Search - Adventures :: Sea of Love

Pure Pop Pleasure- A Hidden Gem!

Stuart A. Treitel | Santa Monica, CA USA | 03/01/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I've had this album for over two decades and I still can put it on and deeply appreciate it - this is pop music at its best. Each song is craftfully arranged that it starts off with a simple structure and then more and more instruments are added to you finally have a Phil Spector Wall of Sound effect. Their follow-up Secrets was much more bare bones



The harmonies and melodies just shine on this album. Definitely a summer album, a feel good, I'm in love with the world album. Never understood why it didn't get the exposure/recognition it deserved. It is an 80s album but the use of instruments doesn't pigeonhole it to that era where it ends up really standing the test of time."

Advenures Lost And Found

Tim Brough | Springfield, PA United States | 02/28/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The Adventures probably got their greatest recognition in America with their second album, "The Sea Of Love." It is also quite a different sound from their debut and then their third CD, "Trading Secrets with the Moon." While "Trading Secrets..." was spare, folkish guitar pop, "The Sea Of Love" was heavy on the keyboards and took its cues from Simple Minds and U2. Like the best of those Irish/Scottish bands, "The Sea Of Love" found The Adventures in high epic fashion.



The title track opens with a breath-taking multi-tracked a cappella burst and then explodes with rich production and a soaring melody. It is a romantic song of falling head over heels, and sets the tone for the rest of the album. Love and all its side-effects cascade through "The Sea of Love," with the naive romanticism of new love in the title-track, the desire to protect that love in "You Don't Have To Cry Anymore" to the burned heartbreak of "Heaven Knows Which Way."



It is the love of country, however, that provides "Sea Of Love" with its finest moment. "Broken Land" echoes songwriter Pat Gribben's heartbreak at localized and global conflict with the plea;



"Show me the love to keep us together.

Open Your Hearts, don't turn me away.

Comfort me through this stormy weather.

From where I stand, I see a broken land."



It is also rich in minor key keyboards and choral harmonies. It was an epic song on a CD that didn't have a dog song on it. Released as a single (I even have a 3-inch mini-CD!), it's a shame that it - and by extension, this full CD -never fully caught on in the states.



As one of the CD's that slipped through the cracks of my collection many years ago, I was thrilled to find it here on Amazon as a not-too-pricey import. So if U2 circa "October" and "Unforgettable Fire" or Simple Minds' "Once Upon A Time" are essential records in your collection, I'd advise you to get some "Sea Of Love" in your life. The Adventures, for this one CD in their discography, matched the best of those albums.

"