New Wave music reviews

A Flock Of Seagulls were a good 80's new wave band, but the fact is that they didn't have any good enough songs to make their hits collection worth a "5" star rating. The good news, however, is that if you like the band then this is a great collection! All your favorite Seagulls hits are here as well as some songs that you probably never heard before. "Telecommunication" is one of my favorites that I don't think was a hit (I think it wasn't one, anyway). They were a good band, but a lot of it was cheesy and a guilty pleasure. Singer Mike Score has a pretty good voice on most of the songs, but at times I can see not many people liking him. Overall he does a good job, though. Musically it's pretty dated and definitely 80's (the production is dated as this most definitely needs some sort of remastering) - it's not a bad thing, necessarily, but it's very noticable and might turn some people off (see "Telecommunication" for another example). These are pretty good songs, but the only really good ones are the hit "I Ran" and to an extent "Nightmares" and "Space Age Love Song". None of these are really classics, but if you like the band then this hits collection will definitely satisfy you (I haven't heard any of the other collections, so I can't comment on how this one fares compared to others). All in all this is highly recommended!

Highlights include:
basically everything here

I have to confess that I didn't take to the Seagulls from the start. It was only after my younger brother bought their first album and kept playing it all the time that I gradually became influenced.

Up to that time, I had only heard "I Ran" which I thought was okay but no big deal at least not enough for me to want to explore the band more. Then I heard the rest of the album and realised that "I Ran" was actually one of the weaker tracks!

"Space Age Love Song" just blew me away and then track after track of great songs like "Telecommunications", "DNA" (grammy award winner), "Tokyo", "Don't Ask Me Why", "Modern Love is Automatic" etc. Subsequently, thanks to my brother's love for the band, I constantly got to hear the other albums soon after their release. "Wishing", and especially "Nightmares" from their second album really got me hooked; clearly, this was not a flash in the pan band and unfortunately, these ex-hairdressers got labelled as a New Wave band and sort of died along with the whole genre a few years later.

Years later when I took up the guitar and played at gigs, I began to realise just how good the guitar work was by these guys too. As a guitarist, I also understand completely why "DNA" won the Instrumental of the Year Grammy Award too as it's just a great composition showcasing what guitars can do artistically in the right hands. The natural harmonics in the intro still gives me the chills when I hear it today and I wish I had thought of doing that!

Anyways, if you were going to get a best of album of these guys, this one is pretty good and with remastered sound, they haven't sounded better except for my one gripe and why I hesitated giving it 5 stars was because it doesn't have "Transfer Affection" which is a really great track.

If you like this compilation and want to explore more, you can't go wrong with their first two albums which I believe contain their best work.

Yup. This is it. During their brief visit into our public consciousness, A Flock of Seagulls really made the most of it, didn't they? Almost anybody who was into music back then, can remember them now without any sort of hesitation.

They had a distinctive, if limited, sound with a distinctive, but now horrifically dated, look.

Their initial singles,nicely remastered here, were all over the radio in those early days of "new wave."
"Telecommunication" (a song significant enough to be played twice during their early concerts), "Space Age Love Song" and the one everybody knows, "I Ran (So Far Away)" all sound just as great as they did more than twenty years ago. Propulsive beats, atmospheric synth washes and brittle linear guitar lines all servicing, and let's be honest here, some pretty decent melodies. Simple yes, but you know what? You can still sing/hum them with ease and pleasure. What else is good pop music for?

I don't deny myself simple pleasures when they present themselves...this isn't Springsteen or U2 here. It's just stuff that sound great on your car radio, or playing from the stereo speakers during a busy party.

Several additional songs from their first album are included, "Modern Love is Automatic" and the Grammy-winning instrumental (go ahead and laugh now) "DNA."

Their subsequent, less successful singles are here too, "Wishing (I had a photograph of you)" and "Nightmares".

Some samples of their more generic, less "Flock of Seagulls sounding" later work are also here. They simply prove that change isn't always necessarily a good thing.

Amusing liner notes (it's not a fluff piece...he's not always kind) and photos can be found in the CD insert.

Any music fan compiling songs from that era will need this disc. It's a splendid career summary, representing a very specific genre of music.

A word of warning first: I'm a member of the "generation x" that grew up in the 80's and became addicted to the 80's kind of hard rock (ala Bon Jovi, Whitesnake, Van Halen, Boston - the "good ol' stuff" that became so unfashionable when the kids started to listen to the grunge). However, back in the golden 80's I bought two vinyls at the same day, both by totally unknown bands back then: The other was "The Final Countdown" by Europe and the other was "Wild On The Run" by Tobruk. I would've wanted to buy the "Raised On Radio" by Journey at the same time but I ran out of money. So I decided to pick up just the two that I wanted the most. And I've always been willing to hear something new so the choice was easy. When I got home & gave the albums a spin I knew that was the best deal I had ever done - and I haven't done a deal like that ever since. I knew both the bands would make it big - and I was only half way wrong: 6 months later Europe had broken big time but nobody had heard of Tobruk. Why, because the album was obviously better than the Europe album: the band was tight, the songs were catchy & had plenty of edge - and their singer had one of the best voices I've ever heard. That was my introduction to Tobruk.

Pleasure & Pain is their second album. It still deserves 5 stars although it's not quite as good as their debut album. Or maybe it's just an old flame that won't die?

u HAVE TO ADMIRE THESE GUYS, FOR CHOOSING TO USE THE TALENTED PRODUCER NICK LAUNAY ON THEIR 3RD ALBUM THE PLEASURE....
TRULY IN MY TOP TEN FAVS FOR THE 80'S
BUY IT NOW BEFORE IT COMES EXTINCT!!!!!!!!!

...always interesting. Models rather drifted away from the incisive sound of this album - perhaps due to the loss of Andrew Duffield's distinctive keyboards and the increased songwriting presence of James Freud.
Singer-guitarist Sean Kelly dominates this cut with some superb numbers, particularly "I Hear Motion" - a keyboard/drum driven anthem with suitably cryptic lyrics. Other fine songs on this album are "79 A.D." - any song that can carry off the lyrics "Woah, Vesuvius, take me too" is worth listening to! - "Our Atmosphere", a Greenpeace meets Frankenstein piece - and the choral track "No Shoulders No Head". Oh, and if anybody can tell what "Holy Creation" is all about ("Say it with holes/Say it with holes/Holy Creation?Dog man with holes) is actually ABOUT, you can pursue an academic career in the humanities, as no verbal enigma is too much trouble...
Seriously, this album is great listening. As another reviewer said, its 80s music without many of the bad points (the utter self-indulgent fluffiness of it all). I also recommend their earlier efforts: "Local &/Or General" and "AlphaBravoCharlieDeltaEchoFoxtrotGolf", and the four-track "Cut Lunch".

An all time classic Australian album of chaotic danceable post-punk grunge. The Models peaked with this album. Their earlier stuff tended to be a bit quirky and immature, whereas their commercially successful follow-up album "Out of Mind - Out of Sight" has three great tracks (Barbados, Big On Love, Out of Mind, Out of Sight) but the rest is filler.

Awesome! Pop and Wave are import albums. They are a series of albums from Germany and for the most part, the songs on them represent popular music from Germany during the 1980's. Therefore, the songs on here aren't always the ones you hear constantly on 80's radio stations or hear on other 80's compilation discs. In other words, what you've got here is a catalogue of really cool music that you not find compiled elsewhere. Oh, it has the hits from the U.S., but it has songs that received little air play here too. It's truly a cool set. I highly recommned it!

Since 1992, New Wave Compilations have been made all over the world and one of the few great collections has to be Pop and Wave! Two Disk sets with 36 songs with occassionally the hardest to find gems included, it is worth the import price. Volume 8 is as of 2001 the newest installment and it contains a wonderful blend of the bands that helped make some of the most innovative music including New Order, Alphaville, Eurythmics, Visage, the Specials, Simple Minds, Killing Joke, Big Audio Dynamite and more! All in all there are 8 volumes to the series (at least so far, I thought they were going to stop at 5 back in 1995 and they've put out three more since then!), plus some sequels such as Best of Pop and Wave (which contains extended dance mixes to some of the songs), Rock and Wave (brilliantly captures the gothic soundtrack of the early 80's!), and Punk and Wave. Sony Music Media from Germany couldn't have delivered such better mixes than the CD burner from an enthusiastic fan of the new wave movement! If you're a fan of new wave and looking for hard to find tunes, this is one of the collections you must have!

This album reminded me of my teens in the 80's, when alternative really meant alternative, and the songs could vary from rauchy punk to bouncy synth-pop (all with great lyrics). One of the best series I've come across--I have the entire series. It's a great mix of great bands that you rarely get to hear anymore--everyone knows the bands and the songs, but they're never on the radio. (Which is kind of why they started glomming such diverse styles of music under the heading "alternative" in the first place.) Good listening.

Brilliant. Power Games is an Opus of Glorious Metal Past. Simply a bygone era of Proto Thrash that influenced numerous Metal genres that followed. this is a worthy purchase. TONS of Music for a great price. Also check out their 2003 release "Run Ragged". jaguar is back baby

These guys are amazing. I have had this album for a while, but I noticed that nobody had reviewed this album. This 2cd set covers about everything that the band Jaguar has recorded. The first disc has Power Games, which is a relentless heavy metal opus of early 1980s. The second half of disc 1 and first half of disc two contains the album This Time. This Time is a much mellower affair than Power Games but still great. It has been said before, but it bears repeating, This Time has held up quite well. It is simply softer than Power Games and more melodic- trust me, This Time is not some saucy English album with overt synthesizers and prancing theatrics!

Rounding out disc 2 is Jaguar's reformation album of Jaguar, 2000's Wake Me. Wake Me has a new singer, but this guy is a screamer, great powerful voice. Wake Me was one of the best albums of 2000 for frantic metal. This album is classic, and it often feels like a relentless assualt on the senses. Buy it.

Warning- there are a couple Jaguar cds for sale on Amazon that have been purchased by NWOBHM fans which I do not recognize. The only Jaguar LPs by the Bristol, UK band that I know of are Power Games, This Time, Wake Me and Run Ragged.

To do a danceable remix from this classic ballad. It seems impossible, but it turns out as a future classic in the dance scene. Very good job !

I don't understand the hype with this album, and I am a huge Maiden fan. In my opinion it is one of the weaker releases with Dickinson. However, it still has great tracks I enjoy listening to like 2 minutes to midnight, aces high, powerslave and rime of the ancient mariner. Losfer Words is also pretty good, but not as good as previous instrumentals. Also, I find that the other songs on the album are weak. If you are a huge Maiden fan I understand why you would buy this album, but if not I suggest checking out the self-titled debut or Piece of Mind, both which are better overall in my opinion.

I don't understand the hype with this album and I am a huge Iron Maiden fan. For me it is one of the weaker albums with Dickinson. However, there are still great songs on the album that I enjoy listening to including Aces High, 2 minutes to Midnight, Powerslave and the Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Losfer Words is a pretty good tune, but not as good as their previous instrumentals. Apart from that, the other songs I find are weak. If you are a big maiden fan then I understand why you would get this album, but if not you should check out the self-titled debut or piece of mind, which are both better in my opinion.

[Iron Maiden-Powerslave-1984][Friends, 5 ALL-TIME FAVE TRACKS: Aces High, 2 Minutes To Midnight, Losfer Words, Powerslave, Rime Of The Ancient Mariner (Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1798)]