Customer Reviews

MEN without HATS Collection

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Ivan and the crew burst onto the music scene from Canada with the Safety Dance. In the UK we heard the 3 minute version, while the US heard the 12" version as the norm. The former is definitely the more fun and bouncy (and shorter) version although the latter is very good as well. Both are gathered here on this collection of songs from the group. While in the US MWH had sporadic hits, the UK missed out with only Safety Dance hitting the charts. The problem in the UK seemed to be the release of the english/french speaking I Got The Message, which in one music mag was slated by Heaven 17 (ironically MWH were previously called this until the UK group got to keep the name). There were better songs on the first album to follow up with, but alas hindsight is a wonderful gift...

The 11 songs collected here (plus 3 12" versions) are gathered from the Folk Of The 80's EP, and the albums Rhythm Of Youth, Folk Of The 80's Pt III, Pop Goes The World and Adventures Of Men And Women In The 21st Century. The only letdown on this collection is the dreary Hey Men which is a very PC song about being in touch with your feminine side. All the rest have the bouncy keyboard and guitar sound that Men Without Hats were well-known for at their peak.

Particular favs of mine are Where Do The Boys Go?, Moonbeam and a particularly snazzy version of Roxy Musics Editions of You (Ivan gives a pretty good imitation of Bryan Ferry on this track too...). Anyone who wants to know what good 80's electronic music sounds like should add this to his or her hitlist. I Got The Message, do you want to hear it?

This album has several great tracks from their previous albums, but Collection barely skims the surface. I'd recommend spending the bucks on the available full-album imports through Amazon, or get the double-cd of Rhythm of Youth/Folk of the 80's(Part III) at Canada's 'Cheap Thrills' online record store.

Wild party music, Oh memories of the early 1980's....this was an interesting group to listen to. The title track and "Messiahs Die Young" are the best songs.
The music remains fresh and fun even 20 years later. :)

Like the group The Godz, this group is not to be taken too seriously.

Out of the songs in this CD, ''Living in China'' is most impressive to me. In the mid-80s, it was heavily played in discos in Sapporo, a big city in the northern Japan and where I lived in then, and everybody there loved to dance to it. That I think now is rather strange because its tempo is very fast (about 170bpm), compared with much slower bpm of the current average club-hits. In those days in Japan, fast pop&rock disco hits such as Private Idaho by B-52', Never Say Never by Romeo Void and Hyper Active by Thomas Dolby (faster than 200bpm!) were disco freaks' favorites. I also used to enjoy the super fast songs in the dance floor, but now am not sure of being able to move my body according to them...

MWH is most famous for The Safty Dance, of course. But this compilation showcases the other danceable, cheerful pop tunes like I Got The Message, that also caught on in discos in Japan, Pop Goes The World and Where Do The Boys Go?, two of which are included in the 12'' versions, too. Enjoyable for nostalgic 80s dance music fans.

This CD is a nice introduction to this band, and it also contains three dance / Extended versions of their great early 80's work.

But of course the big problem is that It's only about 59 minutes long and Oglio have simply ignored most of their latest work.... So in fact, if you like it, you will have to buy the four albums ....

Men Without Hats were so much more than "Safety Dance" and "Pop Goes The World" (remember folks, they hit in America twice...) This collection highlights the hits and underground favourites of this very overlooked Canadian band. Like most pop bands, there are plenty of danceable numbers here (good ones at that), but listen to the lyrics of "Hey Men" and "Messiahs" and you will hear social issues rarely heard in synthpop. Aside from the obvious hits, songs like "I Like," "Where Do The Boys Go," and "Moonbeam" are just fantastic. A worthy collection of great music, with a few extended mixes thrown in for fun.

Actually these guys could be called 3 hit wonders: The Safety Dance and Pop Goes The World were hit US singles, and the 12" single of Moonbeam hit high on the club charts. Unfortunately, the 12" single isn't here! And a lot of songs are missing from Men Without Hats' vague-concept album masterpiece Pop Goes The World (which even gets Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson's stamp of approval with a guest spot).

But then again, this disc does include the should-have-been single "I Like" and some other good tracks, and both versions of Safety Dance, so it's not bad.

I don't get the aggressive reviews of some of the 80's bands--"these guys only had one hit," etc. Who cares??!? In my opinion, throwaway, mindless synth-pop from the 80's is more enjoyable and has better songwriting than most of the crap that assaults my ears over the radio waves today (Creed, Linkin Park, insert name of other popular band here). And technically, these guys were two-hit wonders: "Safety Dance" hit #3, and "Pop Goes the World" clocked a respectable #20 on the Billboard charts.

These Canadian electro-popsters had a singer named Ivan Doroschuk with an instantly recognizable deep voice. Two 1987 tracks represented here, "Pop Goes the World," and "Moonbeam" sound like they featured a different singer, either that or he sang in a different, electronically-enhanced style?! Either way they're fun songs, albeit a bit sugary. With the cutesy music-box synth and the little girl doing the intro ("ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, pop goes the world, by men without hats") my five-year-old son asked me "Is this a baby song?" HAHAHA pretty bad when a five-year-old makes you realize your music is a guilty pleasure.

Anyhoo, the first five tracks here are from the debut album "Rhythm of Youth," which I still have on cassette. You don't get the songs "Ideas for Walls" (what an 80's title!!) or "The Great Ones Remember," but overall I'd say the compilation does capture the best five from that release. My personal favorite is "Living in China," with great lyrics that seem like a parody of political songs, and references to Gang of Four and Adam & the Ants (!!) Yes, kiddies, new wave heaven here.

Also worth mentioning is the Roxy Music cover "Editions of You," which they manage to pull off with keyboard-drenched aplomb. There's also extended/dance versions of three songs, in case you have a yearning to throw a silly 80's dance party. A solid collection, I'd say go for this one rather than the import "Greatest Hats." If you're an 80's purist, this one includes "Moonbeam," "Hey Men," and "Messiahs Die Young" instead of the songs off their final 1991 album. "Greatest Hats" does include a song called "Freeways (euromix)" which I'm not familiar with, though.

To all those who like to rip apart this band, don't take music so seriously. I remember when it was the ultimate in cool to draw the logo for the band on your junior high school binder. Of course, then it was also cool to wear your friend's borrowed bandanna around your neck with an Adam & the Ants "Prince Charming" pin attached (true story, people). Music should be fun and idiotic. Listen to the "Safety Dance" lyrics! Dance! Dance!!!

Everytime when I listen to that song on the radio it just cracks me up it's so funny. The beeps to it are funny. I just get a kick out of this song it's great. Men Without Hats is a good band.

A very comprehensive collection, but I still hope they release Rhythm of Youth on CD. That is by far their best album. I wore that tape out in high school.