Don't take the title of Just Can't Get Enough: New Wave Christmas too literally. Though there are a number of new wave artists here -- XTC, Squeeze and the Pretenders among them -- the album actually plays like an alternative rock collection, reaching back to the notorious David Bowie & Bing Crosby duet on "Little Drummer Boy" to the Pogues and Throwing Muses. Of course, that complaint isn't a serious one -- the music on Just Can't Get Enough: New Wave Christmas is entertaining and several tracks are genuine alternative rock classics. More importantly, most of the material on the disc is very rare, so the album functions as a convient way to gather an abundence of offbeat new wave and alternative tracks. The record doesn't really gel into a cohesive listening experience, but as a grab-bag sampler, it's fun.
The Spanish Elefant label spends years releasing singles, EPs, and albums that are gifts for lovers of sweetly sung, perfectly crafted indie pop, so why not do something special for Xmas? For A Christmas Gift for You from Elefant Records, they rounded up an impressive lineup of acts and gave them the mission of concocting new holiday songs. From the spunky punky "You Trashed My Christmas" by the ageless Primitives to the sugar rush of the School's "You're Coming Home Tonight" -- and the large number of songs that take the classic Phil Spector Christmas album as a template -- the artists all rise to the challenge and dole out brightly wrapped, thoughtfully chosen presents that are warm and festive. Any indie pop lover would be totally stoked to find that the jolly fat guy had left this wonderful package under the tree.
When it was initially released in the mid-'80s, the Colour Field's Virgins and Philistines had little in common with most of the albums recorded during that decade. The passing of years has only strengthened the LP's timeless appeal. Plucking sounds from the late '60s and early '70s, the Colour Field created an album that will never be dated because it cannot be attached to a specific era. The mournful violin and sultry Latin rhythms of "Castles in the Air" represent the apex of vocalist Terry Hall's artistry. Hopelessly romantic, "Castles in the Air" yearns for lost love with a filmmaker's eye and a poet's ear. There are two versions of "Castles in the Air" on the Japanese CD reissue of Virgins and Philistines, the second of which has a lengthy instrumental intro; both are stunningly beautiful. The Japanese edition of Virgins and Philistines actually eclipses the original. First of all, there are more songs: 20 instead of merely 12. The bonus tracks include a dreamy cover of "Windmills of Your Mind," an instrumental rendition of "Thinking of You," and the rare B-side "My Wild Flame," essentially a rewrite of "The Colour Field." "Pushing Up Daisies" can be found on either version; however, on CD the track's thorny guitar riffs and sullen basslines have greater punch. "Pushing Up Daisies" offers a sobering look at withering stardom; Hall may write from a downcast, cynical perspective, but his unpretentious, honest lyrics are always hummable. Hall expresses more emotion on Virgins and Philistines than he ever did with his previous groups, the Specials and Fun Boy Three. On "Take," Hall sings, "You just take/And pile on the agony." The pain in Hall's voice rips through the song's cozy layer of acoustic guitars. The remake of "Can't Get Enough of You Baby" is the only track on the LP that received radio airplay in the U.S., and it's misleading; nothing else on the album is that upbeat. Although the album looks to the past for inspiration, it's never retro; the music is frozen in suspended animation, always fresh whenever it's heard.
The Darling Buds may have echoed the prevailing trends of the British music scene, but they could never be faulted for mere mimicry or want of imagination. What they lacked in the originality department they more than made up for with stellar musical execution and the undeniable talent of lead singer and songwriter Andrea Lewis. Repeated listens to Erotica (released just prior to Madonna's LP of the same title) should convince the harshest cynic that the Darling Buds absorbed, rather than plagiarized, what they listened to. You can hear strains of My Bloody Valentine's guitar rush and Swervedriver's scrawl and scream in "Please Yourself"; it's undeniably a fantastic song. Also, not too many songwriters of the time were as bold or articulate as Lewis, as she is here. "One Thing Leads to Another" (not a Fixx cover), "Isolation" (not a Joy Division cover), and "Long Day in the Universe" rival anything that the British charts had to offer at the time; heck, any of the ten songs here sound like great singles. The DBs continued to expand themselves rhythmically and make further strides into sophisticated pop, managing to make a third successive album that's top-to-toe fantastic.
