Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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33 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The original Girl Power Band!, June 6, 2000
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!
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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I love this record, January 11, 2009
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!
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Go-Go's Grrl Power, July 18, 2000
The Go-Go's combined a punk sensiblity with a pop sheen and road it all the way to the top of the charts. They had a public image as the sweet and innocent girls next door, but in reality were hard partying punk rockers. The music has the same enigmatic quality. On the surface, it sounds upbeat and bouncy, but underneath is a darker and harder meaning. They sing about about love triangles, unfaithful men and other travails with extremely catchy hooks. The pulsating beat in "We Got The Beat" just begs you to get up and dance and the jangling "Our Lips Are Sealed" is a perfect radio hit. "This Town", "Skidmarks On My Heart", "How Much More" and "Tonite" could have all been hits. There isn't a song on the album that you won't find yourself bobbing your head to and singing along with.
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by The Go-Go's 
