Looking
back, I’m glad I was born when I was. If I’d been born ten years earlier, maybe
I would have been a fan of English New Wave. Thankfully I was spared the peer
pressure of having to go to discotheques wearing eyeliner, by getting into
music a decade later when grunge hit.This album starts off well on The Things That Dreams Are Made Of - sounding like a commercial version of Kraftwerk - but after that initial track, it does start to sound very dated. Some of the instrumentation, played on early synthesisers, sounds very close to the type of music that would accompany early 8-bit computer games.
Phil Oakey has a killer voice though - he’s obviously influenced by Bowie and that clear, dramatic style of singing, so I wonder what he would have sounded like if he had grown up in a different period and ended up singing in a band in a different genre. I can’t really imagine him singing in a punk band, but he would have shone in any genre that showcases clear diction. And eyeliner.
Hit: Don’t You Want Me
Hidden Gem: The Things That Dreams Are Made Of
"I would have been a fan of English New Wave"??? You mean you aren't now? Sure it's not all good, but Echo & the Bunnymen, Joy Division, Gang of Four....?
ReplyDeleteYes, agree, some of it is not bad. But it scares me that if you grow up while these things are happening, you tend to also follow the fashions. I don't look good in white drainpipe trousers with big dyed blonde hair!
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