A Flock of Seagulls “A Flock of Seagulls”

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A Flock of Seagulls “A Flock of Seagulls”

Posted 04 Dec 2011 in 80s, Albums of 1982, Albums of the 80s, Dance, New Wave, Techno

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#569 in the Series) is the self-titled debut from A Flock of Seagulls.

A Flock of Seagulls were always one of my favorite “new wave, techno-pop,””what have you” bands of the early eighties. Why did I like them? I think it was because I always felt a little connection to the progressive rock bands that I was listening to at the time.

The biggest difference was the obvious, most of their music was played over a straight up dance rhythm, but I really believe that in the body of a dance band layed the heart of a prog band.

Why do I feel this way? The main reason would be guitarist Paul Reynolds. Give him a listen and tell me that he didn’t listen to hours and hours of Steve Hackett when he was honing his craft. I think that he could have just as easily stepped into bands like Genesis or Yes or King Crimson and fit in well. He also played with a feel that was much more than a “look how many notes I can play in a hurry” type of style.

The other thing that tells me that there is some prog-rock thoughts here was the instrumental pieces. We had some long instrumental sections aside from one song that was all instrumental, “D.N.A.” Lastly, the album was produced by Mike Howlett and Bill Nelson. Howlett was once part of Gong, and you know Bill Nelson from Be-Bop Deluxe.

One of the things that helped A Flock of Seagulls was also the thing may have hurt their career. That would be MTV. They were part of that first wave of bands that really took advantage of the new musical outlet On the other hand; their “wild-hair looks” in a way hurt their chance of being taken seriously. Something that was completely wrong too. For years this was the first thing that you heard people mention when they mention A Flock of Seagulls and that’s wrong. It should have been the music. They were good enough to stand on their sound.

There was one huge hit on this album. That of course would be “I Ran (So Far Away).” This would be just about the largest hit the band would ever have. “Space Age Love Song” did well too. I also liked “You Can Run” for its drive.

“Telecommunication” was actually one of the first songs that attracted me to the band. You couldn’t over look “Modern Love is Automatic” but the track that really always stood out to me in its difference was “Man Made” the set ender. Prog roots there again? I think so.

A Flock of Seagulls sold a bunch of records. They did well, I just always felt that their name should have done better as well, but if you can dance to it and your hair is weird, your street cred always takes a hit. unless of course you’re’ Ministry.

–Larry Carta