Customer Reviews

Wild Zone: The Essential Parachute Club

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The "Wild Zone" is the Parachute Club's Greatest Hits Collection. What is the Parachute Club, you ask? Only the best act to ever grace the airwaves in Canada!

Although largely ignored by American Radio Programmers, the Parachute Club hit the International Airwaves in the early 80s with their smash hit "Rise Up". They had a unique and fun-loving style of music (sort of dance/reggae)combined with lyrics that addressed serious concerns; women's right, gay rights, oppression of developing countries, etc. And like many bands of the 80s, they probably hit their commercial peak with their first single.

Their first album, "Parachute Club" contained the hits "Rise Up", "Alienation", and "Boy's Club", all of which contained sharp criticism of the status quo. "At The Feet Of The Moon" was their sophmore effort and it contained the title track and "Sexual Intelligence". Their third and final set "Small Victories" was co-produced and co-written by John Oates. It was their most polished effort and the highlight of their creativity. It fostered "Love is Fire" and "Love and Compassion". Unfortunately, at this point, the sales were dropping off and it was getting hard to support the seven member band.

The "Wild Zone" contains all the big hits and singles from their three albums, plus a few essential album tracks and a remix of "Rise Up". It also has a pretty comprehensive history of the band and final "Thank you" section written by Loraine Segato and Billy Bryans.

The "Wild Zone" is an excellent tribute to one of the greatest Canadian Bands ever assembled. A treat for music fans everywhere.

I remember hearing & seeing the video "Rise Up" for the first time on MTV back in the days when MTV still played music. The song blew my mind with its energy, its optimistic message for women's rights, and the band's incredibly tight musicianship. Had to run out immediately & buy the PARACHUTE CLUB cassette, and though it got a LOT of play on my decks, it's still in reasonably good shape; I'm glad it's still in my collection. I kept hoping against hope that this, their first album, would eventually find its way to CD, but to my knowledge, that doesn't seem to be the case. Most unfortunate. I'm glad that MTV gave them a fair amount of rotation and it saddened me that not enough people in in my homeland woke up to what an absolutely amazing band they were. I also regret never having had the chance to see them in concert. I didn't particularly care for their collaborating with John Oates on their follow-up album (their "redone" version of "Rise Up" was amateurish & completely unnecessary), but it never sullied my overall respect for them. Every song on the first album was catchy as hell--not a bad one in the bunch.

At any rate, I am glad that--if for no other reason than posterity--this CD exists. For those not familiar with their music, and who still have an appreciation for far-above-average 80s music, I urge you to check this band out. They were a truly unique collective of talented musicians who deserved far more recognition than they received.

I love and cannot say enough about the song at the feet of the moon its one of the greatest songs I've ever heard this band is just underated and diserves a hell of alot more respect for being at that time a teen band.

The Parachute Club is one of those bands that, after 20-something years, still sound fresh and new and exciting. The previous review sums up my feelings a bit, except that some of their most interesting and danceable work has been left off of this collection, making the Parachute Club fan and listener wonder who, exactly, chose the tracks for this compilation. "Freedom Song", from the "Feet Of The Moon" LP is a prime example. A staple of their live shows, this song brought the house down with heavy latin percussion. The studio version is no less stimulating. "Act Of An Innocent" and an abbreviated "Sexual Intelligence" single mix are also missing. And how about "Tobago Style"?, also from their first effort, also missing from this lackluster compilation. Those songs were way ahead of their time both musically and with respect to lyrical content. For anyone who needs a reminder as to what this fantastic group had to offer need to ignore this "greatest hits" CD and hunt for the original albums or CD's "Parachute Club" and "At The Feet Of The Moon." "Small Victories" can be overlooked with no problem; in fact, one listen to it, and it'll tell volumes as to why this band had to break up...albeit prematurely.