New Wave music reviews

I was introduced to BC music just a year ago, and have become a huge fan. Stuart's poetry is phenomenal, his music is genius, and I find myself wondering what happened....why someone so against violence with a real message left us through such violence against himself. So far Buffalo Skinners is my favorite CD--excellent rock. Song #1 is one of my favorites of all music, and I consider BC among other greats like "Yes" "Led Zepplin" and "Moody Blues" among others. Stuart was obviously impassioned to a point that many never reach, and I am so grateful he used his gift to express his soul. Amazing.

I'd been a passing fan of Big Country in the 80s; my younger brother eventually bought most of their US LPs, so when I saw the later 1990s recordings I let him know about them just as a courtesy.

To say I was blown away by this album when he gave it to me would be an understatement. It's one of the best things I've heard in the last couple of years, consistently strong all the way through.

If all you've heard is their one-hit material, or even their 1980s output, you probably won't expect this either. No bagpipe-like guitars, no overdramatic 80s-style production (not that those things ever bothered ME). Just a classic rock album that ranges in mood from the countryish ballad "See You" to the spookily spiritual "Your Spirit To Me" to the hard-driving title track to the hilarious rant about media oversaturation, "The President Slipped and Fell," to the beautiful "Fragile Thing."

A keeper.

You thought Big Country was a one hit wonder and disappeared inthe early 80's? Not a chance. This release would be exceptional fromany band. That veterans almost 20 years into their career couldfashion something so vibrant is phenomenal. A comeback? Hardly. Theywere never gone. You just didn't hear anything off "The BuffaloSkinners" or "Why The Long Face". Ray Davies, one ofthe great ones, co-wrote 2 of these tunes. Not that Stuart needed anyhelp. His songcraft is better than ever. Buy it and enjoy the earthy,passionate music. "Dive Into Me" is a tremendous single. If BCdoes anything for you at all, this release is essential. So many bandsdie a dog death. BC goes out screaming with some of the finest musicthey have ever produced.

I have both of the Commercials albums and was lucky enough to see them live a few months ago on tour. Although I liked both of these albums, which are fully of energy yet melodic, the new material they played on tour is light years ahead in their song writing abilities. I heard the new CD is coming out early summer. I can't wait to get it, as I had a chance to preview it when they played live. Easy to hear some influences, yet they are in a category all their own. Thanks Commercials, keep touring and don't forget to come back to NYC!

This is brilliant melodic power pop-punk and is infact among some of the best i've actually heard, if you want to buy any pop-punk from any band you are clueless about then the commercials should be that band. First time for everything maintains it's high level of quality throughout and will leave you stoked after just one listen, as this album grows on you you probably will not be able to put it down for a long period of time seriously as soon as i got hold of this (for a knock off price) it was on constant rotation for months so i cant really recommened this cd enough!

The Commercials have put the "P" back in PUNK. With great songs like Ch-Chang and My Bologna Has A First Name, this CD will keep you bouncing around for hours. Strong melody, great lyrics, and a supurb sound are all packed into one.

This is a synth fest set to driving and bubbling beats celebrating technology, computer games and power politics, executed with plenty of gusto and energy.

Love Missile is thunderous and energetic with lots of echo, unexpected samples and galloping synths, while Atari Baby is slower and atmospheric, reminding me of Alan Vega's psychobilly excursions.

Rockit Miss USA is catchy power pop, Massive Retaliation is a charming mix of beats and samples and Teenage Thunder sounds like Suicide at its most hypnotic and is full of quotes like "money makes the world go round." She's My Man starts with a cheeky quote from the advertising copy for a certain hair gel.

In its innovative use of synthesizer Flaunt It is on a par with Sparks' great masterpiece No. 1 In Heaven or Alan Vega's Collision Drive. Giorgo Moroder's talent was here applied to create a stirring, over-the-top post-modern rock statement. I still love it after all these years.

The great thing about Sigue Sigue Sputnik was the fact that they took the whole concept of being a 21st century boy band so seriously.

Their songs are written in a sort of Clockwork Orange quasi-English ("Deluxe she looks, she looks she can can") and there's lots of references to futuristic situations and places (the "Pleasure Store" from Atari Baby is a good example). Rio seems to have become the world headquarters of cool and it's normal to have actual ads (for actual hotels, magazines and hair mousse) on records.

None of this is ever explained, it's just accepted as part of life and this adds to the sense of witnessing an actual band from the future.

Some people say the music is repetitive (there's a Georgio Moroder, "dagga-dagga-dagga" bassline through every song), but I quite LIKE that. Sigue Sigue acted out the role of being a 21st century boy band to the extent of making valid, if not particularly ?nteresting or distinctive music.

On the positive side, the music is fast and stripped down enough to come at you like a flying saw blade. The sound is clean and machine like and fast and well... Efficient? Glittering? Futuristic? Certainly. There's even "Atari Baby" which I suppose is meant to be some sort of futuristic ballad/crowd pleaser thing "for the mums and dads" (all boy bands have a song of the sort)

Take it as comedy, take it as theatre rock or dance music or whatever. I'm sure you'll wind up taking it as SOMETHING, this was one wondrous "concept" band who went the whole hog.

Hype, beats, samples, attitude and balls to spare, this futuristic disc came out in 1986 and has forever changed the landscape of music as we know it. "Love Missile F1-11" is the best rock and roll song ever written.

If you lost track of them in the eighties, jump back on the bandwagon now. This is the first single in 4 years from their new "Driving To Damascus" CD, this single is great and the album is even better!

These fellows have put together a great recording. If you want to hear fresh, great, rocking music, give it a try...the CD "Driving to Damascus" isn't far behind. The reviews are starting to pile up: Brilliant music.

The first single in four years from the scottish rockers more known for their success in the 80's. But let me tell you, this single cooks. Not only is the title track, "Fragile Thing" an instant classic but the B side tracks are incredible. "I Get Hurt" moves you and "John Wayne's Dream" will make you wish you were back on the frontier. A great single from a great band!

Yet another truely amazing album!!! This band just keeps getting better and better. I can't wait for their next album...which is wwwwaaaayyy!!! over due!

This is far the best album yet from Faith Assembly. The album contains some of the best programming I've ever heard. Very creative and full of emotion. I can't wait to hear what's next from mark and the rest of Faith Assembly.

this cd moved me.. if you like the slower meaningfull kind of new romantic swave style of music, then this is the one for you. it is a slower music, certainly not your high energy club synthpop, but an awesome disc to settle down, listen to the music, feel the emotion. great for driving. this is a multi layered music.. i love to just listen to it and pick out the different sounds and instruments. i hear new things everytime i hear it.. smooth instruments. get this people you will love it.

Secrect affair are the perfect example of a brilliant pop band that were more ore less derailed by a relentlessly vindictive UK press snobbery.The blessing of time is that those reviews are dead and gone....only the music remains.This debut is a joy from beginning to end.One can still get chills listening to New Day,Glory Boys,and the extended bliss of I'm Not Free(But I'm Cheap}.The production is pristine,the songwriting is top-notch...and to these jaded ears sounds just as fresh and vibrant as it did 20+ years ago.Egad...20 + years!

Good news:they still exist,albeit with a different line-up as The Affair.

Great news:critics die and are forgotten,but music like this is timeless.

Ahhh...to be 19/20 years old in New York City when this record came out!!! If you were cool (a regular NME reader) and a Jam fanatic, then the release of this record and the movie Quadrophenia at the same time was heaven sent.

I remember walking in to a tiny NYC club downtown winter of '79 and hearing Time for Action blasting out the front door and I was captured forever. Went to see Secret Affairs first few gigs here at Hurrahs and Privates. Great shows, tons of energy and very unique. Unfortunately, their second album just couldnt deliver the goods completely (although My World was fine) and the press slagged them off by their third album.

Glory Boys is one of the great rock albums of the 1980's.

Never thought this would see the light of day on CD. I wore out my viynl copy, back when we were playing at being mods. Secret Affair definately played second fiddle to The Jam, and only because Weller & Co thought of it all first (second time around). This is a wonderful platter, its not angst ridden, a stab at genuine pop music, a nod toward the 60's but original in its concept. As a band they were too clean cut to be taken seriously by the UK music press (and unfortunately, lumped in with the rest of the Mod bandwagon) but play & write they could. From the opening title cut, to the added extra tracks this is well worth the cash, and now they've re-issued the 2 following albums, also worth a listen. An album representative of a period in time when it was truly great to be young...Keep the faith! P.S. The Greatest Hits album is a winner, the best of all 3 releases, sound as a pound...

Harry Vanda and George Young were the two main characters in the great Australian 1960`s band The Easybeats.

When the Easybeats split up in the early 1970`s Vanda and Young kept working together on various projects as producers and songwriters. For instance for John Paul Young ( Love is in The Air).

In late 1970`s they formed their new band "Flash and the Pan". This compilation contains material from their first 5 albums as well as a rare non album single.

How can you describe their music; it certainly grows on you. You have give it more than one listen ; if it doesn`t hit you the first time.

Their weird sounding vocals may disturb some people from the fact that most of their songs are really great. The voices sound like they were recorded through poor radio-microphones; or even a megaphone.

The music style varies from disco to rock`n roll ( and everything in between ). Their lyrics are usually both clever and thought-provoking; and often humorous.

They had a few minor hit singles which are all included here.

" Hey St Peter"- "Yesterday`s Gone" "Money Don`t Lie" - Show them at their rocking best

"Waiting for a Train" - "Walking in the Rain" - are both based quiet disco riffs

The single "Something About You Baby Blue" is a very catchy music-hallish song that almost sound like it could have been written by Ray Davies of the Kinks. Great song.

"Media Man" and "Midnight Man" are great disco-rockers.

"Hey Jimmy" great guitar break! quiet disco

"Down Among The Dead Men" another great tune and another theme F.& P. theme : old legends (Titanic)

"Early Morning Wake Up Call" ; in my opinion one of their weakest singles - Especially in the elecric drums are very irritating.

"Ayla" a disco anthem!!

This album is highly recommended.

Start here and buy all their originals later. There are much more to go for than what can be put on to just one CD.

Now we can only hope that the will get back together again to record. Their last album was released in 1992; so it`s high time.

This 2 CD set is a great Flash and the Pan compilation. Disc 1 is the same as the CD "Collection" CD. What's different on this one is the 2nd CD. The 2nd CD contains rare remixes of some of Flash and the Pan's songs.

This is a great CD if you don't own some of this group's albums, as is my case. It is the best collection possible. I like some of their songs, and I'm happy to say that they are all in this CD! A great buy! Note: Tracks 16 to 23 are not included in the CD I own, and they look funny in the provided information. My guess is that it's a typo.

Tuxedomoon know the way to surprise the first time listeners; nevertheless their old fans. Holy Wars is not a typical work of the band. Do not expect the aggression and irony of "Desire", or the experimentalism and loneliness of "Half Mute". Tuxedomoon in 1985 produced this album including hidden pieces from all the previous works the have launched. Holy wars does not talk to a restricted audience. They can vibrate the musical chords of every sensitive and demanding listener. The music is a strange and successful alloy of futuristic elements and well used music patterns by Tuxedomoon. Repetitive tones, melodic whistles and magnificent background noise-however, amazingly attractive- engaged with innovative lyrics to form extraordinary songs. The lyrics are surrealistic by not chaotic, they talk about the things that they will come; however we expect their arrival. Best tracks? I will give just one hind: The Waltz, is maybe the best intro track I have never listened.

this is the most comercial album by tuxedomoon, it has great moments, like the instrumental the waltz, in a manner of speaking and the crazy soma, if you like real music with elements of new wave,dark,jazz,experimental. buy this... you can hear too desire and ghost sonata or any cd by steven brown

A good album is one that makes you feel something inside your heart. Feelings, you know... something strong you prove every time you listen to it. A good album is one that makes you laugh and cry and dance and think... Well, Holy Wars is not only a good album, it's a wonderful one. You can feel the sadness of a dark Blade Runner's future, the joy of looking in your lover's eye, the pain of one thousand goodbyes, the relaxing calm of a winter beach... Holy Wars is all that and much more.

So even though RAGE is currently rated lower, that's the one to get. It's a classic 80's party album that's also much more than just a party album. HAND TO MOUTH is more for committed fans. I do especially like "In Conversation" and "Come Again!" is a plea for Jesus Christ's return as well as a very fun, upbeat song. I no longer subscribe to Christianity, but I can still appreciate the tune.

Hand To Mouth is an outstanding example how well written, performed pop music from the mid-eighties should've sounded like. Forget about the over produced, heavily synthesized Euro schlock. This is the real fun stuff. At times some of the tracks had almost a retro feel or throwback to the music styles of the 50's and 60's. Love Without The Fun resonates with the 50's drive-in, soda pop sound while Come Again has a 60's (almost Burt Bacharach feel with early Motown undertones) sugar coated infectious groove. The reggae cloaked Forward As One is a special throwback to General Public's days with their old group English Beat. The last track, Cry On Your Own Shoulder is a smooth and suave r&b/dance track which closely resembles something witten or performed by ABC off the Lexicon of Love album.

My consensus on General Public's Hand To Mouth is that of other reviewers; It was an underrated and underpromoted project that could've soared back then !

This one was never a huge success commercially. Why? I have no idea, because this album is simply brilliant. Even more evolved than GP's first album (_All the Rage_), yet still just as catchy, and still sounds great today. As with their first album, the lyrics are wickedly clever, and come at you from within songs that are at once both musically complex and sing-along catchy. The complexity is evidenced in the striking horn arrangements sprinkled throughout the entire album-- the way the horns interact with the vocals is evidence that there was a lot of talent and thought behind the songwriting. This version of the cd (which I thought was out of print? ) comes with EIGHT bonus tracks-- including an obscure one that alone is worth the price of the whole CD: "Taking the Day Off", a bouncy gem that conks you over the head with fun and isn't otherwise available, aside from being heard in the background in "Ferris Bueller" (in the Cameron Swimming Pool scene, I think). So don't miss this album!