Mars Needs Guitars!

Hoodoo Gurus

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Original Release Date: 1985
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Elektra / Ada
• ASIN: B000005IRT
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #61,655 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great album by one of the original alternative bands, January 21, 2001

By	D. Keating (Bristow, VA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Mars needs guitars was one of my favorite albums when I was in high school. I wore out the tape playing it in my car. It is a classic for fans of alternative bands from the eighties.

The best two tracks on the album are "Bittersweet" and "Wipeout". The rest of the material on this album is also strong, and lets the band display a wider array of musical talent than their first album (Stoneage Romeos). I saw the gurs live when they toured for this album (they actually opened for the Bangles, and I think I was one of three guru fans in the crowd), and all the songs sounded great live and loud. With that in mind, I recommend listening to this album on a loud stereo, preferably with the volume high, to get the full effect. It just doesn't sound the same on a walkman.

I highly recommend this album to any Hoodoo Guru fan if you don't already own it. For anyone not familiar with the band, they have a very guitar based garage band sound (similar to the Replacements). So, if you like the Replacements, the Alarm, REM, or the BoDeans, you will most likely also enjoy this band. Enjoy.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The party standard of Cedar County in 1985, January 6, 2002

By	Daniel Kruse (Hartington, NE United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This album is one of those rare beauties that gets better everytime you hear it. I know for a fact that this thing was probably played a half million times in Cedar County, NE over the course of 1985-1988. "The Other Side of Paradise" is one of the most underrated love songs of the 1990's. The remainder of the album is anything but shabby. There was the beautiful"Show Me Some Emotion", the rollicking "Like Wow Wipeout" and the guitar friendly "Bittersweet". How did Poison get to be rich and famous when bands like this were struggling? It's a damn shame, because the Gurus were way beyond cool and possessed a very knowledgeable memory of the American pop lexicon. They were what a lot of bands could only hope to be. Buy this and you'll be a happy music camper. I remember some crazy makeout sessions while listening to this album. All sexual nostalgia aside, it's still a great album.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rock and Roll, July 11, 1999

By A Customer

Simple and sweet. Hate to sound like a old-fogey, but the so-called rock bands of today could learn a lot about how to write killer power-pop songs from this album. The only thing better is Stoneage Romeos.