Beauty & The Beat

Go-Go's | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: A&M
• ASIN: B000001I0O
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (63 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,049 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #2 in Music > Indie Music > Pop > General
  • #2 in Music > Indie Music > Alternative Rock > New Wave
  • #2 in Music > Indie Music > Pop > Pop Rock

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

When the 1970s punk scene was washed away by the undertow of '80s new wave, few bands surfed the transition as well as the Go-Go's. These Valley grrrls dressed up their punk heritage with a sense of glamour so that their music was at once ballsy and fanciful. The peppery singles "We Got the Beat" and "Our Lips Are Sealed" were their debut's chart climbers and glossiest tracks. The rest of the album has a tougher crust. For example, the jittery "Can't Stop the World" would make the Ramones proud. And take a look at the lyrical content of "This Town": "Change the lines that were said before / We're all dreamers--we're all whores / Discarded stars / Like worn out cars / Litter the streets of this town." Hole's single "Celebrity Skin" is a '90s rendition of the same theme: "When I wake up with my makeup / Have you ever felt so used up as this? / It's all so sugarless / Hooker / Waitress / Model / Actress / Oh, just go nameless." Just as Courtney Love has made a career out of publicly displaying her glam-trash lifestyle, the Go-Go's song about the self-eroding lifestyles of Hollywood revealed that they, too, were more hard living than hard candy. --Beth Bessmer

Product Description

The girl group of the new-wave era burst out of the gate with this 1981 #1 smash. The energy is infectious and the hooks are razor sharp on the hits Our Lips Are Sealed and We Got the Beat plus Tonite; Automatic; Lust to Love , and more!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The original Girl Power Band!, June 6, 2000

By 

Paul W. Sager (Saint Louis, Missouri) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beauty & The Beat (Audio CD)

Back in 1982 we were all dancing to the beat and enjoying the decade known as the 80s. Disco was dead, punk was deader and pop was becoming a staple in everyone's tape collection. The Go-Go's were at the forefront of that movement.

Hot off of their #2 single, We Got the Beat, Beauty and the Beat spent an unprecedented amount of time at the top of the charts. Going double platinum this album quickly became one of the top sellers of 81/82.

Filled with some of their most memorable tracks including, Our Lips Our Sealed, Lust to Love, This Town and How Much More, the album also includes some gems. Tonite is an awesome song, an ode to sticking to your guns. Automatic takes the low hum of Charlotte's guitar and dabs in an echo of Carlisle's pitch and finds a sweet eerie song. You Can't Walk in Your Sleep if You Can't Sleep shows the girls fun side with fun lyrics and supersonic speed music.

Beauty and the Beat is one of those albums that might sit in the back of your collection but one that makes the round into the player. The album remains a must have of the 1980s and still holds up almost 20 years later!

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I love this record, January 11, 2009

By 

T. Fisher - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Beauty And The Beat (MP3 Download)

I still think this 1981 record is one of the great pop albums ever. My interests have taken another direction in recent years, but I still listen to it a few times a year and admire its beat, catchy tunes, spunk and tremendous innovation. There had been nothing like it before, and not much like it since!

The Go-Gos started as a punk band in Los Angeles in 1978, but went through some major changes by the time of this album, which defined the all-woman "power pop" genre, gave new wave a new direction, and blazed a trail for other all-woman bands in the 1980s and after.

The Go-Gos really got their chops touring, especially in the UK, where they had a minor hit with their demo version of "We Got the Beat", probably the most famous track on this record. They eventually attracted the attention of Miles Copland, the head of IRS Records and the manager of The Police (in which his brother Stewart was the drummer).

With IRS, for my money the most important label of the new wave era, the Go-Gos put together this gem of an album. Backed by the smash hit singles "We Got the Beat" and "Our Lips Are Sealed," it went to number 1 on the Billboard charts and stayed there six weeks.

The IRS Records affiliation opened some big doors for the Go-Gos. I remember seeing them in 1982 when they were opening for The Police on the mega "Ghost in the Machine" tour. They also had their own major tours, of course, and are still touring today.

This is where Belinda Carlisle got her start, and here her vocals, like the music, have an edge, but not an overly hard one. Carlisle's mid-range vocals are offset beautifully by Jane Wiedlin's domination of the higher vocal registers. (Jane Wiedlin is still one of the coolest music people around today, and she was great as Joan of Arc in the cult movie classic "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure.")

The Go-Gos' sound is underpinned by the driving drums of Gina Schock, the driving bass of Kathy Valentine, and Wiedlin's driving rhythm guitar. Did I mention it was driving? Then there is the lead guitar of Charlotte Caffey, at times light and airy, and at times more... well, driving. They don't call this record "Beauty and the Beat" for nothing -- it really is beat-driven. But it's not just mindless beat, it's combined with great melodies and a positive but still edgy attitude.

The highlight of the record for me is "Our Lips Are Sealed", one of the greatest pop songs ever, written by Wiedlin and Terry Hall, who was at the time the lead singer of the UK ska band "The Specials". Hall later did a dark and brooding version of the song with his Specials break-away band, Fun Boy Three. But this version is definitive for the song, I think, especially with Wiedlin's angelic-sounding middle-eight vocal.

This music is great for dancing, listening and cleaning the house!

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the brightest musical beacons of 80's innocence, style and fun!, February 21, 2006

By 

J. McDonald - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Beauty & The Beat (Audio CD)

In 1981 the Go-Go's took the world by storm with the release of their debut effort "beauty and the beat". The album was destined for the history books and became the first #1 album by an all-girl group (who wrote and performed their own material). Of course the Go-Go's were MUCH more than just an all-girl group and they were certainly NOT a novelty or a gimmick. In an era of new wave synth-pop, the Go-Go's kept rock n' roll at the top of the charts!

There's so much more to the Go-Go's than just "we got the beat" and "our lips are sealed", as you'll soon discover when you listen to the other nine tracks. It's obvious the Go-Go's were influenced by the pure and simple approach of 50's and 60's era rock, which helped them to become a lighting rod for a youthful energy and cool rock beat that had been dormant throughout most of the 70's. Along with the Knack, Romantics, Stray Cats and other groups of the late 70's and early 80's, the Go-Go's helped to usher in one of the brightest and most enjoyable eras of Rock n' Roll!

In the 90's, many groups who enjoyed fame in the 80's had to downplay their success and "80's image" to survive in a new "grunge ridden" landscape. Desperate critics and other "rock authorities" who seem to think that a group of "nice" girls will not be taken seriously, always play-up the punk card and stress the groups early "punky" beginnings. An example of this pathetic exercise in trying to harden the Go-Go's image can be seen in the Amazon Editorial review by Beth Bessmer, who compares the Go-Go's to Courtney Love and Hole. Another method to supposedly add more credibility is to bring up various drug related issues and group turmoil, thus proving how REAL the group was. Of course, all of this extraneous information has ZERO bearing on what caused these girls to sell millions of albums. The Go-Go's presented an image of pure fun and innocence, and it's that simple ROCK 'N ROLL FANTASY that had music fans falling in love with them. The music of the Go-Go's possessed the same youthful magic that was found in the music of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the early Beatles. In my opinion, that's certainly nothing to have to apologize for. It's also an image that need not be altered or hardened so that they can seem cool to a modern, jaded music audience.

Enjoy the innocence found in the music of the Go-Go's! They really did manage to recapture a very special spark that had been lost in Rock n' Roll since the mid 60's.

The Go-Go's released two follow-up albums before disbanding. Vacation (1982) and Talk Show (1984). Both are top notch efforts that will not disappoint. They have also released numerous HITS packages, most notably the 1994 release "beyond the valley of the Go-Go's", which contained 3 new tracks (and various early and unreleased songs). The Go-Go's finally released a fourth studio album in 2001 titled "God Bless the Go-Go's", a very strong addition to the Go-Go's legacy.

Belinda Carlisle, Jane Wiedlin, Charlotte Caffey, Kathy Valentine and Gina Schock have all released solo projects;

Belinda Carlisle: Solo
Jane Wiedlin: Solo / Frosted
Charlotte Caffey: The Graces
Gina Schock: House of Schock
Kathy Valentine: Delphines / Solo

-JM