Nominated by: Kev
Music club: Wander to Wozza's
Clever leading off with the hit. For Today is a stone-cold kiwi classic that evokes the summer bliss of 1985 so well. It even penetrated our family bubble in New Plymouth because it was all over the radio.
The appeal was clearly the great production, the confident singing and the ska/Motown/horn driven sound that sounded fresh in 1985. Plus Annie Crummer of course.
I liked it then and I like it now.
The rest of the songs (apart from NZ Love Song that KS used on the places playlist) are new to me in 2022. Blame a frenetic mid to late 80's for that - if it wasn't on the radio (or TV) it passed me by. End of '85 we (Jacky/Keegan/me) moved back to Auckland - Jacky was pregnant again, I was commuting to Macleans College from Mt Eden (Windmill Rd) and so music took a back seat.
I suspect there were a lot of eighties songs/bands (especially NZ ones) that I missed at the time. So - catching up with this now is super cool. They were good! Tightly arranged songs, great production, excellent songs, played really well - all with a pop sheen (that I love). They should have been huge!
At times, they do sound like The Jam/Style Council (songs, sound, vocals) and Supergroove funked the sound up a bit more and had similar (maybe greater) success with that sound.
Given that these songs all come from a relatively short time frame (and I guess same musicians) this collection sounds like a cohesive album. Unfortunately, there was no other hit like For Today so they will forever be a one-hit wonder band. I mean no disrespect by that - just nothing that received enough heavy rotate to become another cultural marker. Checked out my Nature's Best CDs and that's their only song over 6 CDs.
Highlights on each listen, apart from For Today: The ska-ish This Town gets the toes tapping with a great bassline and spirited horn arrangement; Standing In The Rain sounds like The Mockers with horns (that's gotta be Andrew Fagen on vocals right?); Change to the Contrary sounds like a Midnight Oil song and also stood out.
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