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A Flock Of Seagulls: Listen (Arista)

John Swenson, Creem, September 1983

THERE ARE two ways to look at seagulls. You could take the testimony of ancient mariners, who know more about the subject than you'd probably want to hear. They know seagulls as scavengers, harbor pigeons, who eat a lot of garbage, shit on your head deliberately and make a godawful noisy racket. Then there's the Hollywood view of gulls, epitomized by that celluloid varnish Jonathan Livingston Seagull. This point of view presents the feathery little rats as sweet pets with humanlike thoughts and feelings and makes a big deal out of the fact that they can fly.

Total word count of piece: 370

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