Customer Reviews

The Best Of A Flock Of Seagulls

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Funny cascading haircuts aside, this electropop band hailing from Liverpool had one of the best-known singles that defined the genre along with Spandau Ballet and Duran Duran. No, the lead singer's name wasn't Jonathan Livingston, but hairdresser Mike Score, as I recall. This compilation collects their hits from their first four albums. "I Ran" is their best known single, a US Top Ten hit, which incorporates keyboards, drum machines, jangling guitars, and weird sound effects, they all signalled a futuristic pop sound that blew the doors wide open for the Second British Invasion. I don't know what this did for girls who had "almond hair and tawny eyes" who have aurora borealis around their head. Were men that blown away that they ran so far away?

A song with a similar sound is the upbeat romantic "Space Age Love Song," with futuristic sound effects, and the guitar here makes me wonder if the power-pop group Voice of the Beehive were influenced by them.

The jamming "Telecommunication," with that great power-pop guitar, is another favourite along with "I Ran," mentioning futuristic communication technology, such as laser beams into TV screens. At nearly two and-a-half minutes, it's a nice bite-sized nugget of space age pop.

Reflective lyrics, dreamy but edgy guitars, windy sound effects, the same constant drums, and a lesson well-taught permeates "The More You Live, The More You Love." with all sorts of cliches such as "the more you love the more you grow," "nothing last forever," and "true love turns to pain."

"Wishing (If I Had A Photograph Of You)" turned out to be their only big UK hit from their Listen album. Wistful airy synth fills done after the refrain matches the equally longing, "If I had a photograph of you, or something to remind me, I wouldn't spend my life just wishing." For those wanting to dwell in more yearning, there is an extended nine minute version included.

The Devo/Missing Persons-speed tempo of "(It's Not Me) Talking" has more sci-fi motifs, with an intense barrage of keyboards, drum machines, and those jangling guitars. The difficulty of emotional readjustment is told in "Transfer Affection."

"Who's That Girl (She's Got It)" is a later single in their career, but the energy remains unabated, heavy drums, power synths, and brief keyboards glisses rattled after the title is sung. In other words, they've got it.

The instrumental "D.N.A." from their first album has the same energy as the other songs from there, with that guitar and drum backing making it work. And the mostly instrumental title track to their 1984 album, "The Story of a Young Heart," featuring a loud clanging guitar amid a wall of noise synth and keyboards, closes things off, with repeated echoing of the title lyrics from "The More You Live, The More You Love."

A Flock of Seagulls had a flock of great songs with a consistent sound, but methinks they were eclipsed by their fellow British Invasion members, to wit Spandau Ballet, Duran Duran, Eurythmics, Thomas Dolby, and Ultravox, which is too bad because practically everything here is worthy of the Top 10 or Top 20. If I had a time machine, I'd run so far away... well, maybe to the dawn of the Second British Invasion,... up to 1986, loop, then repeat.

For starters, it has the 9 minute 12" version of "Wishing." But it ALSO has the 7" remix of "The More You Live The More You Love," which I've always felt is far superior to the LP version, because it's much more new wave sounding. ALSO, note that the track listing has always been wrong on this disc, including on the CD insert itself. The final track on here is NOT The Story of A Young Heart--it is the FULL MOON REMIX of "The More You Live The More You Love," which was the B-side to the original 12". "The Story of A Young Heart" can be found on the Platinum and Gold Collection.

Somewhere along the musical progression from Gary Numan to a-ha, there is a small but brilliant blip called A Flock of Seagulls. With an old-school synthesizer, one truly awesome guitar player, and a video production budget of somewhere in the region of $12.99, AFOS created three essential new wave gems and an unmistakeable sound that remains unique (and powerful) even to this day. AFOS lacked the charisma of Depeche Mode and the dance floor savoire-faire of, say, Human League, but what they did have was full-on 80's New Wave dedication. For a brief, shining moment, AFOS was everywhere any self-respecting teen Waver wanted to be. They were one of those great little bands that filled in the spaces between the larger acts of the decade and left us all with some great memories and fantastic tunes that withstand the test of time. To all of you retro teenyboppers out there: don't miss 'Space Age Love Song' and its great synth finale (one of the high points of 80's electronica to be sure) and the perfect, Bowie-quality, melancholic grandeur of 'Wishing'. AFOS capture a bit of that mechanic, almost Gothic coldness that used to scare the music hippies of the day (well done!) while still managing, at their best, to totally ROCK.

With songs like "I RAN", "SPACE AGE LOVE SONG" and "WISHING". The Flock of Seagulls established themselves as crafty song writers in the first order. Amazing hooks and catchy lyrics, anybody can enjoy them. A must have for any 80's music lover.

The "Masters" of the 80's compiled some of their best selections on one cd. Fortunately, most of the tunes are from the 1st 3 releases ("FOS", "Listen",and "Story of a Young Heart")with the master guitar legend of the 80's (Paul Reynolds).Paul was absent on their 4th release "Dream Come True" (AKA Flock 4). This was not as good and way different from the 1st 3. Flock 4 sold very little. This "Best of" CD is worth it even if "I Ran" was missing. You can't go wrong buying this great and emal cd! Whoa oh, wa hoo!

I purchased this CD when it first came out, solely for "Space Age Love Song." What a pleasant surprise it was to then find *6* great tracks on this CD. That's an amazing feat, considering that *most* albums have no more than two good tracks and the rest is "filler." I loved the four songs that were released as singles, plus the last two songs on the album. These guys know how to craft a song-- every single one is "music" rather than "noise". The best track, I thought, was the 12th/last one. I totally dig it!!!!! Awesome work, guys!!!! This is a band that transcends the 1990s because of its quality.

I listen to a lot of 70s and 80s stuff and until recently knew about A Flock of Seagulls only through their hit song... "I Ran". I decided to buy this CD and was absolutely stunned by their music.

Their songs, including the aforementioned, are an amazing mix of space age rock and synth. I particularly liked "Telecommunication" (which has a strange start but has a groovy beat to it), "The More You Live, The More You Love" (a fabulous song, as well as the extended version). "Wishing (If I Had A Photograph Of You)" is another classic song...a lovely catchy tune that is hard to forget and I just can't get enough of it.

It is not uncommon that groups as these still have a following after all these years. The 70s and 80s saw a lot of great music rolled out and some of the greatest bands to ever take the spotlight. Unfortunately, it is not the case these days. The talent seems to concentrate more on how shocking a video can be or how much skin one can show or how well a one can dance. How well one can sing or compose music is not so much of a criteria. And that saddens me. I doubt the songs rolled out today will ever be remembered 20 years hence.

Thus, it is not surprising to see bands as Duran Duran, Depeche Mode, The Cure, Dire Straits, Phil Collins, The Eagles, A-ha, U2, Eric Clapton, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd and the like still having a solid and faithful fan following. These were the groups that did all the hard work themselves, from writing their own music to playing the instruments and experimenting with different tunes, and most continue to do so even today. Sadly, in my opinion, the only experimenting today's groups do is with shock value.

I'm sure you get chills from hearing "I Ran," "Wishing (If I Had A Photograph of You)," or "Space Age Love Song" on the radio. But if these songs make you want to go out and buy the album(s) from A Flock of Seagulls, who made these songs, then their Greatest Hits CD is all you need! This includes other cool songs such as "D.N.A.," "Telecommunnication," and "Transfer Affection." Best of all, there's a longer version of "Wishing," which is like totally cool! I kid you not, A Flock of Seagulls truly have the Greatest Hits, and then some!

Let me point out right from the get-go, it saddens me that tens of thousands of people have probably thus far purchased this CD and have been so totally cheated, being that this compilation is sadly missing many, many great Flock tunes, especially perhaps their absolute best song, "Never Again (The Dancer)" from the album "Story Of A Young Heart". Also because thrown on this CD are some totally useless fillers (Wishing Extended? Who's That Girl? ...Why? WHY??!!) Regardless, this a pretty good overview of the 80's music from these four Brits from Liverpool. Of course the hits are here, and some other notable tracks, like the Grammy Award-winning rock instrumental, "DNA," featuring one of the best guitar performances by one of the best guitarists of the eighties, Paul Reynolds. I've read somewhere that Flock fans claim The Edge of U2 actually ripped-off Paul's sound and style of playing. (...) It's a shame that the Flock fizzled out and Reynold's didn't re-gain international fame. He may not have been an Eddie Van Halen, but Reynolds was (is) unique and innovative in his own way. Just give a serious listen to only the guitar parts on most of these songs, and you'll understand. "Wishing" in my opinion just doesn't hold up as well as "I Ran" or "Space Age Love Song." It's still a good song, but an updated re-release would be so much better, especially if that stupid, annoying "buzz" on every drum beat were taken out. It would have been nice too if this CD contained some B-sides, awesome in their own right, like "Windows", "Tokyo" or "Quicksand". And, a question about the cover art: why are there only three seagulls? True, Paul Reynolds left the band in 1985, but all the songs on this CD except for one have Paul on guitar, so there should be four seagulls, right? So, while I won't give this CD a glowing recommendation, all-in-all I believe it's a good START. What I do HIGHLY recommend is the band's debut CD (you can read my review of that one too), and either of two other compilations; "20 Classics Of The Eighties" (includes some rare B-sides, other tracks from "Listen" and "Story Of A Young Heart", the aforementioned "Never Again", and "How Could You Ever Leave Me"; about the only good song from 1986's "Dream Come True" album), or the UK version of Greatest Hits, which is a little more complete overall, and includes a couple of different B-sides than the "20 Classics" CD. One last thing: the final track on this CD is actually a very vague remix of "The More You Live, The More You Love" and is NOT the actual title track of the album "The Story Of A Young Heart". The remixed track isn't half bad, but it should have been listed on the packaging as such. Flock on!

A Flock of Seagulls are much more than their international hit "I Ran (So Far Away)". Although that song does rate among the best New Wave singles of its time period, so does the amazing "Space Age Love Song" (driving percussion and sparkling guitar riffs make it my favorite track on this CD).

The other tunes aren't exactly filler, either, with the award-winning "D.N.A.", chart-topping "Wishing", and quirky gems "Telecommunication" and "(It's Not Me) Talking" also included.

"The More You Live, The More You Love" is also a fine song, a catchy little number you may find yourself humming throughout the day.

All-in-all, this compilation is well worth its very reasonable price ("Space Age Love Song" and "I Ran" are worth the price alone).