Customer Reviews

Fad Gadget by Frank Tovey

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

 

 

At first glance, this collection doesn't make sense - even to a fan of Frank Tovey. Unreleased tracks, unearthed demos and a slew of vintage clips for a performer who never saw the success of many of his peers. Director Alex Proyas (The Crow) has a few words. There are interviews with members of Depeche Mode and Anton Corbijn, included in a lovely hour long documentary. A set of this love and magnitude for the cult singer just doesn't make sense. Then you open up the sleeve notes and a vintage photo of Frank wearing a t shirt that advertised the newly formed Mute Records and it all comes together.

This set celebrates not only Frank's ability as an artist, but his contributions to popular music. As stated in the documentary, Depeche Mode was opening for Fad Gadget in Mute's beginings. When we see Frank's on stage antics (tar and feathers, shaving himself in unsuspecting places), we realize that Frank was more than another musician - but his music is not to be understated here. The set is the first representation of Frank's full career, even his post Fad days, where he was something of a folk singer. Also included is a new track, Sleeper, recorded in 96 and seems to be influenced by the trip hop era somewhat.

People catching Frank for the first time will be amazed at seeing a very complete, chronological set of tunes as well as concert performances. The synth driven material is the best on here, but his work with the Pyros was great too, and the best material is chosen for this package. Synth pop fans wanting to catch something of a darker, more energetic version of something along the lines of DM should love checking Frank's material out, while fans will be salivating over the wealth of rarities here.

It's also worth noting that this is one of the best assembled retrospective packages I've seen and clearly a lot of digging was done to find some of the best available material out there. The DVDs are especially noteworthy with complete concerts from two different decades, a slew of rare performances and complete promos as well. A top notch collection coming from any artist.

Frank Tovey was one of the most unappreciated artists of our time. He was an extremely diverse and multi-demensional arranger of sounds, and talented song writer. Martin Gore and Dave Gahan of Depeche Mode both cite Frank as an influence in their careers.
Most of the videos, and especially the live performance videos, are obviously low-budget. But this 2DVD/2CD set chronicles Frank (Fad), from his beginings, to his abrupt conclusion in the early 2000s. Whether making strange electronic pop tunes, or creating catchy folky songs, he consistently demonstrated brilliant song writing and arranging talents.
I, for one, wish the rest of the world had had the fortune of knowing this brilliant artist's work.
May he rest in peace.

This man gets the attention he deserves...sort of. I was really happy to see a box set release of various songs and videos. And everything in this set turned out amazing. So much great stuff, and I recommend it to anyone who's a fan, or even just beginning to look into Fad Gadget/Frank Tovey... However, I think I would have liked better maybe a 4 disc comprehensive set of ALL songs he has done. The 2 CDs include nice demos and fan favorites and a few others, but if this is supposed to a retrospective set, it should have included a lot more. It would have been more expensive, but I would have paid for a nice set of all his material, as its not too easy to get your hands on much else of his in stores. But back to the point, this set is AWESOME, the videos are worth the price alone! Get it!

Frank Tovey must have had many friends and admirers as it is demonstrated in this wonderful tribute released about four years after his sudden death in 2002. The DVDs include an excellent documentary, television promos and live performances. The documentary discusses his entire career and will probably give the viewer who is not familiar with his material after dropping the Fad Gadget name a greater appreciation and curiosity for his folk music era. While the promos and live footage documents his more popular offerings, the CDs explore other avenues of his music--works he did as Frank Tovey and the Pyros, collaborations, demos and unreleased tracks.

Those who only want the electro-pop tracks Fad Gadget was most known for might do well to purchase the 2001 compilation "The Best of Fad Gadget." On disc 2 of this set there is a "Top 5" collection of tracks as voted by fans on the Mute website which is the closest to a greatest hits element to this box set: "Back to Nature," "Ricky's Hand," "Lady Shave," "Collapsing New People," and "Love Parasite." This reviewer would replace "Love Parasite" in favor of "Life on the Line" or "Luxury." "The Best of..." has studio versions of those tracks. Other selections on the CDs are not the obvious but give an excellent sample of the breadth of his musical creativity with the folk tunes "The Liberty Tree," "Cities on the Plain," and the cover of "Sam Hall" (blows away Johnny Cash's version and any other version this reviewer has heard). The demos followed by the released versions is a nice touch to hear how the creations of songs progress. The demo for "Back to Nature" is, according to the booklet, the actual recording of the dusty audio cassette of Fad Gadget's first demo created literally in a cupboard in 1979 and given to Daniel Miller of Mute Records.

Of the CDs, the song that stands out is "Swallow It." It is much better than the "Swallow It (Regurgitated)" version on "The Best of..." It is of the style of John Foxx's brilliant Metamatic album. A track from his experimental work with Boyd Rice is included which did not use any conventional musical instruments but everyday items laying around the studio. The unreleased tracks were recorded in 1996 and 1999. "A Place with the Pigs" is an experimental, noisy instrumental with pig sounds as the title suggests. "Sleeper" is raw and buzz saw-like at times but is a pleasant dark track. "Soroguai" is an excellent tribute contributed by Temple X, the band Tovey produced and his support band on his final tour.

The documentary on the first DVD is excellent and those interested in the career of Fad Gadget/Frank Tovey will probably watch it numerous times. It includes interview clips with many who had worked with Tovey through the years: Dave Gahan and Martin Gore of Depeche Mode, journalist Paul Morley, writer Edwin Pouncey, Mute Record's Daniel Miller, keyboardist Dave Simmonds, percussionist Nick Cash, backing vocalist Joni Sackett, photographer of those iconic shaving cream and feather images Anton Corbjin, Boyd Rice, members of the Pyros and the young band Temple X who Tovey produced and invited to support him on tour. The documentary follows Fad Gadget from his early days using an ironing board and other primitive equipment which created a mixture of danceable pop and avant-garde. His performing mishaps during his fearless live shows are discussed. Rice talks about their work together on "Easy Listening for the Hard of Hearing."

The making of "Gag" in Berlin is described as well as what inspired some of his writing (i.e. the Falkland War and "Under the Flag"). A great appreciation is shown for his acoustic folk work after dropping the Fad Gadget label. Viewers get to watch him create a song acoustically and then bring it to the studio for his band to polish up. A short film of Tovey describing what inspired the Grand Union album is included which even shows the fifth floor where Tovey grew up and almost jumped out of at 3-years old. Hopefully the out-of-print Grand Union will be re-released. The main documentary goes full circle with Fad Gadget opening for Depeche Mode in 2001 as they had once opened for him. The documentary ends with reaction to his sudden death.

The television performances of "Life on the Line" (is that his wife and child?), "Collapsing New People" (with the bottles and feathers), "Luxury," "Luddite Joe," and his folk videos are welcomed additions. This reviewer, however, would have preferred the television performance of "Ricky's Hand" with the drills to the Neon production. Of the live performances, it is quite stunning how rough, energetic, and almost back to nature bestial "The Garage 2002" show was. It makes the mid 1980s performances look downright tame. Check out the 1984 performance of "Lady Shave." You see a little "sump'm, sump'm" when he reaches in his trousers. On that note, this CD/DVD set is an excellent, um, extension of "The Best of..." because there is not a lot of repeat tracks. It is highly recommended for those who want to learn more about the innovative and diverse musical career of the electronic pioneer.

I bought The Fad Gadget box set on a whim, I had never heard of Frank Tovey or his alter ego, Fad Gadget. What I got was an amazing array of early techno(ala' Gary Numan etc). Lots of demos and the performance DVDs are worth the price alone. Tovey did some crazy stuff, covering himself with feathers and insanely work the stage like a caged animal. Enjoy!!!