Tim Brough's Black Leather Bookshelf

Some of them want to be abused
4 Out Of 5 Stars

Coming out of a somewhat obscure new wave band called The Tourists, Dave Stewart took to his band of synthesizers and stole away Annie Lennox to sing atop his chilly architectural constructs. Annie, possessed with the natural soul presence of a diva, breathed life into these compositions like few other synth bands, and when you added a knock out video for the title track, "Sweet Dreams" became a huge hit and made Eurythmics a sensation. Their 1983 sophomore album is a rarity of the period, a synth-pop disc that has held up surprisingly well.

Only Alison Moyet and Yaz came close to matching the ice and fire dynamics of Dave and Annie. Stewart had enough skills as both an instrumentalist and producer that he could make Annie exude the warmth that his songs didn't naturally evoke. So when Annie invokes a sarcastic kiss-off on "I Could Give You a Mirror," she manages to be a cool customer and at the same time she burns off her ex (it's also interesting to note that she and Stewart were ex lovers). Then there's the classic single, pulsing with energy and Annie's soulful voice, followed soon after by "Love Is a Stranger." As chilly as the new wave arrangements may have been, Stewart knew his way around a good hook. Annie could also be very soulful, to the point where the remake of Isaac Hayes' "Wrap It Up" comes off less ironic than you would expect.

"Sweet Dreams" lags a little bit in its final couple of songs, but what comes before more than makes up for it. Annie would become an even more expressive a singer as the band began running up hits, but "Sweet Dreams" is as good a calling card as they came in the MTV era.

As for the bonus cuts, the remixes are OK. The B-Sides are experimental but not worth a second listen, and the best of the bunch is a solid take on Lou Reed's "Satellite Of Love."

Maturity Hate Machine
4 Out Of 5 Stars

Things must be going pretty swell in the Trent Reznor household. The man seems to have found some sort of domestic bliss, down to having his wife collaborate on the How To Destroy Angels project. He now has Grammy and Oscar trophies for the mantlepiece. He's so happy that, a few years after he declared Nine Inch Nails over, he's resurrected the name and put out the almost chipper "Hesitation Marks." While hardly a classic NIN album, it doesn't deserve the angry fanboy one/two star reviews. Let's address why "Hesitation Marks" is a good NIN album.

Reznor stopped using his studio time for anger management years ago, probably starting at "With Teeth." Saying that the guy's not pissed off anymore is obvious to anyone with an attention span of more than one album. He's been making music as craftsmanship as he sees fit for a long time now. Hence the politics of rocking "With Teeth," the concept album and viral campaign for "Year Zero," the ambient soundtrack precursor of "Ghosts" and his "thank you" to his fans, the so-so "The Slip," then gave it away as a download freebie. Angry young men don't sit down with movie rough cuts and devise soundtracks/scores. "Hesitation Marks" reflects all of these aspects. In fact, it's more like revisionism of his earlier work. "Hesitation Marks" sounds an awful lot like a grown man's look back at "Pretty Hate Machine."

"Copy Of A" takes this notion head on. Complete with a guest guitar run from Lindsey Buckingham (yes, the guy from 70's megastars Fleetwood Mac for you newbies), Reznor digs right in:

"I am just a copy of a copy of a copy
Everything I say has come before
Assembled into something into something into something
I am never certain anymore."

He's in on the whole idea. That's why when the haunting "All Time Low" brings to mind images from "The Downward Spiral," Reznor is looking at the paranoia from a man who's already been to the bottom and can now see what abyss looks like from a safe distance. The atmospheric guitar from one time King Crimson/Bears/Bowie guitarist Adrian Belew makes me wish Belew could have found his place comfortably in the NIN framework, as he's always been an asset to any band who needs their guitars coming in from left field. Belew's appearance here, along with Buckingham's (or for that matter, super-bassist Pino Palladino) is clear evidence that Reznor is looking after the perfection he desires in these songs.

I can't say that "Hesitation Marks" is all peaches and debris, as the songs' tendency to be reminiscent of earlier, classic work can be distracting. That doesn't mean the album is bad, nor does it qualify the album as not enjoyable. Trent Reznor has every right to be happy. It also gives him the leeway to say (as he does in "Everything"), "I have tried everything, and I've survived everything." Good on him, and lucky for us. "Hesitation Marks" quietly rages on, doing so in a manner befitting a man pushing 50.





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The 80's Called...
4 Out Of 5 Stars

Ryan Merchant and Sebu Simonian, as Capital Cities, have decided that the best music ever made was done by all those synth-pop duos and bands that jumped out of the early eighties to create massively hooky singles with just a couple of keyboards and maybe a few added guests on the side. When they get it right, as they do on the earworm single "Safe and Sound," they rival the best of them. "In A Tidal Wave Of Mystery" works hard to maintain that level of infectiousness, and succeeds more often than not.

The bulk of "Mystery" bubbles with hooky synth-lines and danceable beats, while having a go at sunshine grooves. When a song about valuing your stereo more than your furniture winds into the disc ("I Sold My Bed But Not My Stereo" - what a great title), you get that Capital Cities are more into having fun than trying to say anything of import. Their one big experiment, "Farrah Fawcett Hair," playfully interjects samples from National Public Radio, a couple of verses via Andre 3000, and then drops a dubstep break in the middle. There's no denying the happy vibe of "Love Away" or "Patience Gets Us Nowhere Fast" as well.

I guess this is the current vogue as, even as I think of early Depeche Mide, OMD or Naked Eyes while listening to "In A Tidal Wave of Mystery," I also can't help but be reminded of more recent offerings from Phoenix, Passion Pit or the debut from MGMT. With those kind of comparisons in mind, "In A Tidal Wave of Mystery" is hardly mysterious at all. It's an enjoyable debut CD, with hopes that Merchant and Simonian can keep the good vibrations coming on future efforts.

Pop Tunes From An Alternate Universe
3 Out Of 5 Stars


Imagine a world where a skinny-tie synth-band from the mid 80's decided that their lodestones would be The Beach Boys, the psychedelic period of The Beatles, and just about every other pop-singles masters from the 60's. That would net you The Apples In Stereo, who dream of pop nirvana via homemade recordings of catchy, sweet singles with hooks as big as Montana.

This is a "Best of" style compilation, but since the band hasn't had any hits per se, "Number One Hits Explosion" is a dream piped in from a separate universe. One where the pseudo-pyscehdelic "Strawberry Fire" would dominate the airwaves. Or the super-catchy "Energy" would top the pop charts. "Seems So" would find them opening for The Beach Boys or The Byrds.Or maybe they could revive Bubblegum with every single multi-harmony coated catchy tune found here.

The Apples In Stereo have quietly released six albums in a discography that rates with some of the finest power pop in the land. Definitely a guilty pleasure, "#1 Hits Explosion" is worth a listen.

Haircuts and Attitudes
3 Out Of 5 Stars

One of the first new Wave acts to score a genuine hit single, these hairswooping seagulls did manage a couple of hits after their calling card of "I Ran." A Flock of Seagulls may not be remembered for much after that hit and the aforementioned hairstyles, but this collection does make an adequate case for the band as a competent singles machine. About as synthy as Duran Duran or the Thompson twins, lead singer Mike Score didn't have the charisma of Simon Lebon or Tom Bailey's pop sense, which is why the three US charting singles ("I Ran," Space Age Love Song" and "Wishing (If I Had A Photograph Of You)") are all hear as is the "Wishing" extended mix.

That doesn't mean the rest of the batch is unlistenable. "Telecommunication" is a quick and snappy bit of synth rock, and "The Story of a Young Heart" is appropriately new romantic dramatic. I'd also chip in that "The More You Live The More You Love" was a should have been hit. They may no longer be required listening, but you can file "The Best of A Flock of Seagulls" along with your Wang Chung and Thompson Twins best ofs.



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To Go With What You Know
4 Out Of 5 Stars

I haven't had much interest in a new Erasure album since the string that started with "Other People's Songs" in 2003. They seemed to be coasting for a spell, until "Tomorrow's World." After some lackluster albums and a batch of live sets, Vince and Andy made a vital change and handed their music over to an outside producer, Frankmusik. He pulls the duo into the new century with some timely production, putting some much needed carbonation in Erasure's sound. "Tell me that you want me," Andy Bell calls out as the album opens. For a change, the answer is yes. Erasure has (since "Light At The End of The World," at least) matured into a consistency that puts them into a pocket.

There are plenty of songs here to remind you why you fell in love with Erasure back when their first album came out in 1986. "When I Start (To Break it All Down)" is the kind of questioning love song they've always specialized in, as well as dance floor pumpers. Both "Fill Us With Fire" and the auto-tuned inflected "Then I Go Twisting" are itching to get remixed, as are several other songs on the CD. Even the band knows that they're no longer the kids they used to be.

"Then I go inside, bored of this modern town
Sick of this techno, monophonic sound
Turning the lights down, modern life's so dull
More of the same stuff."

...And Andy is singing this over a popping synth groove. It's nice to listen to Erasure who are not only making good music again, but that they recognize where they (and we) are. "Tomorrow's World" is their 14th studio album, and it fits in well with many of their other albums.



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Oh, Nostalgia, I Don't Need You Anymore 
3 Out Of 5 Stars

Patrick Stump takes a walk from Fall Out Boy for his debut solo CD, and strolls into the time machine that lives on in Stump's collection of Prince and Michael Jackson albums. Or maybe Duran Duran's turn with Justin Timberlake. Either way, he's created a wickedly catchy collection of synthy-soul pop that is as self-assured as it is NOT Fall Out Boy.

It's obvious from the first track, "Explode," that Stump wants to distance himself from the pop-punk that made him rich in FOB. From there, it's one man show-time, with Stump doing the writing, playing and production for the entire album, minus a bonus track of "This City" featuring Lupe Fiasco. (Which happens to be the CD's best song.) Stump is also really open on the disc, with a blatant admission of a drinking problem on "Run Dry" and a great adultery song, "The I in Lie." After all, how many singers would gleefully shout their guilt in a chorus that boasts "I'm a Cheat, cheat, cheat!"

The mess of the modern world isn't left aside either, as "Soul Punk" has its surprisingly political moments. The funky "Dance Miserable" exhorts that you push yourself through the litany of ailments like climate change, unemployment, foreclosures, etc. Or the Timberlake ape of "Greed," with the catchy refrain of "turn your white collars up." Stump reveals himself to be a really smart pop-crafter on "Soul Punk," proving he can make his own kind of music apart from Pete Wentz. However, it is Wentz's presence that pulls the disc down a star; Stump's self-production makes the album sound at times claustrophobic and falls victim to the loudness wars. I bit of band chemistry might have helped to loosen things up a bit. Even so, better than half the songs are good for repeat listens, making "Soul Punk" a better than average solo project.

From Bowie to Benatar in Three Easy Lessons
4 Out Of 5 Stars

Starting out life as a Euro-Sleaze novelty hit and ending up as 80's Woman Rock band, Berlin have one of the stranger career arcs of 80's hit makers. Teen Actor Terri Nunn joined up with John Crawford and keyboard player David Diamond (and eventually drummer Rob Brill) to record the New Wave porn-tease "Sex (I'm A...). The EP "Pleasure Victim" made noise in New Wave circles and the band found themselves on Geffen, with the EP going gold. The EP was an intriguing mix of Ultravox/Bowie synth drama, best spotlit by "The Metro" and "Masquerade."

Given the sudden success, Berlin delivered the poppier "Love Life" within the year. Three of the top current new wave/synth pop masters did various production duties, with Richie Zito, Mike Howlett and Georgio Moroder each controlling the knobs at some point during the album's creation. That gave the band a hit with the dance-happy "No More Words." Nun was also getting better as a vocalist, with her alto becoming richer. Not that the sexual innuendo had disappeared completely, but the songs that tilted in that direction are thankfully not included here. (Unfortunately, neither is the Moroder produced "Dancing In Berlin.")

Moroder then plucked Nunn and Berlin as the voice of "Top Gun," and the band hit their commercial peak with "Take My Breath Away." The single became a worldwide number one, and the album "Count Three and Pray" left the band in a trap. Nunn was already trying to move the band into more mainstream turf, which brought producer Bob Ezrin in for the rest of the new album's production. Suddenly, the band who was making breathy, sexually laced records with Kraftwerky-ish backing was belting like Pat Benatar and featuring Ted Nugent and David Gilmour as guest players.

The songs remained showcases for Nunn's voice, and the best, like the dramatic "Like Flames," were really good. The chugging "Will I ever Understand You" also makes the cut for this best of, but the album was a commercial stiff. That led to the band's demise, with a mere two albums and EP as discography. This best of does a good job of culling the best of each recording onto one disc, with "Blowin' Sky High" the obligatory unreleased track (which sounds like a leftover from "Count Three"). Nunn is a better singer than she is likely remembered, and like so many 80's techno-pop groups, Berlin was a terrific singles band. This is probably all you'll need from them, although the original CD's are getting harder to find.