Customer Reviews

Wa Wa Nee

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The story began when I was in high school in Shanghai,China. At that time,foreign pop songs were not popular among the students, who took a fancy to the popstars from Hongkong or Taiwan. One day, I got a tape called The Best Of CBS Vol.3, and was really fascinated by a song titled sugar free performed by Wa Wa Nee.Since then, I had been trying to get this album.Now,13 years passed before my wish was finally realized. It was a fabulous album with the hits Stimulation,Australian No 2 and Sugar Free,a billboard top 40. You can never imagine the wonderful music was from an Australian pop group. This album really brings me back to the time when I tried the foreign pop music and gradually became a fan. It was such a sweet memory.Try listening this album,and you will really experience what are called the classic songs in the 1980's.

This CD is a winner all the way and apparently a hard to find cd. Back in the 80s I followed and collected everything that was ever realeased from the Australian band. "Sugar Free" and "Gone" are def listen to's. If you can actually find the extended dance mix of "Sugar Free" It sounds as fresh as it did back than.

This is a Great Band and i wish it was given more airplay then it did in the US, guess it was a case of other bands blowing up these guys where lost in the shuffle but either way this was a great Ablum took me years to be able to find it no one had heard of WA WA NEE and whats so funny was it was in the 80's movie Satisfaction with Justine Bateman. only other time i really heard it for a long time but either way this was a great band and there music was little ahead of its time, i mean it still sounds good and you can still play this at a party and it would still sound good and you can dance to it

God love this band
Bringing back memory's When I was 17 years old First night club , first car , and mullet
The good old days .

As good as I remembered it from when I was about 13 years old.
I loved Wa Wa Nee way back in the day and surprisingly the music is still kind of relevant today. Even with the overwhelming amount of keyboards. If someone released 'One and One' today as a new single I'm sure it would be a hit all over again.
Where were Wa Wa Nee when Boom Crash Opera, Noiseworks, UnCanny X-men and other bands of the like tried to reform on the back of an 80's revival.

Long Live the 80's and it's music.
R.I.P. Stretch Denim jeans and Denim Jackets.

I still marvel at the fact that an Australian duo, who loved Prince and all things funky, dared to make a funk/rock dance album in the midst of a music chart positively greased in MOR and pub rock sounds. The fact that millions of Aussies bought their records (no CDs then!) showed how ready the public were for something better. And for the record, this first album from Wa Wa Nee is a very good album.

But Australian music critics had other ideas than to let this band succeed. To the sound of sharpening swords the album was released, immediately causing a backlash. A single defender, the industry heavyweight and television presenter Molly Meldrum, was outspoken in his support, but the Neanderthalic Australian music press were almost unanimous in their public flogging of this talented band and their music.

Unable to take seriously any band producing dance music or pop, they disparaged and mocked Wa Wa Nee endlessly, creating almost a frenzy of hatred against the band. People soon became self conscious about liking the band or owning the album, singles sales dropped, and the band had to reconsider after the relative failure of their second but equally magnificent album.

The Americans had more taste though, having been accustomed to the genius of Prince, James Brown, and many other funksters, and sent the single Sugarfree into the Top 40, higher in the black music charts. Prince was reported to have been in attendance at one of their concerts.

Unable to take on an easily-influenced home public and a savage music press, Wa Wa Nee were effectively chased out of town and disbanded in 1989. I can only wonder at the quality of music they may have created in the more positive dance music environment that currently exists in Australia.

Some of Wa Wa Nee's best success came from this first album: 'Stimulation' exploded onto the Australian charts, reaching number 2 and becoming one of the year's biggest songs. The top 5 follow-up was the power funk/rock song 'I Could Make You Love Me'. Their most successful song in America, 'Sugarfree', reached number 10 in Oz, number 35 in the US. The last single from this album, 'One And One (Ain't I Good Enough)', hit number 19 in Australia with practically no airplay whatsoever. The album itself only charted highest at number 29.

If you are bored of the repetitive 80s fodder served up on radio stations today, buy this album and revel in its party feel. It was a new sound back in 1985/86, and while the synthetic drums and heavy synths sound somewhat dated today, the album is absolutely of it's time and rich in melody and quality. It's an 80s album you will feel instantly at home and familiar with.

But most of all buy it to annoy the Australian critics who still turn their now-wrinkly old noses up at the mere mention of Wa Wa Nee.

This album by underrated Australian band Wa Wa Nee is one of the best unknown pop-rock albums of the 80s. It's full of hard-rocking energy, but also has carefully-crafted melodies and enough synthesiser and keyboard work to please pop and R&B fans. I think "Jelly Baby" is the best song, but none of the songs are boring. Overall, a very solid album that was trampled underfoot by other albums that weren't quite as good (though I think it would be a lie to call anything from the 80s truly awful).