Customer Reviews

Flock of Seagulls - Greatest Hits Remixed

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

 

 

I work in a record shop, so when I read news a month ago that this was being released I immediately began to look forward to it. However, I was 100% let down before the first track was over because this album does not include remixes of the orginal recordings but remixes of newly recorded vocals by Mike Score. Nowhere on the packaging is this specified, so beware that that is what you are getting. If you must check this out yourself, I think you'll be disappointed with the difference between then and now. It definitely wasn't worth the money I paid for it.

Well, I must say to start off, if your not a fan of 'drum and bass' or 'jungle' or 'techno' type sounds, DO NOT BUY THIS ALBUM.

Don't get me wrong, the remixes on this cd are AWSOME. The "Nightmares" remix (amoung many others) is just awsome. The only thing is most of the remixes are done in 'ambient/drum&bass' style. So if you don't like the sound of that you wont like the album (at least I don't think so). But if your a huge AFOS fan, you'll probably like the remixes regardless.

If AFOS weren't around in the 80's and came out in the 90's, this is what they'd sound like.

Overall, its a definate buy for any AFOS or jungle/drum&bass fan!

A new twist to already fantastic songs. For those Flock fans this is a new sound for some old songs. For someone who has never heard these songs before these remixes fit in with todays sounds easily. A good all around sound!

This is a serious contender for the worst remix album ever released. At least the equally poor OMD remixes had the Moby reworking of 'Souvenir' as a saving grace, (and the original vocals)! Every track here is an insult to the original, and to the art of remixing itself. Think of that vocal/lyric/synth hook you loved so much from the original track. Well, its long gone now. If you're that desperate to hear the songs that you've loved being mutilated or sacrificed, rent 'The Wedding Singer' - at least there'd be a few laughs in store...

A compilation of very noisy updated remixes of these classic 80's tracks that should have been left alone. Unless you are into the trend of very loud sped-up annoying sounding pseudo industrial that became popular in the mid to late 90's then you will not appreciate what they did to these songs. Almost all of them have that unimaginative pounding beat that never changes throughout the entire 3 to 5 minutes of each track. I listened to it one time and realized that I never needed to hear it ever again. I put it up on Discogs for sale the following day.

Not good for 80s sound fans. The remixes are not the original ones and if I was a DJ I could not play any of these tracks.

They're all rubbish, they sound absolutely awful even the whissing and the the more you live versions are an insult to the originals.

What a waste of money!

J.C

I purchased this CD thinking it was the original vocals. WRONG! The music has been redone by another artist and I purchased this CD thinking I was getting the original music by the artist. Boy was I taken. No where on the CD cover does it mention the mixes were not originally by the Flock of Seagulls. Very disappointed and a waste of money. I still have not found what I am looking for!

The early 80’s was a time when disco was on it’s last breath and a new form of music was becoming stylish in the underground. It was a glamorized hybrid of dance music and punk rock which culminated in what became known as New Wave. MTV eventually sprang up and dominated the newly formed cable television airwaves, creating musical superstars overnight. It was a time of glam, glitter, angst and jubilation. We were guaranteed fun nights and high technology. It was the first time that Levi’s actually had the lowest sales ever on jeans simply because thrift stores sprang up and supplied the clothing needs of the multicolored hair generation. People creatively ripped, shredded or otherwise augmented styles of recycled clothing from a long dead past in order to recreate a fashionable trashy chic image on a super tight budget.

Import 45’s from England were a hot commodity for those who could afford them. Those who did, held onto them as if they were priceless jewels. It was the time just before the AIDS crisis dominated the fears and sorrowful losses of the nation and around the time of the conflict with the Shah of Iran. This was the birth of the New Wave era, and a new band with an import 45 called “I Ran” with its cartoon-like paper cover, popped up in small circles as a perfect pun for the political upheaval at the time.

A Flock of Seagulls heralded this birth along with other legendary bands such as Squeeze, The Split Enz, The Go-Go’s, and The B-52’s to name a few. Before that, artists such as Kim Carnes, Billy Joel, Blondie, Olivia Newton-John and even Hall and Oates, toyed with this new sound, but no major artist actually came to the forefront as the leader of the new movement. A Flock of Seagulls, a band with the odd name and the gravity defying hairstyles ushered in the marriage of music, technology and space travel ideation while other bands were singing about love and loss yet again, only with a new wave musical cloak. Labels such as Jive, IRS and Virgin began to dominate the market upon this explosion, usurping Casablanca and Prelude’s 10 year reign as top selling labels during their disco years. The market was ripe for change and the media moguls jumped on the next trend like a hot potato, pushing out bands to coincide with the heavy MTV video rotation that was to follow, causing sales to skyrocket like never before.

A Flock of Seagulls somehow had a sense of where we were going as a society and it was reflected in their many songs. Keep in mind that the band arrival in 1982 was long before cable TV was in every home, microwave ovens were just becoming popular, cell phones were non-existent and the CD was still 2 years away from being born.

As quickly as the era was ignited, the media moguls strong armed the next trend, forcing many bands to go bankrupt, disband and some to fade away to obscurity. The times were changing, people were dying, money was getting tighter and living conditions were high tech but with a new found sense of fear for human interaction due to the AIDS crisis that dominated the news. Rather than continue to feed the masses any music for hope, the labels ushered in harsher music to tap into the anger and alienation that was reaching rage like proportions.

A Flock of Seagulls, however, remained a survivor in the changing climate and continues to tour right up to the present day. Band creator and lead vocalist Mike Score has changed the line up a few times over the past 18 years, however new and old fans alike can immediately recognize the trademark guitar licks that became their sound.

The band derived it’s name from the story “Jonathan Livingston Seagull” by Richard Bach, an adult inspirational fable about a Seagull that went against the tide to fly higher and achieve new heights. Like their namesake, A.F.O.S. saw the ugly underbelly of the music industry, but undaunted, persevered and kept abreast with the changing format for delivering music to the audiences. In addition to touring, the bands music can be heard on the internet and some of their former albums or compilations thereof have been pressed into CD and DAM CD format.

It is only fitting then that Cleopatra Records released a remix of A Flock of Seagulls greatest hits, combining yet again the visions of tomorrow with the musical visionaries today. On this release, some of the underground’s hottest artists forge club friendly industrial beats to classic songs. The songs are stripped of their original sound and given a more mechanized space age effect that is right up to the minute. It reflects the growing tide towards personal mechanization and the reliance upon machinery in the modern age which often causes mankind to wander the world on a lonely endless flight to some uncharted shore. Some purists who are familiar with the original work may balk at this updating, however, this CD has introduced one of the 80’s greatest bands to a generation who weren’t even born at the height of the Seagull’s career. This landmark work has in essence helped to fuel a new generation desiring the music from our not too distant past, breathing new life into other bands who disappeared before their time, once again placing this band as a trail blazer on the musical frontier.

It is by no accident that the largest percentage of fans are coming from the gothic and industrial underground. This scene has often been at the cutting edge of introspective art in a world that is dark and alienating, not unlike some of the Seagulls lyrics. 80’s nights are becoming more popular around the globe with the club kids intrigued with the correlation between the music of the era and the goth hybrid that developed right afterward.

Whether one is an old fan or new, this remix project is recommended for its timeliness and great dance beats. It remains and additional testament for a band who reflects its namesake, ever striving for a higher ground and flying above the others, undaunted by obstacles and changing climates.