New Wave music reviews

If this album would have gotten as much radio sponsorship as Ozzy or Metalli-can't they would have been superstars, I think. No real weak tracks, a definitive 80's metal album at it's best. Every song has something unique, either a real eye-opening solo or riff or both or something else to do with drums. Funny metal lyrics too, like what you'd expect from Judas Priest. Color/texture changes from song to song and within a song itself. You're caught off guard just when you anticipate what's going to happen next. This one's perfect for the loudspeakers.

I have heard all three of their releases and I must say that this is their best one..."Fear No Evil"...If their first album "See You In Hell" had a clearer more crisp sound and production,then I would say it, but Grim Reaper comes through on "Fear No Evil" with better production and clarity...the title track is the opener and it sets the tone for the onslaught of metal that awaits your unsuspecting ears...the second track "never coming back" is great...one of the better ones they ever recorded imho...the third song lord of darkness is good but i could do without it...did nothing for me...the fourth song "matter of time" the same...fifth "r@r tonight" catches you offguard at first listen due to its change of pace...another winner! sixth,seventh,and eighth songs are good too but again dont do anything for me as far as anything memorable...but the last song "final scream" is classic...overall the vocalist can kinda get on your nerves ie: similar to the way ozzy's does...so,take and listen in moderation...and forget any videos youve ever seen of them...you'll appreciate the music much more if you do so...some bands were just not destined for the mtv screen...way too ugly for television!

More dreamy willowy pop of yesteryear from the vaults of Cherry Red. A more esoteric and better produced selection than the other compilation 'Our Brilliant Careers' which is shoddy in places. The juxtaposition of the three artists here seems coincidental, yet they successfully present different facets of the sound of the label during the early 80's.

Jane & Barton starts with the acapella 'It's A Fine Day' which was later turned into the Opus III dancefloor smash. The remix by A Guy Called Gerald here has a harder and less commercial sound. Quite good. Flute and percussion accompany Jane on 'I Want To Be With You' to nice pastoral effects a la Virginia Astley, although the latter would have never named one of her songs 'Ha Bloody Ha', which poses such thought-provoking questions as "Did you hear about the woman who died" or "What part of a vegetable can't you eat". Simple voice and piano arrangement on 'There Is A Man' and 'You Are Over There' makes ideal lazy afternoon listening, only to be rudely disturbed by Mr.Barton's grating screech on 'You Are Over There Part Two'.

Onto the marvellously named Grab Grab The Haddock, which included two of the three Marine Girls after Tracey Thorn went on to form Everything But The Girl. They pretty much carried on with the style of their previous band, only now augmented to a four-piece. Lightweight summery guitar pop, the stuff that Cherry Red is famous for.

In Embrace played moody melodic pop with guitar and synths. Although once described as 'introverted and emotionally unfathomable' the songs are actually quite classy and the sentiments deeply felt. 'The Darkest Horse' features a spine-tingling chord progression slightly reminiscent of the Cocteaus. They should have been big.

The CD ends with a bonus video of 'It's A Fine Day'. Hmm... now that's why she sounds so lonely..

One great way to remember a summer tour is to put a disc out from a tour.This is what the Motels,the fixx and Berlin did.The show was July 21,2001 from the universal amphitheture in the lovely city of Los Angeles California.The show starts off with the motels fronted by Martha Davis (SHE STILL LOOKS GREAT)they did all of there 80s hits with straight forward pop and roll,the only thing lacking was it sounded like it was in the studio-no croud noise or Martha talking to the croud.Next came the fixx they sounded very crisp and sang all of there 80s hits-I can see why they called the disc greatest hits live-they had a great tight set-there last song the real diva Terri Nunn came onstage and did a great duet with the fixx.They saved the best for last--Berlin with Terri Nunn she was rocking hard-at one point on the metro she was screaming so hard-now thats what a live disc is about.Terri Nunn is the DIVA OF ALL DIVAS.

I love it. It contains my most favourite songs of the 80s. 'Don't dream it's over', 'Shattered Dreams'' 'Heaven'. The best sellection. Songs that I've remembered all those years and now I'm happy to have them in my collection of sweet, maybe a bit sentimental music. And where else could you find Feargal Sharkey?

I love Peter Kater and most of his music without occult or shaman titles in them, because the truth is, it is part of a cult thinking and spiritual darkness. I studied it for years as I did other cults and I know people firsthand who were involved with the illuminated cult and "ism. Otherwise he has an excellent talent and beautiful spirit in music and melodic creation on the piano and you cannot deny that he has a God-given gift, if and when he ever acknowledges that is truly where it comes from.

OK, I already have written a review of the import version so I'll just paste that same review at the end of my comments here. Also since Amazon gives us no detail about this it's hard to tell exactly what this is.

HOWEVER, this appears to be the domestic release of The Bolshoi's 'Friends'. If so, this is the one that you want. The domestic CD included the 'Giants' EP and is a better value than the import version.

I gave the import 4 stars due to the lack of these extra songs. Attached hereafter is my review of the import:

Here's one the great cult bands of the 80's that many so-called experts missed. That's unfortunate because The Bolshoi made some excellent songs and they sounded like no one else without resorting to gimmicks. Led by guitarist/vocalist Trevor Tanner, they crafted dark, edgy music that often attacked the injustices of mainstream society.

The main single was the dramatic "A Way" (you'll notice that it is misspelled by Amazon as "Away"). This may have been the best alt hit released in 1986. It tells the tale of a beautiful, manipulative girl who uses her wiles to charm her way into the graces of the upper crust, the conformist & wealthy in-crowd. She fails to see that such false behavior ultimately will turn on itself and leave her alone now that she has alienated those who would have truly cared about her.

"Sunday Morning" is a knock on the hypocrisy of the church. It is a lovely piano ballad that chronicles the singer's decision to leave religion behind in his youth. It features the line, "Standing in line with a dirty mind... clean it up on Sunday morning. I don't wanna do it anymore." "Looking for a Life to Lose" (also misspelled on Amazon) peers into the minds of bitter, jaded adults who often pour their negative outlook directly into the minds of their children, never giving the young a chance at happiness; given Tanner's undeniable anger, sarcasm and bitterness, it seems this is autobiographical and that he wishes he'd had a better chance when he was young. "Books on the Bonfire" looks at the dangerous moments in history where books have been burned and reminds that this could and is happening again. Tanner says, "We put all the books on the bonfire. 2,000 years in a flame. I run like a horse in a fairground - rewind me and play me again." You get the feel that he is also implying that by dumbing-down the education system we are doing this metaphorically already. "Someone's Daughter" and "Modern Man" are standout tracks as well.

I would give this release a 5-star rating except that this particular version does not give you the 6-song `Giants' EP. The version I own has those 6 songs tacked on to the beginning - I guess that is out of print. Those songs showcase Bolshoi in their earlier even bleaker mood. If you can find it, "Happy Boy", "Giants" and "Fly" are all strong efforts.

All in all this is a great album that any fan of post-punk would appreciate.

Just to let the previous reviewers know, some of the earlier Ultravox songs were not released in remixed or extended form back in the eighties. For instance, I have Vienna on 12" vinyl and it is just the same as the album version and therefore wouldn't be appropriate to be added to a CD called Extended Ulravox.

This is a great chance to get 10 out of 12 extended mixes from the hits of Ultravox. However, it does not contain Hymn or Vienna, and that is very odd indeed. Even so songs like We came to Dance, Reap the wild wind and Dancing with tears in my eyes are all included to mention a few. The cover is a hoot and I have no idea who told them that they would look cool in those awfull outfits. However, the 80's was a time for excess and bad fashion so it was no wonder they dressed accordingly. The music is sublime and one wonders if we will see another golden age like this again.

Great music in a different mix. Unfortunately all great songs are not included on the disc.

During the early 1980s, there was an underground scene in the Manhattan clubs. It was a 60s garage/psych/punk revival and the Fuzztones were royalty. They had everything you could want in such a band: fuzzy Vox guitars, swirling Vox organ, a snotty-voiced singer, and the coolest 60s clothes, all in glorious black & white stripes, dots and optics...They played clubs like The Dive, Irving Plaza, Tramps, the Peppermint Lounge...I'm thankful I was at all these shows!

Some garage purists labeled the Fuzztones as a "garage cover band" because most of their set consisted of covers of some of the best songs from the Pebbles comps (comps of obscure 60s garage bands). But who cares? Songs like "Voices Green and Purple" and "Gotta Get Some" were great songs in the 60s and they were great songs when the Fuzztones covered them. Not everybody had heard the original versions of these songs, so who cared? The Fuzztones could give you a great education in the best of the 60s garage tunes! But, they also wrote some great original tunes, so they weren't just copy-cats.

The Fuzztones were dark, dangerous, talented, and fun. Their love of 60s horror movies came through in the music, as well. Their singer, Rudi Protrudi was tall and swaggering; with his black 60s hair and his ever-present sunglasses, he fit the part perfectly. I think his voice could have been grittier for my taste, but everything else makes up for it.

If you don't know what 60s garage music was, the Fuzztones are a great place to start, even though they were an 80s band. If you were never in those New York clubs in the 80s, well, sorry you missed it. It was a blast! If you were there (I'm sure we bumped into each other at the bar), then this Cd will take you back...

P.S. I didn't give this CD 5 stars because there is some later stuff on it; the band split up in later years, with organist Deb O'Nair, Michael Jay (bass) and Elan Portnoy (guitar) going their own way. After that the band never sounded the same, and the inclusion of some songs from those later line-ups are (to me) not as good as the earlier stuff

The Fuzztones have always been the Gods of Rock. It is a shame there are so many music-heathens out there that should be fervent disciples!

This is such a cool low-key but rockin' band that had it's 15 minutes of fame in the first year or two of MTV but has kept on rockin' very stylishly ever since. This live disc is truly a gem from one of America's most sadly underrated bands. I put this in my CD player every once in a while and it always stays there for several weeks.

I enjoyed these songs. I think they're great to dance to. I own two other Shoes CD's and I think the band is great!

I read somewhere that Tony Mansfield was never as happy with this album as he was with the two later ones (Anywhere & Warp). I don't know. I have always liked this one. i bought it back in '80 when it first came out and as soon as it became available on CD, I was one of the first in line to get it. I like the beat, the catchy riffs, the hooks, and just the whole general feel of the album. Technically it was a product of its time. Today's electronic music has a certain "BIG" production sound about it. If you're listening to this you might hear a weak spot here and there and some of the electronic sounds used are used more than once. But just listen to the songs and you'll enjoy it.

This album was quite simply years ahead of it's time!

Singer/Writer/Producer Tony Mansfield (Captain Sensible, Nick Straker Band, After the Fire and others) knocks out some finely-crafted tunes with subjects ranging from ecological concerns to international politics (bearing in mind this was at the height of the Cold War) - yet making it all thoroughly enjoyable.

With a pleasingly-unusual array of some dreamy synth textures courtesy of a Prophet 5 and a Yamaha CS80, a 12-string guitar and a synth-snare(!), this album is a MUST for any afficionado of late 70's/early 80's synthy-pop rock.

Straight Lines, World of Water and Sanctuary were all Top-100 hits for the band in the UK.

This version contains the B-sides of the singles (which were not on the original vinyl album).

Enjoy!!