Ah, the ’80’s. Back when glamour ruled the scene and music played an intricate part in the way we lived our lives. A main contributor to this flashy music style was the fresh sounds of English Beat. Now we’re rounding out the year 2001 and English Beat has come out with a compilation of their greatest hits.
Not quite fitting in with the new wave genre nor hailed as your typical mod band, English Beat diversified themselves with a mix of catchy ska rhythms, a hip reggae beat, and some jazzy horns. Ok, so answer me this, how can a band (though unique in sound) with only about three chart-toppers find enough tunes to fill a greatest hits CD? To be honest, not very well.
“Mirror in the Bathroom” still rings with same haunting melodies as it did years ago and “I Confess” and “Save it for Later” still inflict that nostalgic feeling of what it was to hear a hit in the ’80’s. Other than that, it all comes through like a never-ending string of notes that sometimes go faster and sometimes go slower. True, the sound is original, but when it’s beat to death song after song, it starts to lose its appeal. In a nutshell – each song sounds the same as the previous one, which explains why there weren’t many other hits.
If you’re up for hearing some good old tunes that bring back the verve of the faster than furious decade of the 80’s, find something other than the couple-of-hit wonders whose innovative sound at the time is nothing more than that. It was what it was back then, but music’s come a long way and English Beat has missed a few to be entering the scene again and tacking all their songs on one album claiming it to be their greatest. I suggest leaving English Beat in the past where they belong and give us some greatest hits worthy of the title.
+ Ashley Collins
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