Head First

Goldfrapp | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 23, 2010)
• Original Release Date: 2010
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Mute U.S.
• ASIN: B0036EBARO
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (72 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #22,427 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Ten years since Felt Mountain announced their arrival to the wider world, they've perfected the art of delivering the album we didn't know we wanted them to make. Head First is no exception. Head First is Goldfrapp's most powerful trip to date, a speedy rush of synth optimism, euphoria, fantasy and romance. With life affirming lyrics and stellar production it lifts off at full tilt and takes us on a journey to the heart of 2010. Fizzy with inspiration, the brand new single `Rocket' is a goose-bump brilliant tune destined to float out of radios across the land. The diversity, ambition and direction of the new album highlights Goldfrapp as true agenda-setters and modern British musical icons. Head First follows the critically acclaimed Seventh Tree, which saw the NME describe Goldfrapp as `having done the seemingly impossible and become even more fantasy fabulous' and as `sublime, anthemic pop' by The Independent. Head First is the latest in a brilliantly consistent body of work - from the captivating electronic balladry of Mercury nominated debut Felt Mountain and its distorted-dancefloor follow-up, Black Cherry to the glitterball glamour of Supernature which came out in summer 2005 and went on to sell more than a million copies worldwide.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Aural Candy, April 4, 2010

By 

sunspot42x "sunspot42x" (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Head First [+Digital Booklet] (MP3 Download)

Look, if you don't have a sense of humor or any twinges of nostalgia for the early '80s, avoid this album like the plague. It is not for you. But if you don't have an enormous stick up your rump, you're going to get a big kick out of Head First. Goldfrapp manage to successfully mine very-early '80s synth pop for what's probably the most listenable album of their career.

Now, one could certainly argue that we had enough of Abba, and ELO, and Kim Carnes, and Olivia Newton-John the first time around. But I have to admit that every single track on this record plasters a huge goofy grin on my face, as Goldfrapp mines -- in an entirely non-ironic way, I might add -- an astounding array of early-'80s pop conventions to produce an entirely charming (and infinitely catchy) work. And it's that combination of technical achievement and solid pop songcraft that makes Head First such an intense sugar rush.

Every track is good, but the lead single "Rocket" has to be one of the finest pop tunes anybody has crafted in ages, all Reagan-era double entendres wrapped around one hot hook after another. "Alive" is the other poppy highlight, with a glittering synth fill that could transport the listener straight to Xanadu. I had to check the mirror to make sure a Member's Only jacket hadn't materialized on my back. The compelling "Believer" strongly recalls the Kim Carnes single "Voyeur" (remember when she was at the pop vanguard?), while the title track plays like some long lost Abba hit. And of course who could forget the deliciously naughty "Shiny And Warm", or the scrumptious, Motels-esque "I Wanna Life"?

The album closes with the lovely, experimental "Voicething", but truth be told it's less impressive than the pop tracks that it follows. I've never heard anybody *successfully* recreate the essence of an era the way Goldfrapp have here on Head First. It's ultimately a loving tribute to the end of the great era of radio-driven pop music.

That market would soon fragment, thanks both to technology (the Walkman, the CD), and the rise of polarizing genres (rap, metal), all of which was supposedly an improvement according to music critics. Thirty years later, listening to Head First, I'm afraid I'd have to question that conclusion. Head First may be sugary enough to rot every tooth in your head, but a pure-candy diet has to be healthier than choking on the kind of nihilistic (or materialistic) crap that largely took its place over the past 20 years. Compared to that, Head First's sweet sounds of 1981 seem shockingly liberated, forward-looking and free. I'm not quite sure how they did it, but Goldfrapp have somehow made their trip back to 1981 the most subversive thing I've heard in a long, long time.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Stellar Album, May 10, 2010

By 

Rhys Crow (Cornelius, NC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Head First [Vinyl] (Vinyl)

Every work they put out is different from the last and this one is another another reason I love them. 'Rocket' is a modern type of 80's synth pop. I love it.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars amazing!, June 14, 2010

By 

Jeff Martin - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Head First (Audio CD)

I cant stop listening to this cd. I dont know what they did, but the sound quality of this cd is so amazing. it has to be played really loud to enjoy the crisp sound texture. My favorite track on there is I Wanna Life. I cant stop listening to that track. Believer is my second favorite. I feel like each cd Goldfrapp puts out, they get better and better. Its great to see a band like this grow forward and not sound like what is already out there.