MAGAZINE

MAGAZINE
THE CORRECT USE OF SOAP (1980)
REMASTER
320 KBPS

This is something of a return to standard operational form for Magazine, who thawed after recording Secondhand Daylight to throw together an energetic batch of colorful and rhythmically intricate songs. It's an unexpected move considering that they enlisted Martin Hannett (Joy Division, A Certain Ratio, Crispy Ambulance), master of the gray hues, as the producer. A looser, poppier album than its predecessors — somewhat ironically, a cover of Sly & the Family Stone's "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" is the most subdued song — it features the rhythm section of John Doyle and Barry Adamson at their taut, flexible best and guitarist John McGeoch at his most cunningly percussive. Save for the called-for razzle-dazzle on "Sweetheart Contract," keyboardist Dave Formula takes more of a back seat, using piano more frequently and no longer driving the songs to the point of detracting from the greatness of his mates, as the most frequent complaint of Secondhand Daylight goes. Howard Devoto's lyrics are also a little less depressive, though they're no less biting. The closing "A Song from Under the Floorboards" — another near-anthem, an unofficial sequel to "The Light Pours Out of Me" — includes sticking Devoto-isms like "My irritability keeps me alive and kicking" and "I know the meaning of life, it doesn't help me a bit." His themes of distrust and romantic turbulence remain focal, evident in "You Never Knew Me" ("Do you want the truth or do you want your sanity?") and "I Want to Burn Again" ("I met your lover yesterday, wearing some things I left at your place, singing a song that means a lot to me"). "Because You're Frightened" is the closest they came to making a new wave hit, zipping along with as much unstoppable buoyancy as Lene Lovich's "New Toy" or the Teardrop Explodes' "Reward," yet it's all fraught nerves and paranoia: "Look what fear's done to my body!" Song for song, the album isn't quite on the level of Real Life, but it is more effective as a point of entry.

1. Because You're Frightened
2. Model Worker
3. I'm a Party
4. You Never Knew Me
5. Philadelphia
6. I Want to Burn Again
7. Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)
8. Sweetheart Contract
9. Stuck
10. Song from Under the Floorboards
Bonus Tracks
11. Twenty Years Ago
12. Book [B-Side]
13. Upside Down
14. Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin) [A-Side]
15. Light Pours out of Me [Version]

DEPECHE MODE

DEPECHE MODE
SPEAK & SPELL (1981)
REMASTER
320 KBPS

Though probably nobody fully appreciated it at the time — perhaps least of all the band! — Depeche Mode's debut is at once both a conservative, functional pop record and a groundbreaking release. While various synth pioneers had come before — Gary Numan, early Human League, late-'70s Euro-disco, and above all Kraftwerk all had clear influence on Speak & Spell — Depeche became the undisputed founder of straight-up synth pop with the album's 11 songs, light, hooky, and danceable numbers about love, life, and clubs. For all the claims about "dated" '80s sounds from rock purists, it should be noted that the basic guitar/bass/drums lineup of rock is almost 25 years older than the catchy keyboard lines and electronic drums making the music here. That such a sound would eventually become ubiquitous during the Reagan years, spawning lots of crud along the way, means the band should no more be held to blame for that than Motown and the Beatles for inspiring lots of bad stuff in the '60s. Credit for the album's success has to go to main songwriter Vince Clarke, who would extend and arguably perfect the synth pop formula with Yazoo and Erasure; the classic early singles "New Life," "Dreaming of Me," and "Just Can't Get Enough," along with numbers ranging from the slyly homoerotic "Pretty Boy" to the moody thumper "Photographic," keep everything moving throughout. David Gahan undersings about half the album, and Martin Gore's two numbers lack the distinctiveness of his later work, but Speak & Spell remains an undiluted joy.

1. New Life
2. I Sometimes Wish I Was Dead
3. Puppets
4. Boys Say Go!
5. Nodisco
6. What's Your Name
7. Photographic
8. Tora! Tora! Tora!
9. Big Muff
10. Any Second Now (Voices)
11. Just Can't Get Enough
12. Dreaming Of Me

PUBLIC IMAGE LTD.

PUBLIC IMAGE LTD.
PLASTIC BOX (1999)
REMASTER
320 KBPS

Most who own Plastic Box probably use the second half as coasters. Those who don't probably get headaches when listening to the first two, and a select few find much to love about the whole thing. As if conceding to the consensus that PiL's early years were their best, the first half is devoted to the band's first three studio LPs cut over four years, while the second half covers the remainder. Listeners get the entirety of Public Image/First Edition sans "Fodderstompf." The majority of Metal Box (issued as Second Edition in the U.S.) is included, with three of the original versions sacrificed for Peel Session counterparts that really take the cake. "Careering" is especially wonderful and harrowing, arguably the collective's finest recorded moment. Keith Levene goes bonkers with the keyboards, perhaps fostering the increased intensity amongst the remaining members. The 12" mix of "Swan Lake" ("Death Disco") gets the box set upgrade too, as well as a couple other worthwhile Metal Box outtakes. Closing out the second disc is the entirety of The Flowers of Romance, sequentially shuffled with an additional non-album track. The second half of Plastic Box hits upon each of the remaining studio LPs, with the odd rarity, single mix and Peel Session thrown in for completist bait. For those who want improved sound over their early CD issues, the money spent is a smart investment. A quick comparison of the first 20 seconds of "Annalisa" to the version found on an old copy of Public Image should be evidence enough; the bassline of "Chant" makes the gut feel as if it's being endlessly pummelled by a bouncing battering ram. Plastic Box is an excellent introduction, if only for the adventurous.

.

Disc 1
1. Public Image
2. The Cowboy Song
3. Theme
4. Religion 1
5. Religion 2
6. Annalisa
7. Low Life
8. Attack
9. Poptones (Bbc Session)
10. Careering (Bbc Session)
11. Chant (Bbc Session)
12. Death Disco (12" Remix)
13. 1/2 Mix Megamix
14. No Birds Do Sing
15. Memories

Disc 2
1. Another
2. Albatross
3. Socialist
4. The Suit
5. Bad Baby
6. Radio 4
7. Pied Piper
8. Flowers Of Romance
9. Four Enclosed Walls
10. Phenagen
11. Track 8
12. Hymie' S Him
13. Under The House
14. Banging The Door
15. Go Back
16. Francis Massacre
17. Home Is Where The Heart Is

Disc 3
1. This Is Not A Love Song
2. Blue Water
3. Bad Life
4. Question Mark
5. Solitaire
6. Tie Me To The Lenght Of That
7. Where Are You ?
8. The Pardon
9. 1981
10. The Order Of Death
11. F.F.F.
12. Rise
13. Fishing
14. Round
15. Home
16. Ease

Disc 4
1. Seattle
2. Angry
3. The Body
4. Selfish Rubbish
5. Disappointed
6. Happy
7. Warrior (12" Extended Version)
8. Usls 1
9. Don' T Ask Me
10. Criminal
11. Luck' S Up
12. God
13. Cruel (Bbc Session)
14. Acid Drops (Bbc Session)
15. Love Hope(Bbc Session)
16. Think Tank (Bbc Session)

METAL BOX (1979)
REMASTER
320 KBPS

PiL managed to avoid boundaries for the first four years of their existence, and Metal Box is undoubtedly the apex. It's a hallmark of uncompromising, challenging post-punk, hardly sounding like anything of the past, present, or future. Sure, there were touchstones that got their imaginations running — the bizarreness of Captain Beefheart, the open and rhythmic spaces of Can, and the dense pulses of Lee Perry's productions fueled their creative fires — but what they achieved with their second record is a completely unique hour of avant-garde noise. Originally packaged in a film canister as a trio of 12" records played at 45 rpm, the bass and treble are pegged at 11 throughout, with nary a tinge of midrange to be found. It's all scrapes and throbs (dubscrapes?), supplanted by John Lydon's caterwauling about such subjects as his dying mother, resentment, and murder. Guitarist Keith Levene splatters silvery, violent, percussive shards of metallic scrapes onto the canvas, much like a one-armed Jackson Pollock. Jah Wobble and Richard Dudanski lay down a molasses-thick rhythmic foundation throughout that's just as funky as Can's Czukay/Leibezeit and Chic's Edwards/Rodgers. It's alien dance music. Metal Box might not be recognized as a groundbreaking record with the same reverence as Never Mind the Bollocks, and you certainly can't trace numerous waves of bands who wouldn't have existed without it like the Sex Pistols record. But like a virus, its tones have sent miasmic reverberations through a much broader scope of artists and genres.
Note: This rip comes from the new CD edition, reproducing the original package of the first U.K. vinyl edition, is also the first CD edition on which the sound pays justice to the original vinyl release.

Disc 1
1. Albatross
2. Memories
3. Swanlake

Disc 2
1. Poptones
2. Careering
3. No Birds
4. Graveyard

Disc 3
1. The Suit
2. Bad Baby
3. Socialist
4. Chant
5. Radio 4

TAXI GIRL

TAXI GIRL
84-86 (1990)
320 KBPS

Taxi Girl was formed in Paris in the late '70s around Daniel Darc (vocals), Mirwais (guitar), Laurent Sinclair (keyboards), Stéphane Erard (bass), and Pierre Wolfsohn (drums). The band played directly alongside such legendary acts as Marquis de Sade in the French '80s cult bands club. Mainly influenced by literature and American pop music, the band came up with a Mishima meets the Stooges meets Kraftwerk meets Jim Morrison formula, becoming famous thanks to a couple of handful of singles ("Mannequin," "Cherchez le Garçon," "Paris," "Aussi Belle Qu'une Balle") and shocking live sets. Their manager, Alexis, built a whole legend around Darc and his crew, especially after Darc cut his own wrists on-stage when opening for Talking Heads. Their first album, Seppuku, produced by the Stranglers' Jean-Jacques Burnel and recorded with the help of drummer Jet Black (also of the Stranglers) showcased a fully grown romantic new wave band at the height of their powers. But drummer Pierre Wolfsohn's death by drug overdose precipitated the band's end, though the Darc-Mirwais core kept on recording a handful of singles and mini-LPs before both going solo. Darc had a slowly but amazingly growing career, and Mirwais when on successfully in the production field to the point where he got to produce Madonna albums in the 2000s. His newfound popularity, coupled to his Production album and Darc's acclaimed Crève Coeur, contributed to the increasing amount of bands claiming their influence in the mid-2000s new wave/post-punk revival scene.

1. Paris
2. Les Jours Sont Bien Trop Longs
3. Dites-Le Fort
4. Je Reve Encore De Toi (Stephanie Says)
5. Aussi Belle Qu'Une Balle
6. Je Suis Deja Parti
7. Paris Remix

ADAM AND THE ANTS

ADAM AND THE ANTS
KINGS OF THE WILD FRONTIER (1980)
REMASTER
320 KBPS

Hooking up with Malcolm McLaren was a pivotal moment for Adam Ant, since the manager not only introduced Ant to the thundering, infectious Burundi drum beat that became his signature, he stole his band, too. Adam and the rest of the Ants had just worked up how to exploit the Burundi style when McLaren pirated the boys off to support Annabella Lwin in Bow Wow Wow — using the very same sound they had developed with Adam Ant. It was now a race to get that sound into the stores first, and Adam lucked out when he joined forces with guitarist Marco Pirroni, who quickly proved to be invaluable. Adam and Marco knocked out a bunch of songs that retained some of the dark artiness of Dirk Wears White Sox, largely anchored by those enormous Burundi beats and given great, irresistible pop hooks — plus a flash sense of style, as the new Ants dressed up in something that looked like American Indians with a velveteen touch of a dandy fop. It was a brilliant, gonzo move — something that quickly overshadowed Bow Wow Wow — and the resulting record, Kings of the Wild Frontier, is one of the great defining albums of its time. There's simply nothing else like it, nothing else that has the same bravado, the same swagger, the same gleeful self-aggrandizement and sense of camp. This walked a brilliant line between campiness and art-house chutzpah, and it arrived at precisely the right time — at the forefront of new wave, so Adam & the Ants exploded into the British popular consciousness. If image was all that they had, they would've remained a fad, but Kings of the Wild Frontier remains a terrific album because it not only has some tremendous songs — the title track and "Antmusic" are classic hits, while "Killer in the Home" and "Physical (You're So)" are every bit their equal — but because it fearlessly, imperceptibly switches gears between giddy and ominous, providing nothing short of a thrill ride in its 13 songs. That's why it still sounds like nothing else years after its release.

1. Dog Eat Dog
2. Antmusic
3. Feed Me to the Lions
4. Los Rancheros
5. Ants Invasion
6. Killer in the Home
7. Kings of the Wild Frontier
8. The Magnificent Five
9. Don't Be Square (Be There)
10. Jolly Roger
11. Making History
12. The Human Beings
Bonus Tracks
13. Antmusic (Alternative Mix)
14. Antmusic (Demo)
15. Feed Me to the Lions (Demo)
16. The Human Beings (Demo)
17. S.E.X. (Demo)
18. Omelette From Outerspace (Demo)

MAGAZINE

MAGAZINE
SECONDHAND DAYLIGHT (1979)
REMASTER
320 KBPS

You're probably not reading this unless you already know who Magazine was. If that is true and you haven't ever heard this album, there is only one thing to say: you've been waiting far too long. Get it now.
For the rest of you: Magazine was probably the first "post-punk" band, really before there even was a "post" punk. This is a brilliant, sophisticated album that stays true to the spirit of its late 70s punk roots while enormously refining and expanding that sound. Let me be clear, this most certainly isn't a "punk" record in the usual sense. It uses keyboards, textures and complex arrangements that add enormous scope to the work, yet it is never in danger of slipping into the art-rock excesses that (in part) prompted the punk explosion in the first place. Just trying to list all the bands that came after which owe a debt to this work would fill the entire review.
This is not bright and bouncy pop. If you've never heard Magazine, it may be a good idea to start with "Real Life", the group's first album. Though less coherent and powerful than Secondhand Daylight, Real Life is not as dark and has more direct, traditionally structured tunes and shows its punk roots a bit more clearly.
The musicians are all solid professionals and there are just no words to properly praise Barry Adamson's sublime bass work on this record. Howard Devoto's lyrics are incisive and powerful, albeit not gentle, and add depth and intelligence to this record. Although a few of the keyboard effects have become a bit dated, overall the album sounds quite fresh and vital and has held up as well as, if not substantially better than, any other rock music of comparable age.
I know that it may be a bit hackneyed to describe something as an "unappreciated" or "overlooked" or "undiscovered" (etc., etc.) masterpiece, but that doesn't mean it isn't a valid description. There is no final arbiter of this issue. In the end it's all just a matter of opinion and in my opinion, Secondhand Daylight is a classic.

1. Feed the Enemy
2. Rhythm of Cruelty
3. Cut-Out Shapes
4. Talk to the Body
5. I Wanted Your Heart
6. Thin Air
7. Back to Nature
8. Believe That I Understand
9. Permafrost
Bonus Tracks
10. Give Me Everything
11. I Love You, You Dig Dummy
12. Rhythm of Cruelty (Original Single Version)
13. TV Baby

MAGAZINE

MAGAZINE
MAGIC, MURDER AND THE WEATHER (1981)
REMASTER
320 KBPS

Magazine's final studio album, Magic, Murder and the Weather, finds Dave Formula's washes of cold, brittle keyboards dominating the bitter and cynical music. Occasionally, Howard Devoto's weary lyrics surface through the icy mix, but it's clear that Devoto and Magazine have both had better days. It's not a graceful way to bow out, but the album has enough strong moments to prevent it from being an embarrassment as well.

1. About the Weather
2. So Lucky
3. The Honeymoon Killers
4. Vigilance
5. Come Alive
6. The Great Man's Secrets
7. This Poison
8. Naked Eye
9. Surburban Rhonda
10. The Garden
Bonus Tracks
11. In the Dark
12. The Operative

SQUEEZE

SQUEEZE
EAST SIDE STORY (1981)
REMASTER
320 KBPS

Roundly regarded as Squeeze's grand masterpiece, in its planned incarnation East Side Story was going to be much grander: it was designed as a double-album with each side produced by a different musician, all a forefather of a different aspect of Squeeze. Dave Edmunds and his Rockpile cohort Nick Lowe were both contracted, as was Lowe's main producing success story Elvis Costello, and then Paul McCartney was slated for a side, but as the sessions started all but Elvis and Edmunds pulled out, with Dave only contributing one track. Costello was enough to make a big, big difference, helping to highlight a band in flux. Jools Holland left the group after Argybargy, taking with him a penchant for boogie-woogie novelty tunes. His replacement was Paul Carrack, veteran of pub rockers Ace who gave Squeeze another lead singer with true commercial potential — something that Costello exploited by having Carrack sing lead for the brilliant piece of blue-eyed soul, "Tempted" (Costello and Glen Tilbrook sneak in for the second verse). "Tempted" was a misleading hit — at least it was a hit in America, where it turned into a '80s standard — in that it suggested Carrack was a larger presence in the band than he really was, yet it also suggested the richness of East Side Story, and in how the band's music deepened and found a sympathetic producer in Costello. Far from reprising his skeletal, nervy production for The Specials, Costello smoothes out the lingering rough edges in the band, giving them a hint of gloss that has more to do with its new wave era than commercial considerations. One thing that is missing is the frenzied beat that had been Squeeze's signature throughout their first three albums: despite the echoey rockabilly of "Messed Around" — if you didn't check the credits, you'd be sure this is Edmunds' production, but he was responsible for tightening up the almost ideal opener "In Quintessence," which strangely enough sounds like Costello's 1981 album, Trust (it really was an incestuous scene) — this isn't a rock & roll album, it's a pop album through and through, from its sounds to its songs. It's bright, colorful, immediate even when things get ambitious, as they do on the dense, grandly psychedelic "F-Hole," which is cleverly deflated — musically and lyrically — by its juxtaposition with "Labelled with Love," a lazy country-rock stroll that doesn't seem out of place among the rest of the clever, immaculately constructed pop songs. Instead, it acts as further proof that Difford and Tilbrook could write and play almost anything at this point: they perfected their barbed, bouncy pop — best heard on the single "Is That Love," but also "Someone Else's Heart" and terrific, percolating "Piccadilly" — but they also slowed down to a hazy crawl on "There's No Tomorrow," turned intimate and sensitive on the jangly "Woman's World," and crafted the remarkably fragile, Baroque "Vanity Fair." All this variety gave East Side Story the feel of the double-album it was originally intended to be and it stands as Squeeze's tour de force, the best pop band of their time stretching every one of its muscles.

1. In Quintessence
2. Someone Else's Heart
3. Tempted
4. Piccadilly
5. There's No Tomorrow
6. Heaven
7. Woman's World
8. Is That Love?
9. F-Hole
10. Labelled with Love
11. Someone Else's Bell
12. Mumbo Jumbo
13. Vanity Fair
14. Messed Around

MAGAZINE

MAGAZINE
REAL LIFE (1978)
REMASTER
320 KBPS

Howard Devoto had the foresight to promote two infamous Sex Pistols concerts in Manchester, and his vision was no less acute when he left Buzzcocks after recording Spiral Scratch. Possibly sensing the festering of punk's clichés and limitations, and unquestionably not taken by the movement's beginnings, he bailed — effectively skipping out on most of 1977 — and resurfaced with Magazine. Initially, the departure from punk was not complete. "Shot by Both Sides," the band's first single, was based off an old riff given by Devoto's Buzzcocks partner Pete Shelley, and the guts of follow-up single "Touch and Go" were rather basic rev-and-vroom. And, like many punk bands, Magazine would likely cite David Bowie, Iggy Pop, and Roxy Music. However — this point is crucial — instead of playing mindlessly sloppy variants of "Hang on to Yourself," "Search and Destroy," and "Virginia Plain," the band was inspired by the much more adventurous Low, The Idiot, and "For Your Pleasure." That is the driving force behind Real Life's status as one of the post-punk era's major jump-off points. Punk's untethered energy is rigidly controlled, run through arrangements that are tightly wound, herky-jerky, unpredictable, proficiently dynamic. The rapidly careening "Shot by Both Sides" (up there with PiL's "Public Image" as an indelible post-punk single) and the slowly unfolding "Parade" (the closest thing to a ballad, its hook is "Sometimes I forget that we're supposed to be in love") are equally ill-at-ease. The dynamism is all the more perceptible when Dave Formula's alternately flighty and assaultive keyboards are present: the opening "Definitive Gaze," for instance, switches between a sci-fi love theme and the score for a chase scene. As close as the band comes to upstaging Devoto, the singer is central, with his live wire tendencies typically enhanced, rather than truly outshined, by his mates. The interplay is at its best in "The Light Pours out of Me," a song that defines Magazine more than "Shot by Both Sides," while also functioning as the closest the band got to making an anthem. Various aspects of Devoto's personality and legacy, truly brought forth throughout this album, have been transferred and blown up throughout the careers of Momus (the restless, unapologetic intellectual), Thom Yorke (the pensive outsider), and maybe even Luke Haines (the nonchalantly acidic crank).

1. Definitive Gaze
2. My Tulpa
3. Shot by Both Sides
4. Recoil
5. Burst
6. Motorcade
7. The Great Beautician in the Sky
8. The Light Pours out of Me
9. Parade
Bonus Tracks
10. Shot by Both Sides (Original Single Version)
11. My Mind Ain't So Open
12. Touch and Go
13. Goldfinger

ADAM AND THE ANTS

ADAM AND THE ANTS
PRINCE CHARMING (1981)
REMASTER
320 KBPS

Kings of the Wild Frontier brought Adam and the Ants massive popularity in England, and it brought enormous pressure for Adam and guitarist Marco Pirroni to stand and deliver another slice of dynamite. The first single, the punchy horn-laden "Stand and Deliver," suggested that they were up to the task, but when Prince Charming appeared in late 1981, it was pretty much universally panned and it still stands as the weakest record from Ant's classic period. With its ridiculous song titles and cover photos, which suggest that the Ants were moving away from Native Americans and toward pirates, it's hard not to view it as a descent into camp, yet Adam claims in the liner notes for Antbox that he believes that Prince Charming is "a very serious record based on very classical, historical themes." That may be true on certain tracks, but it's hard to see where "Mile High Club," "S.E.X.," "Mowhok," and "Ant Rap" fit into that scheme, but he's right about the intent — this is a markedly different record than Kings, intentionally so. The group have not only moved on in image, they've also left behind their signature Burundi beats while upping the cinematic qualities inherent in their music. So, "Five Guns West" and "Mowhok" are given neo-spaghetti western backdrops, while eerie guitars, mariachi horns, and trilling vocals underpin "That Voodoo." There are a lot of little details like that to dwell on in the production — "Picasso Visita el Planeta de los Simios" sounds absolutely terrific — but apart from "Scorpios," "Stand and Deliver," and the cheerfully ludicrous "Ant Rap," the songs just aren't there. Kings had style, sound, and songs, while Prince Charming simply has style and sound — which, in retrospect, isn't all that bad, but it's also not hard to see how it sparked a backlash at the time.

1. Scorpios
2. Picasso Visita el Planeta de los Simios
3. Prince Charming
4. Five Guns West
5. That Voodoo!
6. Stand and Deliver
7. Mile High Club
8. Ant Rap
9. Mowhok
10. S.E.X.
Bonus Tracks
Original 1981 demos and writing tapes
11. Prince Charming
12. Stand and Deliver
13. Showbiz
14. Picasso Visits the Planet of the Apes
15. Who's a Goofy Bunny Then?
16. Scorpio Writing

WALL OF VOODOO

WALL OF VOODOO
CALL OF THE WEST (1982)
320 KBPS

Wall of Voodoo's second full-length album, Call of the West, was a noticeably more approachable work than their debut, Dark Continent, and it even scored a fluke hit single, "Mexican Radio," a loopy little number about puzzled American tourists that's easily the catchiest thing on the album. But while Wall of Voodoo's textures had gotten a bit less abrasive with time, the band's oddball minor-key approach was still a long way from synth pop, and frontman Stan Ridgway's songs were Americana at it's darkest and least forgiving, full of tales of ordinary folks with little in the way of hopes or dreams, getting by on illusions that seem more like a willful denial of the truth the closer you get to them. There's a quiet tragedy in the ruined suburbanites of "Lost Weekend" and the emotionally stranded working stiff of "Factory," and the title song, which follows some Middle American sad sack as he chases a vague and hopeless dream in California, is as close as pop music has gotten to capturing the bitter chaos of the final chapter of Nathaniel West's The Day of the Locust. In other words, anyone who bought Call of the West figuring it would feature another nine off-kilter pop tunes like "Mexican Radio" probably recoiled in horror by the time they got to the end of side two. But there's an intelligence and wounded compassion in the album's gallery of lost souls, and there's enough bite in the music that it remains satisfying two decades on. Call of the West is that rare example of a new wave band scoring a fluke success with what was also their most satisfying album.

1. Tomorrow
2. Lost Weekend
3. Factory
4. Look at Their Way
5. Hands of Love
6. Mexican Radio
7. Spy World
8. They Don't Want Me
9. On Interstate 15
10. Call of the West

ADAM & THE ANTS

ADAM & THE ANTS
DIRK WEARS WHITE SOX (1979)
REMASTER
320 KBPS

Digitally remastered reissue of the New Wave act's debut album, originally released in 1979, Before the face paint, pirate outfits and theatrical performances and videos, Adam and his early Ants were Post-Punk art rockers covered in a dark, Gothic glaze. The tracks here capture early Adam in all his twisted glory, approaching Punk from different angles and creating an eclectic album that sounded like no-one else. Abrasive to some, engaging to others, Dirk Wears White Sox is an extremely creative and exciting artifact. After this album, half of these Ants went onto form Bow Wow Wow and Adam then put together a new version of the Ants that would become hugely successful barely a year later.

1. Cartrouble, Pts. 1 & 2
2. Digital Tenderness
3. Nine Plan Failed
4. Day I Met God
5. Tabletalk
6. Cleopatra
7. Catholic Day
8. Never Trust a Man (With Egg on His Face)
9. Animals and Men
10. Family of Noise
11. Idea
Bonus Tracks
12. Zerøx
13. Whip in My Valise
14. Kick
15. Physical (You're So)
16. Cartrouble, Pts. 1 & 2
17. Friends
18. Cartrouble
19. Kick!

SQUEEZE

SQUEEZE
COOL FOR CATS (1979)
REMASTER
320 KBPS

Rebounding after a difficult debut, Squeeze hunkered down with producer John Wood — the engineer of U.K. Squeeze — and cut Cool for Cats, which for all intents and purposes is their true debut album. More than U.K. Squeeze, Cool for Cats captures the popcraft of Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook, while also sketching out a unique musical territory for the band, something that draws deeply on '60s pop, the stripped-down propulsive energy of pop/rock, and the nervy style of new wave. Although this is considerably less chaotic and aggressive than U.K. Squeeze, Cool for Cats feels like it belongs to its time more than its predecessor, partially due to the heavy emphasis on Jools Holland's keyboards and partially due to the dry British wit of Difford, whose best work here reveals him as a rival to Elvis Costello and Ian Dury. Chief among those is "Up the Junction," a marvelous short story chronicling a doomed relationship, but there's also the sly kinky jokes married to deft characterizations on "Slap and Tickle," the heartbroken tale of "Goodbye Girl," and the daft surrealism of "Cool for Cats." These are subtle, sophisticated songs that are balanced by a lot of direct, unsophisticated songs, as Difford picks up on the sexually charged vibe of John Cale and gets even kinkier, throwing out songs about masturbation and cross-dressing, occasionally dipping into how he's feeling slightly drunk. Tilbrook pairs these ribald tales to frenzied rock & roll, equal parts big hooks and rollicking rhythms, including a couple of showcases for Holland's boogie-woogie piano. It's all a bit scattered but in a purposeful way, as the impish wit lends the pub rockers a kinky kick while Tilbrook's tunefulness gives it all an identity. Cool for Cats winds up being wild and weird, angular and odd in a way only a new wave album from 1979 could possibly be, but this is a high watermark for its era with the best moments effortless transcending its time.

1. Slap and Tickle
2. Revue
3. Touching Me Touching You
4. It's Not Cricket
5. It's So Dirty
6. The Knack
7. Hop Skip and Jump
8. Up the Junction
9. Hard to Find
10. Slightly Drunk
11. Goodbye Girl
12. Cool for Cats
Bonus Tracks
13. I Must Go
14. Ain't It Sad

FISCHER-Z

FISCHER-Z
GOING DEAF FOR A LIVING (1980)
320 KBPS

With guitar much more dominant and Watts' songwriting more refined, GDFAL was an incredibly exciting album. Moving away from their prog leanings and embracing bits of reggae, FZ had become a cohesive pop band capable of anything. Their hit single "So Long" had one of Watts' most heartfelt vocals, while the playful (and slightly irritating) "Limbo" proved that he wasn't always entirely serious. The band bounced off the walls on tracks like "Four Minutes In Durham (With You)" and "No Right," yet they remained perfectly in control. The album's title track remains one of Watts' most brilliant songs, catchier than a pitcher's glove (and "So Long" wasn't too bad either!). With hardly a bad song in the bunch, this is still one of FZ's most popular albums - so much for the sophomore slump.

1. Room Service
2. So Long
3. Crazy Girl
4. No Right
5. Going Deaf for a Living
6. Pick up/Slip Up
7. Crank
8. Haters
9. Four Minutes in Durham (With You)
10. Limbo

STEPHAN EICHER

STEPHAN EICHER
MY PLACE (1989)
320 KBPS

4th album for Swiss artist Stephan Eicher, My Place is a transition album. His three previous albums leaned towards electronica and new wave and 1989 is when he decided to renew his sound. My Place, thus, gives us a new Eicher that brought rock, chanson and classical elements to his music. It's also the first album where he teamed up with French novelist Philippe Djian for the French lyrics written with wit and taste.
Of course, there are still hints of his old style but the new elements bring a welcomed warmth to the mix and since most of the songs displayed here are winners, it's a pretty damn good album we're having here.

1. I am a story backwards told
2. Rien à voir
3. My heart on your back
4. Right now
5. Bon pour moi
6. Me taire
7. Sois patiente avec moi
8. Life is bitter
9. This city
10. To get you there
11. My place
12. Guggisberglied
13. Guggisberglied (Moondog instrumental)

CROWDED HOUSE

CROWDED HOUSE
CROWDED HOUSE (1987)
320 KBPS

Split Enz needed to end, particularly since founding member Tim Finn found his little brother Neil's growth spurt uncomfortable, but also because Neil was no longer writing tunes that made sense within the context of a band that ran the gamut from art rock to eccentric new wave. Neil was now writing songs that were undeniably totems of popcraft, but infused with the spirit and introspection of a singer/songwriter. This formula would later become quite popular with artists from Matthew Sweet to the legions of basement auteurs in the pop underground, but this sensibility was relatively unheard of in the mid-'80s — hence the birth of Crowded House. Neil retained Paul Hester from Enz, added Nick Seymour for the trio, and recorded one abandoned attempt at an album before joining with Mitchell Froom for the band's eponymous debut. At the time, Froom's clean production seemed refreshing, almost rootsy, compared to the synth pop dominating the mainstream and college scenes at the time, but in retrospect it seems a little overreaching and fussy, particularly in its addition of echo and layers of keyboards during particularly inappropriate moments. But Finn at his best overshadowed this fairly stilted production with his expert songcraft. As it happened, the record was blessed by good timing, and the majestic ballad "Don't Dream It's Over" became an international hit, while its follow-up, the breezy "Something So Strong," also turned into a hit. Both revealed different sides of Finn's talents, with the first being lyrical and the second being effervescent, but perhaps the truest testaments to his talents are "Mean to Me," "World Where You Live," and "Now We're Getting Somewhere," songs where the lyrics meld with the melody in a way that is distinctive, affecting, and personal. If the rest of the record doesn't reach those heights, it's still good, well-constructed pop, and these aforementioned highlights point the way to Temple of Low Men, where Crowded House (and particularly Finn) came into its own.

1. The World Were You Live
2. Now We're Getting Somewhere
3. Don't Dream It's Over
4. Mean To Me
5. Love You 'Til the Day I Die
6. Something So Strong
7. Hole in the River
8. Can't Carry On
9. Tombstone
10. That's What I Call Love

THE NAILS

THE NAILS
MOOD SWING (1985)
REMASTER
320 KBPS

While this album will always be remembered for its one novelty hit, Mood Swing is a remarkably consistent and confident debut. The band sounds a bit like a cross between the Damned and Jim Carroll in their best moments, with all that implies — powerful musicianship, dark and occasionally shocking lyrics leavened with a sense of humor, and a powerful frontman. Marc Campbell is certainly that, his huge baritone voice going from a tense whisper to a tuneful bellow and sounding great all the way through. There is a touch of Wall of Voodoo's Stan Ridgway in his occasional ironic phrasings, including the gleeful "Let It All Hang Out" and "88 Lines About 44 Women." The latter is, of course, the song that brought the Nails their moment of fame and airplay, but it is by no means typical of the rest of this album, or anything else the band ever did. A better example would be "Every Time I Touch You," a riveting song about being lost in a mix of love an lust, or "Home of the Brave," a surreal paean on the hectic madness of city living. The Nails were an uncommonly sophisticated rock band with a rollicking brass backup and an extraordinarily talented singer and lyricist, and on this album they got everything right.

1. Every Time I Touch You
2. Dark Brown
3. 88 Lines About 44 Women
4. Home of the Brave
5. Let It All Hang Out
6. Mood Swing
7. Phantom Heart
8. Juanita Juanita
9. She Is Everything to Me
10. White Wall
Bonus Tracks
11. 88 Lines About 44 Women (Remix)
12. Let It All Hang Out (Remix)

FISCHER-Z

FISCHER-Z
WORLD SALAD (1979)
320 KBPS

This impressive debut may not have forecast what was yet to come, but it possessed a lot of quirky charm. Channeling the energy of punk and the musical aerobics of prog-rock (tempo changes, detours, etc), John Watts and friends certainly proved that they could be as inventive as any other art-pop band (Roxy Music and early Talking Heads suddenly spring to mind). Watts' touchingly manic vocal range irritated some but was entirely original, especially on FZ classics such as "Pretty Paracetamol," "The Worker" and "Remember Russia." Not even close to being a synth-pop band, Steve Skolnick's keyboards shared equal time with Watts' frantic guitar, both backed ably by drummer Steve Liddle and bassist David Graham. Although this album was both jarring and enjoyable, it sounds a bit dated now. (vinyl rip)

1 First Impressions
2 Acrobats
3 Worker Watts
4 Spiders
5 Remember Russia
6 French Let Her
7 Lies
8 Wax Dolls
9 Headlines
10 Nice to Know
11 Billy and the Mototway Police
12 Lemmings

FISCHER-Z

FISCHER-Z
RED SKIES OVER PARADISE (1981)
256 KBPS

Now here's a quintessential classic that has withstood the test of time. "Red skies over paradise" was Fischer Z's third outing and is still their best by a city mile. Having made a name for themselves with "Word salad" and "Going deaf for a living", spawning minor hit singles like "The worker", "Remember Russia" and "So long", the internationally acclaimed "Red skies over paradise" definitively established them as one of Britain's foremost bands and allowed them to outgrow their cult status.
The front cover depicts lead vocalist/lyricist John Watts standing on the Brighton pier under a menacing bloodred sky. Watts is at the top of his game on this 1981 album, not merely as a singer whose urgent, high-pitched voice stamped an indelible seal on the band's atypical sound, but as an extremely talented songwriter, whose lyrics were starkly colored by the spirit of the age. In referring to England circa this period as a modernday paradise he is laying on the irony three inches thick. The ramifications of rampant unemployment and a genuine anxiety about the future of the world in the heyday of the Cold War were reflected prominently in his work, venting social criticism in the face of imminent nuclear genocide.
In haunting songs like "Cruise missiles" he warns of this danger, while the magnificent title track "Red skies over paradise", which the makers of the "Going red for a salad" anthology shamefully neglected to include, already sees the missiles flying. "In England" comments cheekily on the country's shortcomings as a tourist attraction. The wickedly titled "Wristcutter's lullaby" describes the ill-fated adventures of a fugitive from justice. From a musical standpoint as well "Red skies over paradise" is loaded with semi-legendary rock songs. The vinyl album's A-side was made up exclusively of killer tracks, including the commanding opener "Berlin" (cool theme, brilliant keys) and the marvellous hit single "Marliese". I'm not quite sure whether the inspired "You'll never find Brian here" was a single release as well. The B-side could not pride itself on quite as many highlights, but still contained some outstanding songs. The enthralling "Batallions of strangers" (again, great lyric) is perhaps my favorite track on the entire album, driving its point home on a tapestry of raunchy guitar and synths.
"Red skies over paradise" is one of the finest albums of the eighties. I would recommend it to anyone who values great pop/rock music, regardless of personal preference. If you have never heard it, you are seriously missing out!

1. Berlin
2. Marliese
3. Red Skies Over Paradise
4. In England
5. You'll Never Find Brian Here
6. Battalions of Strangers
7. Song and Dance Brigade
8. Writer
9. Bathroom Scenario
10. Wristcutter's Lullaby
11. Cruise Missiles
12. Luton to Lisbon
13. Multinationals Bite

DEPECHE MODE

DEPECHE MODE
MUSIC FOR THE MASSES (1987)
REMASTER
320 KBPS

Initially the title must have sounded like an incredibly pretentious boast, except that Depeche Mode then went on to do a monstrous world tour, score even more hits in America and elsewhere than ever before, and pick up a large number of name checks from emerging house and techno artists on top of all that. As for the music the masses got this time around, the opening cut, "Never Let Me Down Again," started things off wonderfully: a compressed guitar riff suddenly slamming into a huge-sounding percussion/keyboard/piano combination, anchored to a constantly repeated melodic hook, ever-building synth/orchestral parts at the song's end, and one of David Gahan's best vocals (though admittedly singing one of Martin Gore's more pedestrian lyrics). It feels huge throughout, like they taped Depeche recording at the world's largest arena show instead of in a studio. Other key singles "Strangelove" and the (literally) driving "Behind the Wheel" maintained the same blend of power and song skill, while some of the quieter numbers such as "The Things You Said" and "I Want You Now" showed musical and lyrical intimacy could easily co-exist with the big chart-busters. Add to that other winners like "To Have and to Hold," with its Russian radio broadcast start and dramatic, downward spiral of music accompanied by Gahan's subtly powerful take on a desperate Gore love lyric, and the weird, wonderful choral closer, "Pimpf," and Depeche's massive success becomes perfectly clear.

1. Never Let Me Down Again
2. The Things You Said
3. Strangelove
4. Sacred
5. Little 15
6. Behind The Wheel
7. I Want You Now
8. To Have And To Hold
9. Nothing
10. Pimpf