Smashes Crashes & Near Misses: Best of

Records | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 18, 1995)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Blue Plate Caroline
• ASIN: B000000HQS
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #99,807 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #50 in Music > Indie Music > Alternative Rock > New Wave

Track Listings

1. Starry Eyes

2. Girl in Golden Disc

3. Teenarama

4. Up All Night

5. I Don't Remember Your Name

6. Girls That Don't Exist

7. Hearts Will Be Broken

8. All Messed Up and Ready to Go

9. Hearts in Her Eyes

10. Girl

11. Spent a Week With You Last Night

12. Held up High

13. Rumour Sets the Woods Alight

14. The Same Mistakes

15. Selfish Love

16. Not So Much the Time

17. Affection Rejected

18. Paint Her Face

19. Imitation Jewellery

20. Rock and Roll Love Letter

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars New Wave Pop at it's Best!, January 8, 2002

By 

highway_star (Hallandale, Florida United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Smashes Crashes & Near Misses: Best of (Audio CD)

I first heard The Record's hit "Starry Eyes" on FM radio in 1979 where the song got some decent airplay. I bought the l.p. that included this hit and loved the album. Most of the songs on this cd are from that l.p. plus The Record's follow-up l.p.. Songs such as "Starry Eyes","Teenanrama", "Rumour Sets The Woods Alight" and "Girl In The Golden Disc" are pure new wave power pop with extremely catchy melodies. If you liked groups such as "The Jags", "Split Enz", "The Producers", "Holly & The Italians" or "The Romantics" you'll love this collection. Highly Recommended!

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars intelligent power pop bubblegum, September 2, 2002

By 

John Lawler (College Station, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Smashes Crashes & Near Misses: Best of (Audio CD)

If The Records had been named the CDs or the DVDs, I guess they still might be around. Will Birch and John Wicks wrote snappy pop gems: wry, youthful sounding, but with a sneaky, clever angst-lite underbelly that most missed. While Starry Eyes was their only US hit, Birch and Wicks wrote a plethora of catchy songs with slightly off-center lyrics.

Teenarama, Starry Eyes, Up All Night, Girls that Don't Exist, All Messed up and Ready to Go, Girl, and Affection Rejected were from the first album: Shades in Bed in England and eponymous in the US. Songs from this album were mostly produced by Robert "Mutt" Lange and Tim Friese-Greene (who joined Talk Talk after their first album for It's My Life and their masterpiece Colour of Spring). One of the highlights of The Records debut was their *super* tight harmonies, and they shine here. Also featured from The Records first album is some of the most lyrical and strongest lead guitar accent work I've ever heard in pop music, provided by Huw Gower. It really gave the album some ooomph. Check Gower out on Girl, Affection Rejected, and Up All Night.

The second album "Crashes" was Album of the Month in Stereo Review. It is characterized by a little more mature and stronger songs than the debut LP, and includes the fabulous Girl in the Golden, I Don't Remember Your Name, Hearts Will Be Broken, the classic Hearts in Her Eyes, the Beatlesque Spent a Week With You Last Night, Rumour Sets the Woods Alight, and the driving anthem of frustration The Same Mistakes. However, Jude Cole's (who had a string of minor US hits in the 90s) guitar doesn't quite pack the punch of Gower's, and Craig Leon's production has a little less bite than Lange and Friese-Greene.

The third and final major release was "Music on Both Sides," which frankly only had enough good material for probably one side. Also, and inexplicably, the signature tight vocals of the Records were discarded for the harsh and off-key Chris Gent. Jude Cole left, and the revolving lead guitar role fell to Chris Whelan. Selfish Love, Not So Much The Time, and Imitation Jewellery were among the strongest cuts and are featured here. Rock and Roll Love Letter was a poppy song from the pre-Shades in Bed Days that sounds like the Bay City Rollers on vitamins. Unfortunately, the first two albums are not available on CD (as my vinyl copies wear down), so until then, this will have to do....

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Admirable and Dazzling Power Pop Bargain, September 17, 2000

By 

dev1 (Baltimore) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Smashes Crashes & Near Misses: Best of (Audio CD)

Judging from the popularity of the Records, they had a lot of crashes and near misses, but no smashes. Too bad - the group's British take on Power Pop is as melodic, bouncing and inspiring as that of the Raspberries, Badfinger and Big Star. Of the twenty tracks featured, there are no less than a half dozen delectable "should have been" AM hits. The guitars on `Starry Eyes' ring with the majesty of the Byrds. `Up All Night' and `All Messed Up And Ready To Go' recall Big Star with gorgeous multi-part Hollies vocal harmonies. I assumed that the bubbly `Hearts In Her Eyes' belonged to the Searchers, but the song is actually a Will Birch/John Wicks composition. For dynamic production and bombastic love songs ala the Raspberries - `Affection Rejected' could-have should-have been an Eric Carmen hit. For a band that recorded consistently melodious and energetic Pop for three years (1979-82), I'm disappointed that their work (like the Shoes) got buried by American Heavy Metal - such a loss. This Caroline CD duplicates the original 1988 UK release from Virgin. At seventy-four minutes, Smashes, Crashes and Near Misses is an admirable and dazzling Power Pop bargain from the band that "should have been."