Warmer Communications - Average White Band (The)

Advantages: Superb music by the first great female.rock.band to go mainstream.
Disadvantages: No lyrics. Band members don't get a penny from this anthology.

...'s secretary who alerted her boss to the girls' potential after hearing them at a 'Hoot Night' show. The band (formerly known as The Svelts, now called Wild Honey) had signed up for this show hoping that something would finally come out of their endless years of playing in clubs and such up and down the West Coast. If nothing came of it then, they'd all just 'go back to school,' as Alice put it. Well, the rest is history ('herstory'?). Yes, it's a tale of success, but also of exploitation born of naïveté, and bad management. In the end the women of Fanny would get screwed over by their managers and the record company, all while the band members worked for four straight years, songwriting, singing, playing, practising, recording and touring (across the US and in the UK, the latter where they received a warmer welcome than on their home turf), all... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Infectious songs that make you feel you can take on the world
Disadvantages: There is a feel that the songs are too similar

.... It is slower than the others but is still an uptempo song. Definately an interesting variation to finish. Cover/ Inside cover details Quite basic inside, not really giving much away, which in a strange way adds to the intrigue of this odd looking band. They all dress in black and white, and I think they could have made more of this on the front cover, which just shows them in their playing positions with only the black parts of them visible (the rest being a light and dark red pattern). To conclude, I have given this quite average ratings but give it good overall. This sounds a bit odd but I simply feel that the album is fantastic for when you have an adrenaline rush. The start of the album is better than the end but, to be honest, after jumping around for a while, you will be too tired to worry so much anyway. Definately worth a listen.... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Some good songs, lyrically sharp
Disadvantages: Inferior to Blondie throughout

...that was Chic to release 'Koo Koo', a spectacularly average album which did quite poorly in the charts. 'Koo Koo' is represented here by two singles, 'Backfired' and 'The Jam Was Moving'. Neither one is very good. Rodgers and Edwards perfected their formula working with artists as varied as David Bowie, Diana Ross and Duran Duran, but perhaps they dropped the ball on this one. The songs sound half-baked, a cheesy attempt to capitalise on Blondie's success in rap with 'Rapture' by trying too hard to be urban. The importance of 'Rapture' should never be underestimated (first female rap, first white rap, first rap US number one single) but this blatant imitation really is poor. Harry has released a number of albums since 'Koo Koo' and Blondie's subsequent dissolution in 1982 after 'The Hunter', their poorly received (and just plain poor) final album... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful