Head First

When I first heard the single "Rocket" I was horrified. It was played one afternoon while I was at work. "Rocket" came on the radio and I immediately accused a colleague of changing the channel from 6Music to Radio2. As I listened further I began to recognise the voice but didn't want to believe that it was actually Goldfrapp. My mind filled with images of Van Halen's "Jump", Starship and other equally big-haired US west-coast MOR acts who blighted my formative years.

Investigating further I discovered that the whole album was a trip back to many different sounds from the 80s and suddenly "Rocket" was in context and my previous shortsightedness melted away. Even though it happens to me every time they release a new album I had fallen into the same old trap which seems to define my relationship with the music of Goldfrapp. I realise this is part of their appeal and I do know they change their sound every album but I seemingly just need to be wrong-footed every time in order to appreciate it.

Any personal prejudice I may have about (some of) that 80's sound is totally irrelevant because Goldfrapp make it their own. I can almost understand why some may initially dismiss this album as lightweight or lazy but remember this is Goldfrapp and they just don't do lazy. I think the confusion arises because they manage to make it all sound so effortless which, somewhat ironically, actually takes a lot of hard work and talent to achieve.
Listen again and listen with an open mind. The tracks on "Head First" may be fizzy 80's pop on the surface but they are also typically warm and lush and slightly unusual in that singular and distinctive way that Goldfrapp do so well. Apart from the obvious musical similarities like Abba and Olivia Newton-John I also hear Depeche Mode, Laurie Anderson, OMD, Japan and other acts that I loved.....

....and there you have it.....

Another wildly eclectic album from Goldfrapp which stretches my mind-music-muscle into new exciting shapes and takes me places I never thought I wanted to go, whereupon I find it's actually somewhere pretty wonderful.

I was not really aware of Goldfrapp until Suzi Quatro covered Strict Machine on her last album.

I gave the original a listen and Alison's voice knocked me sideways.

As I seem to remember, Head First was the cheapest Goldfrapp album on Amazon, so I bought this one just to give it a listen.

From the moment the chorus of Rocket kicked in, I was hooked, and have now bought everything (and I really do mean everything) they have released.

Yes, Head First is a huge nod back to the 80's, and yes, it has been done to death a bit, but Goldfrapp really do give it a glittery edge that nobody else seems to be able to do.

Owning all of their albums, I would say this album is my second favourite (Seventh Tree being my fave), but Head First has produced what has now become my all-time favourite song, I Wanna Life, which should have been a single if you ask me.

In my opinion, this album is stronger that Supernature, which seems to be 'the' Goldfrapp album. Head First has the feel-good factor that the others seem to lack.

Believer, Rocket, Alive and Shiny and Warm are perfect songs to work out to. Hunt is very Kate Bush, and Dreaming is eerily amazing, evoking images of the clouds shifting in the sky, the same colour as that of the album cover.

Head First is a recommendation if you need motivating in the morning- stick this on and you'll be leaping out of bed!

The 9 track EP-style of this album is also a nice touch. Head First blazes like a comet on you stereo, leaving you thinking 'Wow, what was that?'

Stand out tracks for me are: I Wanna Life, Rocket, Dreaming and Head First.

So why would this bloke buy vinyl in this digital age. The most obvious reason is you can appreciate the cover artwork more and you get a nice Goldfrapp poster in a beautifully produced sleeve. The album itself is 180g vinyl so there's none of that vintage snap, crackle and pop. However, my main reason for buying `Head First' on vinyl was the disappointing sound quality on `Supernature'. For me Supernature had excellent songs spoilt by overdriven sound levels leading to compressed dynamic range that gave this album a harsh, tiring sound. For example the violins of the sumptuous `Time out from the World' sound harsh and gritty when they should have been honey smooth. On taking off my music anorak I need not have worried. The sound quality of both vinyl and CD versions of Head First is as excellent as all the `Frappers other albums. The vinyl version sounds more lush and smooth with wonderful spacious mid-range while the CD is clean, fast and punchy. Alison's voice sounds wonderfully seductive regardless.
On first listen to Head First with my audiophile anorak off I found I still had my `music snob' hat on. Finding, as some other reviewers did, songs that sounded uncharacteristically derivative and predictable. All those seventies and eighties references where there with the first three tracks sounding like `Blondie joins Human League' while the title track wouldn't sound out of place on an Abba album. However, on repeated listening the penny starts to drop as you realise they are being unpredictable, I for one didn't think they would follow the lyrical, almost folky `Seventh Tree' with eighties infected dance floor fillers! Other reviews have already described individual tracks so I won't, suffice to that if you want more substance then listen to `Dreaming' and the brilliant `Hunt' and `Shiny and Warm' and to round off for `Frapp purists, there's the ingeniously quirky `Voicething'. So overall, yes there are nods to the seventies and eighties but done with such brilliance it really doesn't matter. This is a seriously feel good album - and what can be wrong with that? I play and enjoy listening to every track without skipping any, so that meets my criteria for 5 stars. CD or LP, just buy it - you won't be disappointed!