A's / Woman's Got the Power

A's | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 26, 2009)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: AMERICAN BEAT
• ASIN: B0021TVYEE
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #35,477 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. After Last Night

2. C.I.A.

3. Five Minutes In A Hero's Life

4. Words

5. Parasite

6. Artificial Love

7. Who's Gonna Save The World

8. Teenage Jerk Off

9. Grounded

10. Twist And Shout Interpolation

11. Nothing Wrong With Falling In Love

12. A Woman's Got The Power

13. Electricity

14. Heart Of America

15. How Do You Live

16. When The Rebel Comes Home

17. Johnny Silent

18. Little Mistakes

19. Working Man

20. I Pretend She's You

See all 21 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Long Time Fan Review, May 30, 2009

By 

A. Warner - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A's / Woman's Got the Power (Audio CD)

As a band in the 80s, the A's were unique in many ways with a pure Philly sound and thier own songs and sound. Having been college age and growing up in a Philadelphia suburb, it was a great time for great local bands. Bands like the A's, Robert Hazard and the Heroes, Quincy, and The Hooters, were what we listened to live, on the radio, and bought all the albums for. If you are new to A's music, listen to the clips from these two albums and try to imagine yourself in a small club on South Street with way too many other people in the room. You'll want to hear it all. The earlier album is more basic than Woman's got the power, but still great fun. Actually, that's what A's music is - Fun! I own all of the LPs and bought this CD so that my scratchy recordings can get a big upgrade. Now all we need is for "Four Dances" (The A's independant EP) to get released!

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A's for Effort, June 23, 2009

By 

Tim Brough "author and music buff" (Springfield, PA United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: A's / Woman's Got the Power (Audio CD)

Wow. One of my longtime wishlist bands finally, finally gets a CD. The A's recorded two albums for Arista in the early 80's before they imploded in a mess of mismanagement and personal disputes. But that hardly matters when you hear the many uber-cool new-wave raves that lay upon this 2-fer-one CD. In fact, the only thing missing would have been the band's swan-song "Four Dances" EP.

However, all is forgiven just due to the fact that I can pop this puppy into my CD player and feel the electricity from the debut's lead track "After Last Night." Pure 80's skinny-tie new wave, nervous jittery vocals and snotty attitude, yet danceable as heck. The rest of the album followed suit, with wicked hooks and a delicious sense of humor, as witnessed by the extrapolation of "Grounded/Twist and Shout." Singer Richard Bush sounded like an every-punk with adolescent wisdom paired with musical smarts, backed up by Rocco Notte on keyboards and Rick DiFonzo on guitar, with a solid beat supplied by Terry Bortman on bass and Michael Snyder on drums. Unless you were Eastern PA (or maybe the Jersey Shore), it's likely you didn't hear any of these.

Arista Records smelled success and smoothed the band out a bit for the second album, "A Woman's Got The Power." It was easily as energetic as the debut while more sophisticated, and was partially produced by Nick Garvey of The Motors while Rick Chertoff did the rest. (Chertoff eventually became the producer of such stars as Cyndi Lauper.) The title track even managed a good bit of airplay, enough so to be on a few 80's compilation albums. Arista honcho Clive Davis even spoon-fed The A's a "hit" that the band allegedly hated ("When The Rebel Comes Home"). You could hear the band stretch out on "Heart Of America" - ya gotta dig that banjo! - that made me think of The Plimsouls. This was great stuff, but the world wasn't digging it.

Doesn't mean you can't catch up. The A's were one of the first New Wave bands to break out of Philadelphia, along with others that tried but failed (The Cats, Quincy, The Reds) and those that made it (The Hooters, the late Robert Hazard). We have waited long enough, so get this now.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars At Last!!!, October 1, 2009

By 

Patrick Wagner (Philadelphia ,PA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A's / Woman's Got the Power (Audio CD)

Philly DID have a music scene and it was good! After holding out for years, we finally get the two Arista albums on CD. Will this be the beginning of the A's revival? Probably not,but I love what American Beat is doing. Give it a try if you have never heard them and like Power Pop. The A's made the eighties a little more fun in Philly.