Rock & Pop > 1980 to 1989 Rock & Pop > New Wave

The Talking heads zenith…

Advantages: truly ground breaking
Disadvantages: nothing comes to mind

This 1980 release from one of my favourite bands of the time was the last in a trilogy of albums released with Brian Eno producing the previous 2 being “More songs about buildings and food” and “Fear of Music”, this album took further the “African” influences first used on the previous album “Fear of Music” For this incarnation of the band they added to the normal line-up of personal Byrne, Harrison, ...
...Adrian Belew who had played for Frank Zappa and David Bowie in the past. Another change was the use of several vocal tracks, where before the songs were monologues with only David Byrne voice, now they used several vocal tracks that featured other people’s voices apart from Mr Byrne. In the mix was Eno’s voice along with Nona Hendrix from the trio “Labelle”. Along with extra vocal tracks the band were using a large amount ...

Miles13 04.02.2004 · Read full review
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Review of Remain In Light - Talking Heads

Blonde on Blonde

Advantages: Collection of classy pop
Disadvantages: Either you like Eighties revival or you don't

...off. ~~ Backtracking Their best known albums are Parallel Lines (1978), from which the tracks Picture This, Sunday Girl and Heart of Glass are taken, and 'Eat to the Beat', from 1979, with Dreaming and Atomic. During the mid to late 1980's, their singles experimented more with different styles, such as cross over rap. Debbie Harry's inspirational look, a mix of glamour and defiance and their outstanding music definitely influenced and inspired ...
...more recently, Gwen Stefani. ~~ Songwriting Credits Apart from the following, most of the songs on this compilation were co-written by Debbie Harry and Chris Stein. 'Call Me' was co-written with Giogio Moroder, while The Tide is High is a cover of a song by John Holt. Denis was a cover of a 1960's song. ~~ Tracks 1. Heart Of Glass, 1981 2. Denis, 1981 3. The Tide Is High, 1980 4. In The Flesh 5. Sunday Girl, 1986 6. Dreaming 7. Hanging On ...

aspebbles 22.03.2006 · Read full review
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Review of Best Of Blondie, The - Blondie

Rage in Eden by Ultravox

Advantages: Good songwriting, well-produced
Disadvantages: Pretentious- very, very pretentious

Ultravox are generally considered as a band of two eras- before Midge Ure joined, and after he joined. The odd, often minimalistic musing of their New Wave era of the late 70s had long been brushed away by the time "Rage in Eden" appeared in 1981, the follow-up to their breakthrough album "Vienna". People generally either love or hate Ultravox, and it's easy to see the reasoning of both sides on this album. Midge Ure's vocals and lyrics are utterly ...
...disappear up itself in no uncertain manner. Scattered throughout the album, such as on songs like "The Stranger Within" are moments of over-theatrical warbling. That said, some of the songs here are quite beautiful, with the synths on "The Ascent" sounding especially gorgeous. The production is top-notch and the album has a pristine, modern sheen to it which puts it ahead of the competition. If you're a fan of well-crafted synth-pop then I would ...

bagoproverbial 29.11.2004 · Read full review
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Review of Rage In Eden - Ultravox

The Talking Heads pop collection…

Advantages: The Heads go pop
Disadvantages: Nothin'

This collection of tracks comes a couple years after the last part of the trilogy, of albums recorded with Brian Eno, the last part “Remain in Light” is still this bands “zenith” in my humble option, at no other time since have they been so inventive and groundbreaking, no with this album the lessons learned with their former producer have been taken in another direction, the only repeating theme is the use of “African” ...
...& “Remain in Light”. The possible reason for this with this album is that the band have taken the duties of producer as a collective between themselves, don’t get me wrong this is not a bad album but without the inventive genius that is Eno there is something missing, but what they have done with this album is bring the mixing skills of the late Alex Sadkin who worked with Grace Jones and men known as the “Rhythm Twins” ...

Miles13 04.02.2004 · Read full review
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Review of Speaking In Tongues - Talking Heads

The world moves on a woman's hips.....

Advantages: Superb remastering of a seminal album
Disadvantages: None worth quibbling about

...superb extended line-up for the Remain In Light tour, performing "Crosseyed And Painless" and "Once In A Lifetime"; alas, the promo vids for these two songs are not included. A particular shame, given the legendary status of the "Once In A Lifetime" clip. An abjectly essential purchase, and while I'm aware that as a 36 year old I may never again experience the (aural) visceral rush I got when I first heard this album, at least I can console myself ...

greenierexyboy 29.10.2007 · Read full review
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Review of Remain In Light (Remastered & Expanded/+DVDA) - Talking Heads