Flock of Seagulls - The Best Of A Flock Of Seagulls
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CD Details
Artist: Flock of SeagullsBrand: FLOCK OF SEAGULLS
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 1991-02-05
Music Label: Jive
Soundtracks:
- I Ran
- Space Age Love Song
- Telecommunication
- The More You Live, The More You Love
- Nightmares
- Wishing (If I Had A Photograph Of You)
- (It's Not For Me) Talking
- Transfer Affection
- Who's That Girl (She's Got It)
- D.N.A.
- Wishing (If I Had A Photograph Of You) (Extended Version)
- The Story Of A Young Heart
Music reviews of The Best Of A Flock Of Seagulls
Music Review: Spans AFOS career well, but the songs aren't great
Rating: 2 Stars
"The Best of A Flock of Seagulls" is a greatest hits collection for the synth-pop group A Flock of Seagulls. Many people consider A Flock of Seagulls a one-hit wonder band because they basically had one hit "I Ran". However, this probably is an unfair statement because this group actually won a grammy award for the instrumental song "D.N.A." and they did score another hit back in England with the song "Wishing (If I Had a Photographh of You). The "Best of A Flock of Seagulls" contains all of these songs plus another 9 songs. It does an excellent job of capturing the hits from the group during the period of 1982 through 1985. This period also coincides with the peak period of the synth-pop era of the 1980s. As the synth-pop era began to fade into oblivion, so did A Flock of Seagulls.
For a greatest hits collection, there are probably two ways it can be judged. The first is on the actual music itself and how good the music sounds. The second way is simply on how good a job the collection compiles the hits. "The Best of A Flock of Seagulls" does a pretty good job at capturing the music from the various albums of 1982 through 1985. The collection takes songs from the first four albums. These albums are: the self-titled "A Flock of Seagulls; "Listen"; "The Story of a Young Heart"; and "Dream Come True" (each subsequent album listed seems to get harder to find - with the "Dream Come True" album almost impossible to get). The collection also does a nice job at balancing the music. But in the first area on how good the music sounds - this is where I have some doubts. It is not that I am anti-Synth-Pop. In fact there are many Synth-Pop bands I like. As for A Flock of Seagulls, they have some moments with some really good melodies, but despire the catchy lyrics, the vocal tracks leave a lot to be desired. I almost think while Mike Score has some interesting vocals, they just don't overwhelm you anywhere.
One place where A Flock of Seagulls really shines is in the instrumental area. D.N.A. is a track that does a great job at showing this. It won a grammy award for an instrumental for a reason - it is pretty good. "The Story of a Young Heart" is the title track from the third album. This song has a very good (long) instrumental intro. This song has more of a new-wave feel to it and it probably is an underrated song.
The hit song "I Ran" came along at the right time. This was a song from the self-titled debut album when the Synth-Pop movement was in full swing. This song seemed to fit the Synth-Pop movement like a glove - great keyboards and catchy lyrics. In addition the song had a perfect theme for the "Space Invaders" period - it dealt with a Close Encounter of the Third Time. "I Ran" seems to have all of the characteristics of a legendary song - and in some ways the song is legendary based on all of the reasons described. But there is one problem with the song - it wears on you and will wear on you pretty quickly. In some ways, the song is the epitomy of the one-hit wonder.
The "space theme" continues with the second song - "Space Age Love Song". This was the song that followed "I Ran" on the self-titled debut album. Although it has the "Space Age" in it, there really isn't anything related to the "Space Age" other than the sound. This song actually is pretty good. It is kind of the opposite of "I Ran" in one way - this will be the kind of song you listen to a few times and it will grow on you - although I wouldn't go as far to say that you will be addicted to this song. There will be some good drum (machine) sounds to close out the song. Again, the vocals don't impress. The third song (also from the self-titled debut album) "Telecommunication" continues the techo-theme. It is here where the album begins to wear on you.
The song "The More You Live, The More You Love" is from the second album, "Listen". This is an interesting song - it has a similar sound to "Space Age Love Song". This song will also slowly grow on you. Like "Space Age", I don't think this will be a song you get addicted to.
The collection contains two versions of "Wishing (I Had a Photograph of You)". The sixth track is the version of "Wishing" that was released on the "Listen" album. The 11th track is a nine minute extended version of the song (probably released as a 12" song). Each of these two versions have a nice catchy beat, but the vocals just don't overwhelm me in these songs. The extended version has some good instrumental pieces that the original doesn't have. As for the other songs on the collection, I wouldn't do handstands for them.
This collection has a horrible set of liner notes. All that is contained inside the liner notes is a list of the songs. The dates and producers of the songs are listed, but there is nothing that credits the album that the song is from. The center of the liner notes contain black and white photos of the four album covers. That is basically it. There is nothing else. No instrumental credits, no songwriting credits - the members of the band are not even listed. It would have been nice to have a small writeup about the band. All in all, while it does a nice job at putting a collection of the songs - this disappoints me, but more from the perspective of the band. You still may want to check this out if you really love the band.
Description of The Best Of A Flock Of Seagulls
12 tracks including I RAN. CRC version. Booklet has very slight 'pinch' mark on back page.Alternative Rock CDs
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