Customer Reviews

A's / Woman's Got the Power

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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!

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.

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.

I never thought I'd see these albums put out on CD.....call me a pessimist, but I just figured that it would never happen. If you lived outside of Phila, you probably had never heard of them, unfortunately. I always thought they were harder and edgier than The Hooters....right up my alley. A little New Wave, a little Power Pop, a little Rock & Roll.....if MTV was around when they came out, they would have been right in the mix. I remember laying at the pool when I was about 9 or 10 in late '79 early '80 with my boom box and our local stations, WYSP and WMMR in Phila loved these guys and played them to death. I almost saw them a few times back then at places like The Bijou Cafe, Emerald City and Stars because my father was a drummer in a local "rival" band Cats at the same time and I would frequent a lot of those places as a kid with Dad. Cats got signed to Elektra right after the A's got signed to Arista, but they imploded after one solid album in 1980 and a 3 month tour with Van Halen, while The A's did 2 solid albums and a GREAT EP then imploded. Of course, The Hooters went on to bigger things, and that was that. I feel like my Dad's band and The A's just missed out on the video revolution and would have stuck around longer if they could have been part of that whole thing and the exposure that came with it. Oh well.....anyway, The A's is HIGHLY recommended to anyone who is into the 70s/80s Power Pop/New Wave sound....tight, sharp witty songs with great hooks, well played. If you also like The Hooters 1st independent release, Amore, which was more edgier than their later stuff, you'll dig The A's.

If you were into the Philly live band scene in the early 80's then you already know about the A's. In my case, though, I had totally forgotten about them until listening to The Hooters recently got me thinking about all the great local bands back then. My A's search turned up this newly release CD which I immediately pre-ordered and am now thrilled to have in my CD colletion. All the great memories came flooding back and the songs, to me, are even better than I remembered. Even if you're not familar with the A's, it's definitely worth checking out!

For those of us who sought out "new wave" music in the Philly area in the late '70s/early '80s, it was often a frustrating task. The city was solidly locked into its blue-collar roots and gravitated to mainstream rockers--Bruce, The Doors, Led Zeppelin, etc.--choking off air play for alternative bands. But we did have our moments when local "new wavers" broke through. Robert Hazard became a phenomenon like no other and The Hooters reached a modest level of success, especially with their "Nervous Night" release. For me, though, the best of the bunch was The A's: they had energy, attitude, clever lyrics, and a biting sound that I'd call an Americanized (and a bit more pop-friendly) version of The Boomtown Rats. So it was a thrill to see a CD of their first two releases available on Amazon--since I owned only the vinyl versions of them, I had to rely to my memory of the songs and the occasional YouTube video. These releases are now 30 years old, yet they remain fresh to the ear and relevant to this era. The first set of songs is simply untamed madness, and for as good as "After Last Night" is as the opener, it doesn't dominate as much as it sets the table for the great tracks that follow--"CIA," "Words," and "Who's Gonna Save the World" among them. Next up is what is certainly a more mature--but no less dominating--sound unleashed in "Woman's Got The Power." I always thought the title track ranked as the strongest on that release, yet "How Do You Live" and "Heart of America" truly are every bit as good. And while that disc admittedly slips a bit over the final few songs, I sit here amazed--actually quite disappointed--that The A's didn't command more of a following in their heyday. Making this CD available to the masses won't change history, but it does give those of us who loved their music a chance to relive it and will perhaps win this deserving band a few more fans.

Two complete albums on one CD, with Great songs. I don't know why they never made it BIG. A must for anyone that remembers the A's.

This CD contains the 1st two albums of the seminal late 70's early 80's Philadelphia band the A's. They should have been much bigger than they were. I rest the blame on their record label at the time Arista. Who didn't promote the band properly. This CD is a must have for any Philadelphia music fan who loves The Hooters, Beru Revue, Robert Hazard and the Heroes and Bricklin. A's / Woman's Got the Power

I was very pleased to see the A's CD's come out. I lost my albums and chomped my tapes over the years, but was able to find some footage on the internet in the last year or so. I saw the A's in the late 70's at Dick Lee's in Brooklawn, and they were a great live band. My favorite songs are all on the 1st album, CIA, After Last Night, Grounded and Parasite. I still sing Grounded to my 16 year old son every time he forgets to do his homework. The A's, Notte and Bush, wrote great songs with catchy lyrics, and good harmonies. I would love to see them live again. "Don't need you girl, don't need no Parasite, Don't need your love to keep me warm at night.....Oh!....Oh!....Oh!"

I bought this based on reviews. I should have read between the lines and realized that the reviewers were delusional losers trying to relive the night they got lucky at a local club. This band sucks and its no wonder they never went anywhere