Gag

Fad Gadget | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 17, 1991)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Elektra / Wea
• ASIN: B000008FGY
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #250,589 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Ideal World

2. Collapsing New People

3. Sleep

4. Stand Up

5. Speak To Me

6. One Man's Meat

7. Ring

8. Jump

9. Ad Nauseam

Editorial Reviews

UK pressing features a total of 10 tracks. Further details TBA. Mute. 2005. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Twisted melancholy at it's best, November 15, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Gag (Audio CD)

If you don't like "random" noise, keep away from this album. Fad Gadget is eccentric to the Nth degree, going so far as to TAR AND FEATHER himself for the cover art.

Some may know the song COLLAPSING NEW PEOPLE from dance clubs, but there are far more interesting songs, some being: IDEAL WORLD, JUMP and AD NAUSEAM.

IDEAL WORLD makes fun of the idea of living in a world where the sun never shines, and "no stress, no death, and when you fall, you wake and feel no pain." INDEED an ideal world! :) The opening guitars are WHINY, and the drums and a nice militaristic beat to it. FAD GADGET's vocals take over with a vengance.

Cans rattling and drums are the opening for JUMP, a rather humor look at why people condem themselves to a life of misery, all for the sake of "a better way of life." His vocal timing, for the chorus, is VERY interesting. There are zero guitars as far as I could hear, but plenty of GRATEY keyboards to make up for it.

AD NAUSEAM is latin for "to sickness and beyond." It reminds me of a very dark classical piece, with a double bass rumbling out the beginning of a tragic play, where the main person keeps pointing out his flaws, that will leave a bad taste in your mouth. And it sounds as if the KNIFE STABBING sound from the movie PSYCHO is part of the backround sound texture, which only adds tot eh discomfort, and uneasy feel the song portrays.

Each song is another mini-story. And each story from a different perspective, with varrying degrees of emotional intensity. From the rather bizarrely upbeat of ONE MAN'S MEAT, to the dour AD NAUSEAM, it's nearly a test of character listening to it more than 5 times in a row. :)

It's amazing how music from 1979 to 1984 was re-released in 1991, and AGAIN in 1994... :)

1979 - FIRESIDE FAVOURITES 1981 - INCONTINENT 1983 - UNDER THE FLAG 1984 - GAG

Now FAD GADGET goes by his given name, FRANK TOVEY, and is, THANKFULLY, still making music to this day. :)

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The darker side of synth pop, April 19, 2001

By 

Poor Napoleon (TX United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Gag (Audio CD)

The listener knows he or she is in for a surprise after seeing singer Frank Tovey covered in feathers on the front cover. It says something about insanity and madness, yet Tovey stands there with his arms up, embracing it all.

And he does embrace everything on Gag with a wit and humor all his own. The opening track Ideal World is a great synth romp with its loud roar of synthesizers and politically charged vocals. "The sun never shines in an Ideal World" is just a taste of Tovey's cynical verbatim that intrudes in nearly all of Gag's tracks.

Highlights include Ideal World, Collapsing New People, Jump, and the infectious Ad Nauseum, the album's finale, delivering a series of sick, twisted synthesized arrangements (recognizeable in many modern industrial recordings) mixed with Tovey's sardonic commentary about society, aptly summed up by one of Tovey's best lines on the album: "I choke on the gag, but I don't get the joke."

This one's worth it, not only for Tovey's true talent, a mixture of social illness and true ingenuity, but also for the influence this album and Fad Gadget's other works have had on other artists.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A spectacular album, June 28, 2000

By 

A. Clark (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Gag (Audio CD)

This is one of the most lovingly crafted albums ever produced and is the climactic culmination of Frank Tovey's late 70's-early 80's electronic, orchestral experimentation. Beautiful piano segments intertwine with hauntingly grating electonics and guitars to make each and every song a true gem. The vocals are reminiscent of Peter Murphy (although I think are even better). Lyrics focus on the plight of the little man, commiseration with his plight and spite for his lack of ability or will to do anything to change it. Like other eccentric artists, Fad Gadget transcends genres-to label this as industrial, goth or new wave would be missing the point entirely. Unlike some other eccentric artists (Peter Murphy, David Bowie for instance) Fad Gadget is entirely unrecognized for their genius. To be sure, this was never geared for radio airplay, guess the little man doesn't want to hear it as it is. I suggest buying this and any other of their albums (esp the Singles Collection to witness the origins of this masterpiece) as they are long since out of print and may well disappear forever.