broken Man, is a good un.
