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Modern English - After The Snow, 1983

I originally picked up this album in 1985 for the hit "I Melt With You," in hopes that the rest of the album if not as good would at least have a few gems on it. I was very quick to judge and after one quick listen gave it up as crap. A purist at heart I have never been able to get rid of the disk and still have the original that I bought in 85. After another more thourough listening twenty years later I have to say that in my youth I was too quick to judge and missed out on a classic album that I believe will get a little more regular airplay on my system.

Released in 1983, Modern English blessed the world with one of the most popular and recognizable songs to be released in the eighties. The single "I Melt With You," was made popular when it was used in the movie "Valley Girl." MTV gave heavy rotation to the video and it bacame very popular despite never making the Top 40. Since the album "After The Snow" was realesed it has sold over 500,000 copies in the U.S.

Modern English fits perfectly into the New Wave genre in that they started out in England as a punk band called The Lepers. They later experimented with goth sounds on the album 'Mesh & Lace", but dropped the dark attitude for the more upbeat yet spooky sound heard on "After The Snow." The opening track, "Someone's Calling" begins with a haunting guitar riff and deep tom tom beat that counters the upbeat measure of the whole song. Remeniscint of one of their contemporaries of the time, hailing from San Francisco the Red Rockers had a very similar sound. The synth noises accompanied by the crisp guitar and vocals make this a great intro track. More heavy drums and synth sounds open the haunting tune "Life In The Gladhouse." A bit dark for the most part except for the chorus "Oh me, oh my" that lifts it up somewhat. The heavy beat that reminds me of Adam & The Ants carries on throughout the song. Next we hear nearly an entire minute of a synth slowly building until the opening screech of the guitar again offsets the eventual soothing sound of the overall mood that will be set throughout the track. "Face Of Wood" is a pleasant romp through a garden of sounds that is only disturbed by the screeching guitar that seems a mosquito in the ear to everything else that is going on. The peaceful track "Dawn Chorus" with its reverb filled guitar and transcendant bassline seems a far trip from a band that had so recently emerged from punk and noisy goth. The sparing keyboards, busy percussion and echoy vocals help to guide us through this moody journey that leads us into the next tune that we all know so well. From the start "I Melt With You" is like no other song on this album. Its bright acoustic guitar, snappy drums and poppy keyboards grab us staright off and the hopelessly romantic vocals only tighten the grip. This is truly one of the top 10 eighties songs, need I say more. Following this classic track is the starkingly bare intro for "After The Snow." The drums, guitar, bass, keybards and vocals work up to another guitar screeching crescendo that this time is better placed. Even with the quinticential eighties "hand claps" on this tune it still comes across as a true gem. "Carry Me Down" is another departure from anything else on the album. A more standard rock tune accompanied by someone named Faith on the flute. The tune sort of goes for a while until the beat kicks up for a more enjoyable ride but that's when the lyrics hit a snag and keep repeating. Not nearly as good as the rest of the album but endurable. The last tune "Turning Tables" has a great beat, with fast, screeching guitars and spacey keyboards that make a very moody upbeat sound. Here again though is the uncanny resemblance to not only the Red Rockers but also to their song "Burning Bridges." The drums and vocals are a little too close to not convince me that these bands weren't aware of each other.

Over all this album deserved more scrutininzing when it was current and considering how much I like the Red Rockers I'm surprised that it didn't get it. After listening more in depth to this album I believe that I will be inclined to search out other Modern English music and see what else I missed out on.

DEVO - Oh No! It's DEVO, 1983

Devo was my first concert, just a couple of months after the release of this album. I saw them in December, 1982. It seemed like a great show at the time, but of course I had nothing to compare it to. Regardless, I went on to enjoy this album more and more until I completely forgot about Devo a few years later. Fast forward to a few years ago. I bought the import CD that has this album and Freedom of Choice on it. I figured it was a great attempt to recapture something I had forgotten. Unfortunately, I think the sound on this CD is sub-par, and when I recently listened to it again, I decided I had no choice but to go out and find it in its original form... vinyl. Much better. (Don't waste your money on that import like I did!) Now, I've heard all Devo up to this point. Beyond this, I've heard nothing of theirs. As everybody knows, Mark Mothersbaugh has gone on to write music primarily for kids shows (Rugrats, etc.) If you've ever heard these tunes, you can definitely hear the same sort of slight weirdness that Devo was so well known for. I like older Devo as much as the next guy. Yes, it was edgy and different at first. Sure, Devo began catering to a more pop-oriented audience with this album, but don't let that fool you. These guys were master song writers by this time. The key to enjoying Devo is to not read too much into what they're saying and just take it for the entertainment value it provides. Don't be mistaken. "Oh, No! It's Devo" fulfills that promise of entertainment. Try not to listen to this album and tap your feet the entire way through. It's hard, and That's Good.

The Tubes - Completion Backward Principle, 1981

"We"re here, because you're there." That quote was part of the original album's liner notes, and it pretty much sums up The Tubes' general attitude. They were irreverent and shocking, with enough playing chops to keep those in the know interested in the music. Put that with the live show that get them banned from numerous venues (in their early days), and you had a band that seemed to be perennially on the brink of making it big. But The Tubes also spent just a little too much time being weird to climb all the way to chartland. "The Completion Backward Principle" saw them almost making it yet again, as David Foster did his best to smooth out the jarring edges and polish the band even more than Todd Rundgren did on "Remote Control." The Tubes did their part by writing some tunes that sounded absolutely Toto-ish, if Toto ever contemplated amnesia, schizophrenia and late night B-Movies as song fodder. The buff job paid off, with The Tubes' first across the board Album Radio hit, the tough strutting but uncharacteristic "Talk To You Later." The band then hit late night TV and began showing up in swim flippers performing "Sushi Girl" in a wading pool from the stage of the Tonight Show. Radio took notice and the ballad "Don't Want To Wait Anymore" snuck into the lower reaches of the Top 40. Fortunately, Foster wasn't completely able to tame these yahoos. "Attack Of The Fifty Foot Woman" was sci-fi silly in a manner that only The Tubes could make credible, and the punchy "Mr. Hate" was the confrontation of a shattering personality that the band executed perfectly on stage. "TCBWP" is likely The Tubes' most consistent album musically, but misses five stars because it was too slickly over produced, and the band never regained their experimental edge after this (unless you count the second half of "Love Bomb").

Billy Idol - Billy Idol, 1984

A year after the dissolution of Generation X, its lead singer, William Michael Albert Broad, a.k.a. Billy Idol, embarked on a solo career and released his eponymous solo debut. Some of the harder tracks recalled the wild youth of the Gen X years, but the singles indicated a polishing of that style, meaning less punk guitar, but an emphasis on carefully synced bass and drums, airy synths, and glitzy production. "White Wedding Part 1" encompasses the successful formula, pulsing bass, Steve Stevens fiery guitar, thudding techno drum beats, airy backup vocals, and Idol's menacing deeper voice which ratcheted to its old punk fury when he screams "start again!" Though cracking the Top 40, it's an Idol and essential 80's classic. "Hot In The City," another single, with synths and soulful backup singers adding to the lounge-like ambience of the mid-paced song. Idol's crooning is a far cry from "Your Generation," to be sure. As for "Love Calling," it's a bit of punk with some Caribbean-style rhythms mixed in with horns and rock guitar, relying on a constant drum backbeat, which is the sole thing playing, giving this song a somewhat minimalist visage.

Of the non-singles, it's kind of a potluck. "Dead On Arrival" is a return to Gen X-style Idol with its pulsing drums and bass, sounding like a poppier cousin of the Pistol's "EMI" at parts. The mid-paced "Nobody's Business" veers more towards pop rather than punk, and with its Van Halen-like synths and catchy vocal hooks, would've been a decent single, as would have "Shooting Stars." Other tracks like "Come On Come On" makes one think what Gen X could've done with this stuff, and "Hole In The Wall" is pure filler. "It's So Cruel" is a calm and quiet ballad, with the loungy sounds of the Stones' "Waiting On A Friend" coming through. It also serves as a nice prelude to the final track, which is a familiar one-none other than Billy Idol's song with Generation X, "Dancing With Myself." It's by far the hardest driving track on here, a replacement for "Congo Man" that was on the original. BTW, thanks to Eric Andrews for this bit of info. The album marked Idol's collaboration with guitarist Steve Stevens, whose fiery and squealing guitar theatrics would prove invaluable on the hit Rebel Yell album, and producer Keith Forsey, who helmed Idol's albums through Charmed Life. Idol's image had a lot going for him, that platinum spiked hair and that sneer that became his trademark. But the music here, while uneven in consistency, showed promise, especially in the midnight hour.