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Product Description
Review
It's a safe bet that anyone over a certain age with an ear to the charts will remember Martha and the Muffins' "Echo Beach". Though it was (in my humble opinion) one of the best post punk pop records of the era (and certainly the best by a Canadian outfit featuring two women called Martha), the band never managed to trouble the compilers of the top 20 again.
Fronted by keyboardist/singer/trombonist Martha Johnson and guitarist Mark Gane, M+M (as they were later to become) spun dispassionate, witty tales of boredom, longing and paranoia in a manner not dissimilar to that of Talking Heads. However, they had a pure pop sensibilty that put them in a slightly different bracket from the hordes of Art school rockers doing the rounds at the time, coupled with an unwillingness to let themselves be taken too seriously (that disappeared later when they hooked up with producer Daniel Lanois).
"Echo Beach" is of course a pretty good encapsulation of all these qualities, but all the tracks on this reissued and remastered debut show that their one hit wonder status wasn't for lack of good material. The formula is pretty consistent throughout; taut, metronomic rhythms topped off with Gane's chiming, minimal guitar figures add up to pared down powerpop heaven.Andy Haas's raspy tenor sax recalls Andy Mackay's work with Roxy Music, and Johnson's occasionally cheesy keyboards prefigure the Farfisa driven ironies of Stereolab. Johnson sings in a slightly detached fashion, while Martha Ladly (later of the Associates) goes for a more emotive approach ("Hide and Seek", "Revenge") with more mixed results.
Most of all, the Muffins had good tunes; "Paint by Number Heart" and "Indecision" are viral in their catchiness. While the slightly dour "Sinking Land" prefigures their later ambient experiments, Metro Music is for the most part untouched by the pretensions and angst that afflicted many of their greatcoated contemporaries.Oh, and it's got 'Echo Beach" on it too... --Peter Marsh
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Only Slightly 'Monotone',
By
This review is from: Metro Music (Audio CD)
Flipping back and forth as it does between fairly standard new wave pop-rockers ('Hide and Seek', 'Revenge', 'Cheesies and Gum') and more surreal, ambient tunes ('Echo Beach', 'Sinking Land', 'Saigon'), this album really ought to sound more eclectic than it actually does - a fine example of classy studio production at work, made all the classier by some singularly crisp remastering. Listing highlights is probably a lost cause here since they're pretty much all excellent (barring the absurdly pretentious 'Terminal Twilight' and the frankly dull 'Indecision') but of course 'Echo Beach' deserves its own special mention - it's worth the price of the album all by itself.
1 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing...,
By
This review is from: Metro Music (Audio CD)
An unimaginative collection of songs from one hit wonders 'Martha And The Muffins'. After the smash hit 'Echo Beach', one might have expected more hit singles and at least an 'average' album from this band, but if it's something 'striking' that you are expecting, then you will be disappointed... Just one or two of the earlier tracks on the album are OK and give a little promise, but after these, it's downhill all the way I'm afraid... The last track in particular is absolutely awful (as the title would suggest!) If it wasn't for the fact that my LP copy has all the autographs of the group - I would probably bin it...
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
3.5 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews) 9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Cheapskate reissue,
By ChrisWN - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Metro Music (Audio CD)
Well I found this disc on sale elsewhere, but only discovered afterwards that the "Faraway In time" compilation actually contains all the tracks in this Virgin UK relase + more from other albums. The fact that this 38 minute album is released in 2003 (after the previously mentioned cd) without the entire This IS the Ice Age album (also under 40 minutes), which DINDISC/Virgin also holds the rights to, just shows how much Music labels are money-grubbing gold diggers.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
New wave with intellect,
By Frederick Goldston "gehennan_scientist" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Metro Music (Audio CD)
This is a classic you will never tire of listening to, since I've been listening to it for over 20 years. The music is very straight forward and sincere. My favorite tracks being Revenge (against the world), Echo Beach, Indecision, Monotone,...heck I LOVE the whole album! Though not a well known group, no 80's collection would be complete without them to reference from.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
indecision,
By William P. Pemstein "hfs fan" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Metro Music (Audio CD)
Outside of the silly Cheesies and Gum, this is an 80's classic. Thank God it's on CD. Echo Beach was an instant hit but the gorgeous Indecision stands out here as well.
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