The long overdue reissue of this classic 1982 album 'The Anvil', by the pioneers of the New Romantic movement, Visage. The album reached No.6 in the UK album charts.This CD reissue features 6 bonus tracks not included on t... more »he original 9 track release. These include dance mixes of the hit singles 'Mind Of A Toy' and 'The Damned Don't Cry' and the rare b-sides 'Motivation' and 'I'm Still Searching'. The CD booklet features sleeve notes, discography and all the single sleeves taken from the original album. As the leading lights of the New Romantic movement, Visage's legacy is lasting. The band's reputation for producing quality electronic pop lives on.« less
The long overdue reissue of this classic 1982 album 'The Anvil', by the pioneers of the New Romantic movement, Visage. The album reached No.6 in the UK album charts.This CD reissue features 6 bonus tracks not included on the original 9 track release. These include dance mixes of the hit singles 'Mind Of A Toy' and 'The Damned Don't Cry' and the rare b-sides 'Motivation' and 'I'm Still Searching'. The CD booklet features sleeve notes, discography and all the single sleeves taken from the original album. As the leading lights of the New Romantic movement, Visage's legacy is lasting. The band's reputation for producing quality electronic pop lives on.
"This was the second of three albums by Steve Strange's Visage. After this, Midge Ure departed and so did the band's success. Perhaps the two events are linked. Whatever; this is a fine slice of early eighties New Romanticism, it captures perfectly the fusion between robotic electronics and the outrageous 'clubby' scene of the time, when boys were girls and we were all a lot younger. The classic 'Damned Don't Cry' single is the best of the bunch, a haunting tune with a strange melancholy to it, but 'The Horseman', with it's funky guitar work comes a close second. The least successful track might well be 'Night Train', which doesn't have the ethereal quality to it that the others possess. After this, came the 'Beat Boy' album and obscurity for Steve Strange. Looking at the charts today, he is greatly missed."
Visage at their best...
Si Wooldridge | Chippenham, Wiltshire England | 08/12/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Don't even think about it, just buy it. This is Visage at their very best. A more mature and diverse album than their debut, Visage were no strangers to controvesy at the time of this album. It seemed to revolve around the the song Anvil (Night Club School) which was hawked in the UK press a number of times as a notorious Gay club. I don't know if it really was or what real relevance that has to the music but the world was a rather more homphobic place in those days. There are the dancey tracks that follow the same general pattern as the debut (no duffers in there at all), but the after Night Train we get to side 2 of the vinyl which slows up and loses the danceability for real atmosphere. It starts with my all-time fav Visage song The Horseman and winds along seductively until the close with Whispers. Definately a game of two halves but neither disappopints.The additional tracks are welcome, We Move is a fantastic track while Frequency 7 is very much an experimental track, quite strange but worringly addictive."
Music in the mirror? A passion for fashion...
reznicek@juno.com | Plattsburgh, NY | 10/08/1998
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Close your eyes for just a moment. You're wearing rather martial black leather trousers, coat and hat; your jackboots are shined to a spit-polish. You're sitting in a dark, high-ceilinged parlor with a group of classical friends and statues...the men and women are beautiful in powder and rouge. Somewhere, a lone piano echoes a plaintive song - and dissolves into the pounding throb of machine music. It's 1982, and few bands crystallized the New Romantic trend as well as Visage did. Vocalist/model (or was it model/vocalist?) Steve Strange added his effete talents to the band (which at times included Dave Formula and Ultravox's Midge Ure and Billy Currie). Look past Strange's dated and extreme couture and you'll find strong electronic musicianship that deserves a second, third, and fourth listen. Just listen...with the lights out."
Maybe I'll buy a safe deposit box.
P. David Gilleran | Chicago, IL, U and S of A | 10/11/2006
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Huh. Am I glad I worked in a music store in 1997 and bought this CD. And it was so easy to get then, we stocked it at the time. In 1983 I recall only liking Side A. Years later it's still far better than Side B, but the rest of the cuts have grown respectable with distance, possibly due to nostalgia for the synthesized music of that era. This CD edition towers super-hard over the original LP simply for including "We Move (Dance Mix)" (Right On...) and "Frequency 7 (Dance Mix)", the latter being a particularly amazing analog-synth instrumental freak-fest. I always imagine Midge Ure ditching decorum for these five minutes to help invent the future of electronic music.
I love "Frequency 7". And "The Damned Don't Cry"."
Visage at its finest
jenash | NY | 04/14/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I would say that this is the ultimately best Visage album. I am so happy to see it has been reissued. The first time I looked on this site for this album it was 400.00! I was really getting close to buying it(that's how bad I wanted it). Well I am sure glad I waited, because now it's price has dropped dramatically! I am so excited! I love the new romantic music(even though Steve Strange doesn't think his music was that genre). It has that sound I adore, the synths, the riff of the guitars(this is the best of the best electronic music even to this day). I wish I were to have grown up when this band and many other synthpop bands were playing at clubs then(I was only a baby), I would have loved to see them perform live; but I am glad I can still be able to purchase their music, I just wish that you guys were selling more of their records. Anyway, I can't complain I am glad this cd is cheaper now because I love "The Horseman" one of my favorites on this disc along "What Have They Done" ,"Move Up" and "Wild Life", very well worth it for these songs alone. The other songs you can find on other Visage cds. So thankyou for my Visage! Love 'em!!! I have one more thing to say... if you're a fan get this it's a rare item!