Customer Reviews

The Best Of Fad Gadget

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Listening to a lot of electronic music the past 4-5 yrs has only helped me realise how spectacularly influential Fad Gadget was. And did I mention way, way ahead of his time?

Sure, the Gadget do have this characteristic 80s "feel" reminiscent of undeground electronic pioneers from that time. But man, do they stand out. When you compare this one man band's releases with , say, early albums of Depeche Mode you understand what kind of a genius Frank Tovey was.

This is music so intelligent and so irresistibly groovy and catchy you'd have to be completely unitiated musically to not be hooked by it. Speaking of catches, Fad gadget's music was and still is intended for intelligent people. It's not just the music itself of course. If it were "only" that we'd speaking of an entirely different concept. What makes the deciding difference between Tovey and other electronica creators from his time or even now is his lyrics.

Instead of opting for the usual pseudo sci-fi or "heard it all before" pseudo-bizzare love songs, Tovey went straight for what matters. The system. With all its angles, expressions, crashes, flows, faults and cracks.

His lyrics were not like a Rage against the Machine of the 80s. Oh no. In a sense they were way better. Politically charged like anything you've ever heard, and yet subtle, metaphorical, allegoric, poetic, and timely direct and in your face whenever the message needed to be such.

If you read his name being dropped by some of the current legends who made or are still making music in that genre, well, it shouldnt surprise you. What should indeed surprise you is that you might not be aware of the great contribution to contemporary music Fad Gadget put in.

This is as influential and as great a band as they come.

Much can be said of this seminal advent-gaurde-electro-pop act FAD GADGET, a.k.a. Frank Tovey. As one of first artist to be on the infamous Mute label, founded by Depeche Mode's producer Daniel Miller. Fad has broke ground as a trend setter in the early 80's SynthPop scene influencing today's Electronica and Gothic genres. This 2 cd album offers those hard-to-find singles and b-sides like 'Ricky's Hand' and 'Lady Shave', also rare re-mixes like Ensterzende Neubauten's re-mix of 'Colapsing New People.' Very enjoyable for those Hard-Core Electro-Heads!

If you enjoy 80's pop music, electronic, punk, industrial, or even gothic, Fad Gadget is the band to listen to for they influenced many undoubtedly. Music just isn't made like this anymore. Fad Gadget was not afraid to put a gothic sounding singer with an electronic band. It was late 70's early 80's new age art rock at its best.

Buy this if for nothing else than In Memoriam of the late, ever so great Mr. Frank Tovey. Side one one-ups the other greatest hits and includes B-sides, so even the veteran Fad Gadget listener will most likely find this to be of interest. Side two has some interesting remixes and oddities. All in all, even if you have all of the albums, hearing this collection puts something of a new spin on the material and is well worth it. After this, purchase the albums ("Under The Flag" in particular). Sleep well, Mr.Tovey. Sleep.

"Fad Gadget" ... allow yourself to taste those words for a moment. It shimmers with style. Likewise, these songs sound equally invigorating to the ears. Fans of edgy, intellegent bands like Depeche Mode, The The and Shriekback will find refuge in this music too.

Fad Gadget was more an individual and less a group. Frank Tovey captained this Goth pop experiment, which enlightened stereos and spawned imitators during the early half of the 1980s.

This collection basically samples his earlier work, before he dropped the "Fad Gadget" alias. Singles, B-sides, album cuts and a solo track make up the first disc while the second CD contains awesome remixes of signature tunes. Needless to say, these double Frisbees deliver the goods!

And I strongly recommend the four studio albums: Fireside Favorites, Incontinent, Under the Flag and Gag. Some of his most daring stuff is found only on them.

A massive Fad Gadget/Frank Tovey complication is in the works, which will include live performances, unreleased treasures and fan favorites and it will be on two DVDs and two CDs!

Anyways, I'm betting that Fad Gadget's status will remain the same, which is anonymity from the masses yet intense admiration from a select few. I doubt Frank would have wanted it any other way.

"Ricky's Hand" was my introduction to Fad Gadget. It was on a 1980 compilation LP called Machines that was sitting in a record shop with a listening station. I was immediately captivated by the innovative sound. It was experimental but also accessible. That was before I really listened to the brilliant lyrics that were both humorous--"Six pints later he waved goodbye / Picked his nose and squashed a fly"--and dark--"Ricky contravened the highway code / The hand lies severed at the side of the road." I knew I needed to hear more. Since his sudden death in 2002, several Fad Gadget compilations have been released. "The Best of Fad Gadget" (CD #1, anyway) is an excellent collection for those who want to be introduced to his most beloved songs as well as to a little of the diversity of his catalog. For those who want to listen to the greater breadth of his work as well as see his on-stage artistry, the "Fad Gadget By Frank Tovey" CD/DVD set (with the same falling image as "Best of") is an excellent choice but may go beyond the curiosity of the casual fan.

CD #1 offers Fad Gadget classics as well as some B-Sides that demonstrate his experimentation with sounds. "Back To Nature," "The Box," "Ricky's Hand," "Lady Shave," and "Collapsing New People" are superb examples of advant-garde electronic synthpop and early industrial experimentation. They are rough, raw, dark and mechanical but also very catchy and intriguing. Anyone sucked into the sound will want to listen to them over and over again.

Other tracks show the versatility of his songwriting. "Saturday Night Special" has a very sophisticated, almost show tune, sound with piano and a creative use of claps. As impressive the song is musically, the lyrics might even be better. "Fireside Favourite" also has that show tune style and the characteristic dark sarcasm in the lyrics--this time what seems like a romantic interlude becomes a prelude to nuclear war ("Hey now, honey, open your eyes / There's a mushroom cloud up in the sky...Your head was on my shoulder / Now I'm kissing the skull"). "Make Room" (Double A-Side with "Lady Shave") has an infectious beat and is very danceable (though I don't care for the evil gremlin-sounding things chanting "Make, make, make, make!"). Then there is "Insecticide" (B-Side of "Fireside Favourite") with its distorted vocals and foreboding, industrial melody. "Life on the Line" is a wonderful ballad about the Falklands War. "Luxury" is an addictive upbeat track. The only songs I do not care for on the first CD are two instrumental fillers "Handshake" (B-side to "Ricky's Hand") and "4M" (B-Side to "Life on the Line"). The latter has a baby in it (one of my least favorite sounds) but it was a B-Side to a track off the album Under The Flag which Fad Gadget wrote after becoming a father (this apparently influenced the theme of the album that showed fear as to the world in which future generations would be growing up). The song I actually have to skip is "I Discover Love," which is way too show tuney for my tastes. I'd like to trade that for "Coitus Interruptus" which, while not included here, is offered in several forms on "Fad Gadget By Frank Tovey."

CD #2 consists of 12" mixes of some of the songs on the first CD. Two songs that are not on the first CD--"Swallow It (Regurgitated)" and "Sleep" are nice additions and the best tracks on the second disc. I'm not a big fan of 12" mixes because they are usually just extended versions done through repetition. "For Whom The Bell Tolls 3," which is rather grueling in its original form with its monotone background singers anyway, is 8:00 long. "Life on the Line (Version 2)" sounds like it's skipping. The Berlin mix of "Collapsing New People" has a lot of cool sound effects while the London Mix is just annoying. "Immobilise" is a lot of noise, horse sounds, and annoying voices. I rarely listen to CD #2, but that does not detract from the collection because the first CD is an excellent compilation and the set is available for a 1-CD price anyway. The booklet includes 9 photos of Fad Gadget, liner notes, a list of his albums with the covers, and a write-up by Paul Morley which often goes in circles ("Before Fad Gadget, the man, machine, movement, mentality, mission, there was a world before Fad Gadget").

This best of fad gadget is very good,if you love good 80's electronic music then you will like this,But I personally recommend under the flag

We had actually been discussing Frank on the synthpunk discussion list a few days before he died (before touring the US!), and it came as a bit of a shock. So when news of this release came about I rushed to get it. Brilliant stuff, I highly recommend it for fans of all genres.