In what seems like an endless supply of 80s revivals, Big Bam Boom is often overlooked. But it's an absolute masterpiece of power pop. Whether it's Arthur Baker's masterpiece of Hall and Oates' is hard to determine. Ideally this album would have been reissued as one of those 'deluxe' double packs, with a second disc featuring the songs in their original pre-Baker demo form (if they exist).
As things stand it's impossible to seperate production from songwriting. So sample-heavy - Arthur Baker utilising a lot of latin freestyle techniques - yet the songs never actually disappear into flash (then hitech) mixing strategies. The drums are enormous (Baker would go on to perfect this sound in his 12" mix of Fleetwood Mac's 'Big Love'). Yet for all its grand production, Big Bam Boom oozes quality songwriting. Obvious standout tracks are the hit singles 'Out of Touch' and 'Method of Modern Love', also included as bonus 12" mixes; revealing just how smart Baker was, able to turn power pop into club anthems without abandoning the original soundscape.
So much for my efforts at relatively objective rational commentary. Truth is, the sun came out, I stuck this in the CD player, kicked up the volume, jumped around grinning like a fool - totally charmed.