Business As Usual

Men at Work | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 11, 2003)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B000088E77
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #23,518 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #68 in Music > World Music > Australia & New Zealand

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very cool - but not perfect!, December 16, 2003

By 

Ian Johnston "teknokon" (Independence, MO USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Business As Usual (Audio CD)

I'd just like to say that Business As Usual was one of the formative influences in my life when I was growing up. I loved Men at Work then and still do. This album never fails to conjure up the nostalgia for my early adolescence with great tunes, quirky lyrics, and Colin Hay's incredible vocals. Overall, it's a tremendous album, which deserves much respect.

Naturally, then, I was excited to see it remastered with bonus tracks from the band's "Golden Era", and snatched up a copy right away. The new remastering is excellent and it is superior in sound quality in many ways to the original CD that has occupied my player for so long. The liner notes are helpful and give a nice retrospective for fans of the band, along with a lot of unique pix of the lads.

Which brings me to the extra stuff. The bonus cuts are a very cool and welcome addition. I loved Crazy and F-19 (an experimental ditty if there ever was one), but was frankly puzzled by the addition of the live tracks from the "Brazil" album. Why? I was hoping to get live performances from the "Business as Usual" era, but was instead confronted with two tracks that I already have on another disc! This was somewhat disappointing to me. Why not include live performances from 1981 or thereabouts instead of the reunion concert tracks? Another glaring omission is the b-side "Anyone for Tennis?" which should be on this disc but is sorely lacking.

All that aside, the two 1980s-era b-sides and the remastering make this a must-have for any MAW fan. Enjoy!

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars World-class pop., March 29, 2003

By 

M J Heilbron Jr. "Dr. Mo" (Long Beach, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Business As Usual (Audio CD)

The phenomenal ascent of Men At Work had to be seen to be believed. I was present at their Universal Amphitheater concert during one of the first weeks this album was number one, and I saw a group of guys completely taken aback, but genuinely appreciative towards our applause and enthusiasm.
In retrospect, their first album is world-class pop music. It had a definable, unique sound...borrowed from a few sources, sure, but gelling into a wholly original package. The singles were marvelous radio singalongs, but the rest of the album has variety, depth and some impressive musicianship!
The remastering has resulted in the crisp sonic reproduction of a sound that will take you back twenty years, in the time span of a sax break. If the name "Men At Work" gives you any sort of fond recollections, this will be a most worthwhile purchase.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very good package but could have been great, August 18, 2008

By 

StatMan89 - See all my reviews

This review is from: Business As Usual (Audio CD)

I give this five stars for the performance--I still enjoy listening to MAW after more than 25 years. The original band had great chemistry and "Down Under" has joined "Waltzing Matilda" as an unofficial Australian national anthem. I give the programming 3 1/2 due to the omission of the B-side "Anyone for Tennis" (I had to rip it from my old 45--check it out on YouTube) and the inclusion of live tracks from the still available "Brazil" album. Contemporaneous live tracks would have been much more enjoyable, and there were a few live songs that never made it to record.

Contrary to the notes, "F 19" was released in the US--just barely. It was originally the B-side of "Be Good Johnny," the band's third single for CBS Australia. That single was never released in the US, but "F 19" finally appeared stateside in 1983 on a 12" with "It's a Mistake" and a remix of "Who Can It Be Now?" I know because I have one. Justice was done here, because "F 19" was a staple of MAW's stage act and is easily their best instrumental.

And whoever mastered this overmodulated it to hell--it just about blew me out of my chair when I first played it. Once I ran it through an MP3 editor and cut the gain a bit, it was fine.