The Pale Fountains - (Don't Let Your Love) Start A War (Virgin)

Lots of acoustic guitars, beefy drums and a horn that sounds like it could start a country hunt. Swirling and swarthy, this gets better and better. (Ian Birch, Smash Hits, March 29, 1984)

More pop for pop's sake - this time from Liverpool. But despite nicking the guitar from The Bluebells "Cath" and chucking in a few muted horns, this is still nothing special. Awful title too. (Paul Simper, No 1, March 17, 1984)

I thought it was a joke when it first came on, the mix is absolutely dreadful, I've never heard anything like it. You can't hear the vocal, the melody or anything, it's all smothered in reverb. The worst mix I've ever heard. When their first single came out the two tracks on the B-Side I really liked, I thought they're really going to do the bossa nova 60s thing, but that's awful. Can't even hear the song it's produced so badly. (Roy Hay [Culture Club], Record Mirror, March 17, 1984)