CD / DL
6 July 2018
Iconic New-Wave reform for their new album.
A Flock of Seagulls were a slightly odd thing. One of the most iconic groups from the 80s
they in reality had little commercial success in their native UK. Unbelievably, the song for which they are
remembered most, I Ran, failed to make the Top 40 on these shores despite being
released three times. Instead it became
a huge success in America where it entered the Top 10 in the Billboard,
Mainstream Rock and Dance charts helped no doubt with a promotional video which
was also picked up by the newly emerging MTV.
The track also gave the band a number one single in Australia.
The four members who initially recorded are back for
Ascension, an album of re-interpreted A Flock Of Seagulls tracks with backing
from the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra.
As you’d expect, there is quite a furore about the reunion of the group
that was torn apart by family feuds and nervous breakdowns and rightly so as,
despite their indifferent commercial success they did write some great and memorable
material.
Boasting that the ‘original members appear together
on record for the first time in thirty years’ may be a well-worded claim. There is no mention that the tracks have been
re-recorded or that the band have reformed in the studio, instead it does sound
as though the original tracks have been ‘merged’ with orchestral arrangements
from the Prague Philharmonic. Ascension however
is a good solid album containing their biggest hits and a few older album
tracks to boot,
The new track mentioned in the PR is in fact an
orchestral instrumental with the same title as the album. DNA, Modern Love Is Automatic and Man Made
originally appeared on the eponymously titled debut album and Electrics from
the 1983 follow up, Listen which also contained Wishing (the bands biggest UK
hit peaking at number 10) and Transfer Affection, both of which appear.
I Ran (So Far Away) remains a fine song to this day
perhaps endorsed by its appearance on several platforms over the years
including video games Grand Theft Auto and Guitar Hero and Cartoon Networks animated
Regular Show. The tale of alien
abduction and falling in love took the USA by storm with its incredibly
addictive hook and chorus, the two minute intro by the Prague Philharmonic adds
an air of grandiose to the proceedings and makes the song a dramatic spectacle. As an opener to the album, it really couldn’t
be much better – fans of the song beware of approaching goose pimples racing up
your arms!
Wishing (If I Had A Photograph Of You) personifies
the textbook pop song. It had it all –
dramatic intro, crashing percussion, infectious verses and a strapline that sat
just perfectly in the make-up of the song.
The orchestra adds drama to the proceedings with huge swathes of strings
spanning the poppy instrumentation and on Space Age Love Song (a criminally
underrated single) maybe the full class of the track is finally exposed.
Their haircuts may have preceded them but make no
mistake, in their short stay in the public eye A Flock Of Seagulls produced
some fine songs and for a little while, we were falling in love with a new Fab
Four.
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