Men Without Hats - C/D? S/D?

Well, Milton is the one who mentioned "Things In My Life" so my inspiration here is really all his fault, but never mind.

Classic except for Sideways (and I haven't heard what came after that). In The 21st Century is kind of underrated. And Bimble, please tell me that you love "Moonbeam" or I will be very sad.

Away from Voivod used to drum with them (though not on their classic recordings).

Hmm...actually I don't think I know Moonbeam, dlp9001. I'll check it out.

Ooh, I'm somewhat envious since that means you probably haven't heard the full "Pop Goes The World" album, which means you're about to discover one of the greatest concept albums of the 80's!

Anyway, "Moonbeam" should have been the big single from that album.

I've been told that there are interesting plot overlaps between "Pop Goes The World" the album, and the Phoebe Cates/Emmanuel Beart (yum) movie "Date With An Angel" (which features "Pop Goes The World" on the soundtrack). Haven't yet managed to rent the movie...should put it on my queue now.

"Pop Goes the World" was the very first song I ever loved, so Men Without Hats are pretty damn classic in my book.

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g106/Discofrisbee/51336T4RPCL_SS500_.jpg

woah, hatted guy's jacket is awesome

Hahaha oh my god, what a funny looking sleeve!

Yeah, I haven't heard the whole Pop Goes The World album, dlp9001 but I'm going to give it a try, soon.

you know how sometimes a random song will come up on shuffle and you'll go "wow, right now at this very second, this is the greatest song in the world"?

right now at this very second "I Got The Message" is the greatest song in the world

again, "I Got The Message" is the greatest song in the world

Woah I've never heard that before - awesome! Pop goes the World is all time for me.

Wow how did I never end up on this thread before?

Love these dudes, and was pretty sure I hulked out about how all of pgtw is like a formative perfect album for me on ilx somewhere, must be a different thread

Yeah I think we've both posted on a another M w/o H thread. Good to cover all bases though. ;)

"I Got The Message" is always the greatest song. "Rhythm of Youth" is such a good album. It has a secret contemplative side in addition to a crazy hook per song ratio.

you know, I really love "Living In China" but I think it's kind of indefensible, particularly in 2011

Admittedly I liked it better when I thought the chorus went "I love the people that are living in China" than "All of the little people living in China" but the nostalgia link is incredibly strong on that song.

also "Ideas For Walls" kicks more ass than I remembered

(guess who's been spinning the Rhythm of Youth reissue)

I Got The Message And The Message Is Clear

I really really really really wish I could remember the next line.

lol

Men Without Hats brings back alot of memories for me. The band was from Montreal, where I often visited when I was a kid to visit family (a two-day drive from my part of the US). I had a teenage cousin whom I stayed with when I was there in early 1980, and he played for me a 10" EP from a local indie band he really dug - Men Without Hats. The two sides of the record were "THIS SIDE" and "(T)HAT SIDE", the former embossed with their no-hats logo, the latter with the same logo but without the slash. He loved the song "Antartica". It sounded insane to me - synth-pop simply hadn't happened yet in the US. That was the last time I heard of them until about three years later. It was also the last time I saw his dad - my uncle and my mom's brother - before he died of a heart attack at 50.

A few years later, there was a hit song all over the radio, "The Safety Dance", from a "new" band called Men Without Hats. All I could think was "hey, I heard these guys three years ago, this is old stuff, why is it only now becoming a hit?" I later learned they had in the interim signed with a major label, obtained distribution outside of their native Quebec, flushed out their 10" to a 12" album, and finally obtained a US release. It still sounded up to date.

So:

Men Without Hats Announce Release

of New Album

Love In The Age Of War

Out June 12th on Cobraside Records

June 5th on iTunes

It has been 30 years since Men Without Hats asked the world to dance (if they want to), and this year the Montreal New Wave group will ask the question again with the release of their highly anticipated new album Love In The Age of War (out June 5th on iTunes and everywhere June 12th on Cobraside Records).

Produced by Dave “Rave” Ogilvie (Skinny Puppy, Marilyn Manson), Love In The Age of War features charismatic front man Ivan Dorschuk (voice & electronics), his brother Colin Doroschuk (vocals), as well as Lou Dawson (vocals & live keyboards), and James Love (guitars).

Love In The Age of War will mark their first album release in albums 10 years, featuring 10 original songs written by Ivan Doroschuk. In 2011, Men Without Hats soared back into the scene with their breakout performance at SXSW, followed by an extensive, well-received North American tour.

Since forming in the late 70's, the band released six studio albums – having songs featured on hit TV series such as Glee, The Simpsons, Futurama and Family Guy. Their 1980's hit “The Safety Dance” reached Top 10 in the US, the UK and 25 other countries around the world. In 1983, they picked up a Grammy nomination for Best group. Sure, you can still dance if you want to and Love In The Age of War will give you 10 more reasons why.

Tracklisting for Love In The Age of War

Devil Come Round

Head Above Water

Everybody Knows

The Girl With The Silicon Eye

This War (Intro)

This War

Your Beautiful Heart

Live And Learn

Close To The Sun

Love’s Epiphany

Love In The Age Of War

WHAT THE HOLY SHIT

PAGING JJJUSTEN

That was about all of our reactions! Production by Rave? Gimme.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bG5_A9t-Mo

haha those drums are terrible

O_O

only someone who wasn't completely immersed in Rhythm of Youth would criticize the drums on this

btw, HOLY SHIT

O_______O

Oh, I listened to it a lot but it has been a long long time... xp

jjjusten OTM

Hmm. It's a bit of a monochromatic listen so far, unfortunately; I guess I was hoping for more of a relative range like Pop Goes The World does. That said, each individual song is great, so the trick might be hearing this in bursts.

I'll rep hard for half of Pop Goes the World and Rhythm of Youth. "I Got the Message," in particular, is as good as any pop song.

The new album though? Tried a couple times... not feeling it at all.
Which tracks are the best way in?

Title track, "Head Above Water" -- "Close to the Sun" is the only song that actually slows down a bit, to its credit.

I am two songs in and really enjoying it so far, but these guys basically pander to my musical tastes so no shock there

I'm a complete sucker for the MWH thing at its best, but Ned's right. A lot of this album is frankly too samey.

5 songs in and I am sort of feeling like they recorded 3 albums and then skimmed all of the songs off of them that sounded alike and put them together in one package

it's very OTM that the songs are good in isolation but this is never going on repeat like Rhythm of Youth or Pop Goes the World did

amazing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_og3RttS0Y

^^ perfect song

I'm liking "Everybody Knows" the most right now (it sounds like it could have been left over from PGTW) though the album opens awfully strong. I think I may play around with resequencing it to see if that improves it...

Was listening to their back catalog for comparison. "In the 21st Century" might be their 3rd (or 4th) best, but it's really pretty interesting. I love how one minute they're doing Abba, the next T. Rex, then Mott The Hoople (that would be "Everybody's Selling Something") and so on. It's kind of doomed to be overlooked, unfortunately. I'd be happy if they someday revisited that weird mid-point between synth pop and triple-guitar attack...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jivSbcj82tA

Communication is hard to maintain
When the clothes that you're wearing are hurting my eyes