New Wave music reviews

Cold Chisel began as Australia's biggest 'pub band' and swiftly became our most impressive stadium rock outfit. The years since they admirably called it quits in 1983 have only solidified their likely status as Australia's finest band ever. As with all great acts, the reason for this, despite appearances, does not rest with one individual. Most visible is the iconic, charismatic frontman, JIMMY BARNES who also carved out a lucrative, but artistically less impressive solo career. In the days of Chisel, he could belt out R&B flavoured rock vocals with a shrewd and powerful authenticity. He was the perfect ambassador for the songwriting of DON WALKER who assumed the lion's share of composing for the group. As the band's true enigma, he has redefined pop songcraft into a kind of amalgam of Tom Waits and The Rolling Stones - blues infused tales of losers, sharks, hookers, tv-evangelists, ex-crims or just regular punters cruising the streets on a Saturday night. WALKER could also bash out hit after hit if he wanted to, attested to on just this album with "Cheap Wine", "Ita", "Standing on the Outside", "Choir Girl", "Star Hotel" and so on. Chisel also boasted a second vocalist and guitar virtuoso who could've easily fronted any other group in IAN MOSS, the boy from Alice Springs who could work his way around his guitar better than anyone else in the country. His vocals are on display here with "Never Before", "Best Kept Lies" and "My Baby", yet another hit, this time penned by the inventive and reclusive bass player PHIL SMALL. Apparently, the success of this song lead to Small becoming so self conscious, he never submitted a finished song to the group again. Finally, the band also boasts one of Australia's most accomplished drummers and also, yet again, another great songwriter in STEVEN PRESTWICH. Steve wrote "Best Kept Lies" for this album but really hit his straps on the next LP "Circus Animals" where he penned two magnificent tunes in "When the War is Over" and "Forever Now".
This album, for sheer pop fluidity, is probably Chisel's best and it would rank as one of Australia's ten best ever albums.
If you are new to the band and interested, this is not a bad place to start although you will also certainly enjoy "Chisel" - the greatest hits collection. "East" is a masterpiece, although the other albums aren't far behind and there are plenty more hits than you will find on this CD. Not the least of these of course is the Walker composition Khe Sahn which is laying claims to being our new virtual national anthem.
Chisel are so well known they're like oxygen in Australia. If you are from the US and have never been exposed to their infectious and intelligent blend of rock, blues, reggae and classic Australian lyricism, you're in for a serious treat.

This is yet another album released by the highly overrated Australian band Cold Chisel. In the track "Standing On The Outside" it is suggested to the listener that if they are short of cash then the solution is to rob a TAB (Aussie Betting Outlet) which glorifies a life of crime.It seems that Mr. Don Walker likes writing songs about so called "Beautiful Losers" but I feel there is nothing "Glorious" about drinking Cheap Wine on a beach all day with regrets about what you did yesterday .Perhaps the success that this band enjoyed was partly due to the fact that the listeners could all relate to the losers depicted in Mr. Wanker's songs. Misery just LOVES company!

The release of East, their third album, is when Cold Chisel moved from being Australia's best pub band and became a legend. The largely autobiographical or topical nature of many of the songs, especially Standing on the Outside, Star Hotel, Rising Sun, the tongue-in-cheek Ita (on the Australian release), and the sheer depth and variety of material on this album placed Chisel in the top rank in Australia.

That they never received recognition overseas, especially in the USA, was an indictment of the recording industry - a situation which lent itself to the writing of 'You've got nothing I Want' for the Circus Animals album. Still, they were all ours, and they were magnificent.

I played some of East while writing this review and was again reminded why I loved this band then, and why they still excite me now.

I can still remember rushing out to by the LP of East on the day of release, which included a bonus single (included on the remastered CD) for the first few thousand copies. Cold Chisel engendered such devotion. On East you can hear why.

There is something terribly wrong if East is not in your collection.

Just listening to my old cassette copy of this record in the car, decided to write a review. It's a shame that "Shades" gave Timbuk 3 a novelty band rep b/c they put out some of the best stuff going. Spare arrangements, smart and funny lyrics, catchy melodies and infectious grooves. A must-have record.

This was one of the first albums i remember listening to and it stills brings back memories. This album is a fantastic collection of bluesy, rocky lefty songs. I can't understand why no-one has ever heard of this album, it is sort of a cross between REM with a more country-blues style. great 10/10. This is my first review and i decided to write it because it is so underrated and people must hear this.

1 National Holiday
2 Waves Of Grain
3 Dirty Dirty Rice
4 Pass It On
5 Standard White Jesus
6 Grand Old Party
7 Count To Ten
8 B-Side Of Life
9 Acid Rain
10 Daddy's Down In The Mine
11 Don't Give Up On Me
12 Wheel Of Fortune

This is a great CD! It has the greatest songs from the heart of the eighties all in one (very well priced) package deal. I definitely recommend it.

Although I dont own this import CD I do own the original vinyl so I will give a better review than the only one here on this. This is Falco's very first album. It had the timeless original German dance version of "Der Kommissar" which in america, was only known from underground disco play and the video was later shown on MTV in its early days when After The Fire made a big hit with an english rock version. All around this LP is a great combo of rock, german pop and yes..late eurodisco! There are a few tracks which copy the sound of other rock tracks, such as "Auf Der Flucht" which is purely musicaly identical to "Abacab" by Genesis. Then we have a close to true rip off of Bowie's "Heroes" on "Helden Von Heute", which in English means.."Today's Heroes". Very well done though I will say. This is a solid LP and a must have in any good collection of early 80s music! For the hardcore disco fans out there, the title track of this LP is a nice Giorgio Moroder/Simon Soussan combo style track.

Johann 'Falco' Hoelzl was undoubtedly the most successful
white male rapper of the 20th century. Not bad for an Austrian
singing in a strange Anglo-German mixture, in a time when rap
was considered to be more or less ghetto music and only
a few white pop stars dared to approach this new music idiom
(BLONDIE-Rapture, CLASH-The Magnificent 7, ADAM ANT-Ant rap,
WHAM-Wham rap and CAPTAIN SENSIBLE, MODERN ROMANCE,
NINA HAGEN & others). But Falco made a big mistake:
with songs like Ganz Wien or even European smash hit
Der Kommissar he made a lot of enemies in his hometown
Vienna, people who didn't like a native son of theirs
giving worldwide the impression their city was a drug antre.
Since then Falco was never welcome at home, which I
believe was a burden to heavy for him to handle, leading
him to his tragic death back in 1998 in a mysterious car accident in the Dominican Republic where he lived
auto exiled the last years of his life.
Though non of this LP's songs were US or UK hits,
English cover version of Der Kommissar, by British
band AFTER THE FIRE, hit US #5 (& UK #47) in 1983.
Falco enjoyed the success he was seeking in 1986 when his
all time classic hit Rock Me Amadeus topped both UK & US
charts and ballad Jeanny was a smash hit all over Europe.
Falco's songs are exceptional, his interpretation unique
and beyond comparison. Rap music may owe a lot of things
to German myth KRAFTWERK for helping them in creating their
music forms, but they owe equally to this descendant of Mozart
for opening their way to the top of the charts and the Land of
Loadsamoney. Beware though: the rating refers only to
German speaking Amazon friends, though you never really know
what language that crazy son of a gun is rapping in!

Heaven 17 were always more than just another 80`s pop band. this Sheffield trio always had the fingers firmly placed on the new world of electronic dance music. This album acts not only as a greatist hits package but it`s non-stop mix of up-tempo tracks clearly shows the influence Heaven 17 had on many of the dance icons that would follow in the years to come. All the H17 hilights are here from the chart storming Temptation to the political and challenging `let`s all build a bomb` (here in it`s remixed form)This acts as a perfect introduction to those of you who don`t own any Heaven 17 material but also will but much loved by devotees of the band from the early days.A perfbest of CD that adds just a little bit more to the stand way these type of packages are presented.essential purchase

All of the songs that are on this CD are favorites that I can play over and over again. That says it enough.

If you know that lyric, you'll love this CD. This is by no means great music performed by superior talent, but the tunes are a lot of bouncy fun and if you were young at the time, you'll enjoy it. Tunes like "What I Like About You," "My Sharona," "Whip It," and "Pop Muzik" (the latter Eurorap tune curiously beat out "Rapper's Delight" and "King Tim III," the first rap records, only by a few months) are the kind of delightfully mindless songs that make you want to get on the dance floor and act as unapologetically idiotic as possible. Not great art, but great stuff.

The absolute BEST song Bananarama ever recorded! Great beat, crystal vocals and a song that sticks in your head. I don't mind listening to it several times in succession.

Although it peaked only at #41 on the U.S. dance charts, ESOB is a great, unique dance song. Sarah & Karen's vocals mix well with the raw techno music & thumping beat. If ESOB was promoted better, it would have been a bit hit. I love this song, the mixes are great. Any fan of electronic-dance should give this single a try!

Sounds like a great collection, but where are the track lengths?

With CD's able to hold almost 80 minutes these days, these songs are either really long, or there's space for 4 or 5 more songs. Something to consider for the asking price.

With a title like "Extended Eighties" the track times should be listed to help make an informed buying decison. Especially important considering only half the song titles are reconizable by most people, and there are no samples to listen to.

Amazon, If you update your policies to include the running time of each track and the total time of any disc containing extended length mixes more people may buy the disc!

This cd was issued in 1999 from the UK and puts together a collection of songs that were huge on the pop charts in the UK and US as well as dance floor favorites and a few obscure stuff as well. For me the selling point was "Thorn In My Side" by Eurythmics and "People Hold On" by Coldcut with Lisa Stansfield that are not avaiable elsewhere on cd . The remix of "Thorn In My Side " is so radically different I assume Annie Lennox recut her vocals to suit the mix better. You get some well known tracks like "Ride On Time" , "Funkytown" and "Love Come Down" to more club only tracks like "Beat Dis" and "Theme From S-Express". An excellent collection of full dance mixes.

Tracks: Extended Eighties:
1- Black Box - Ride On Time (Original 12" Mix-- with Loleatta Holloway on sampled vocals from "Love Sensation") 6:27
2- S-Express- Theme From S-Express (Original 12" Mix) 6:01-- a huge number one acid house sampled track.
3- Bomb The Bass- Beat Dis (Extended Dis Mix) 6:00-- another sample heavy number one dance track.
4- The Beatmasters & Cookie Crew- Rok Da House (12" Remix) 6:48-- hip house club track.
5- Pseudo Echo- Funkytown (Dance Mix)6:37-- original non house mix of the Lipps Inc. disco cover that was major pop hit in 1987.
6- Coldcut Featuring Lisa Stansfield- People Hold On (Original Full Length Disco Mix) 9:29-- number 6 in the US dance charts and made Lisa a dance floor favorite.
7- Evelyn "Champagne" King- Love Come Down (12" version)6:11-- huge pop and number one dance and r&b smash from 1982.
8- The Stranglers- Skin Deep (Extended Mix) 7:16-- alternative dance track that reached 49 on the club charts.
9- Eurythmics- Thorn In My Side (Extended Mix) 6:57-- radically different from original version. Mixed by Mann Guiot. A++++Mix !!
10- Blow Monkeys- Digging Your Scene (Longer Mix) 6:14-- retro sounding Top 40 pop hit.
11- Terence Trent D'Arby- Sign Your Name (Full Length Mix) 5:49--- slow pop hit from 1988.

Excellent collection- buy for Lisa Stansfield and Eurythmics!! Worth it for just those two songs.

Finally an album that celebrates just a few, but what a few of the popsongs of the eighties in all their glory. If you're a fan of extended versions, then extend your pleasure with this album. I hope a zillion volumes will follow...

Not a bad collection but it could have been better. It is actually better than 3 stars, more like 3 1/2. The track selection is good but not great, a decent sampling of Jimmy's various career stages. However, why include "Run From Love", but not "Disenchanted" or "Tomorrow"? Was pleased to see "You Are My World" and "So Cold The Night" are here, and good move having "Don't Leave Me This Way" lead into "Never Can Say Goodbye".

Production/remastering qualities are quite good. No real complaints there but one....a little too much bass in "Never Can Say Goodbye".

All of these are not necessarily the same versions as on their respective albums. Any differences are usually rather slight,(e.g. "Why" and "So Cold The Night"), with one big exception...

My biggest complaint about this collection is the version of "I Feel Love" included here. It is most disappointing to me. Not at all like the track on "Age Of Consent", and it certainly does not show either Jimmy or Marc Almond to their best advantage, in my opinion. I much prefer the "Age Of Consent" version. Perhaps this is a matter of personal preference and there are some who prefer the version included here. Since it is so different from the original, why not include both versions?

I love the five Bronski Beat tracks, 1984, and can see how house music could have evolved out of this great dance music. It reminds me at times of Pet Shop Boys and Erasure. "Ain't Necessarily So", a slower, George and Ira Gershwin song, which taps along classily and smoothly. "Run from Love" has female backing vocals and a certain classic techno noise beat running through it. I remember "I Feel Love" from The Odyssey, a gay nightclub in Vancouver in 1993/94; a very gay techno-housey piece to me. It's a duet with Marc Almond of Soft Cell.

Three of the four Communards songs are like unto corny, candy sweet brit-pop. Hello 80's Kylie Minogue and countless yukky, blow away on the breeze meaningless pop fabrications that I know not the names of. The last track "So Cold the Night" however, from '86, has a pseudo-Egyptian style and a minor key which makes the song catchy, moody, interesting and pleasant listening. Like that one.

The french song, from 1990, is definately housey, euro-dance, Pet Shop Boysey. I might even have heard it in a German disco back in '89, if it was a single. Good song.

"To Love Somebody" is a cover of an old Bee-Gees song you might know from your parents' radio station. It's a "leave it" one for me. He does show his varied taste with this one.

I would like to hear more of Jimmy Somerville singing Tudor and Elizabethan song. Loved his singing for the film Orlando which begins in Elizabethan England. Too bad none of that was included on this CD. "I am Coming" would have fit in and been a great addition. It's a modern style song, the theme from the film. He has a truly beautiful voice, so clear and pure. The sound quality on the disk is also superb.

This compilation should actually be named as the above title as the album consists of 4 hits from Communards. All are gems. With the superb digitally remastered sound, this CD deserves 6 stars.