Roddy Frame emerges from his Aztec Camera moniker with a charming blend of jangling guitars and soulful crooning. "River or Brightness" is a particularly beautiful standout track, where Frame's mandolin creates poetical dense waves of charm. There's not really much sonic difference from an Aztec Camera release, as every album was basically a Roddy Frame solo affair, in that he's written almost every Aztec Camera song on his own. The North Star is a pleasure throughout the ten tracks, as he never fails to register sweet emotion or frolicking joy. "Bigger Brighter Better" suggests that Frame is both overjoyed with and at full-mastery of his endearing acoustic pop style. "Sister Shadow" sounds as if it has been produced by Phil Spector at the peak of his skills. For every song of happiness, there's a complementary track of subtle soul searching. The singer/songwriter has never sounded this confident over the full length of an album in the past. If The North Star isn't this artist at his best, then he must have purely transcendental songs up his sleeve for future releases. With this confident solo debut, as strong or stronger than any Aztec Camera release, Roddy Frame confirms his status as a first-rate emotional balladeer.
If Orange Juice famously wanted to sound like a combination of Chic and the Velvet Underground, then Haircut 100 must have wanted to sound like a combination of Orange Juice and Chic. Heavy on the Juice. On their debut and only album with band founder Nick Heyward, Pelican West, the group display all the skittery beats, deep-voiced crooning, and pop smarts of OJ, while adding more funk and saxophone than Edwyn Collins and co. probably ever imagined. That Haircut 100 scored a bigger hit than the band they so clearly idolized must have rubbed the lads in Orange Juice the worst way, but it's clear from even one listen through Pelican West that Haircut 100 were more than just mere copycats. "Love Plus One" is that aforementioned mega hit and it deserved to be a timeless classic. Nick Heyward knew how to write pop hooks and the band fills it in with brilliant subtlety. There are siblings to that song scattered across the record. "Favourite Shirts (Boy Meets Girl)," "Marine Boy," and the ecstatic "Fantastic Day" all have wonderfully snappy melodies and huge choruses, "Milk Film," "Surprise Me Again," and "Snow Girl" have a refined pop sound that skews a little less gleeful and a little more melancholy. Sure, they are all prone to sax breakdowns and horn section crescendos that sound like Chicago happened by the studio, but the bulk of the album is first-rate '80s sophisti-pop. The few tracks that cast aside the traditional song structure and jump over to the Chic side of the equation are fun, though very much of their time. "Love's Got Me in Triangles" and "Calling Captain Autumn" are both quite British, with a sort of awkward kind of funk almost quaint in its unfunkiness. Heyward's attempts at rapping on the latter achieve beat poet-meets-Captain Sensible levels of uncoolness that circle back around to coolness in the end somehow. The entire record is a little like that. From their corny outfits to their lighter-than-air sound, Haircut 100 were never going to be dangerous or sexy. The best they could hope for was escapist, but never mindless fun and on Pelican West they bury their arrows dead center in the middle of that target. [Cherry Pop's 2015 Deluxe Edition of the album adds four bonus tracks on the first disc, including single B-sides and the post-album release "Nobody's Fool," which pointed to a guitar-heavy, sax-solo-free future the group never saw. The second disc is made up of 12" versions of album tracks, extended versions, and a live recording of "Fantastic Day." Of chief interest is the 12" version of "Love Plus One," because it's the big hit and it's fun to hear them stretching it out a little. The rest of the disc is also fun and it's a nice addition to the classic album with which it's paired.]
Thompson Twins' atmospheric and moody 1984 album Into the Gap was their commercial breakthrough in the United States, and remains a classic as far as '80s new wave pop is concerned. Nearly every song on this set differed from the others, with each track taking the listener on a different musical journey. The song that cemented Thompson Twins as a presence on American Top 40 radio was their earnest ballad (and biggest hit) "Hold Me Now," which years later still sounded as fresh and innocent as when it was first released. The album yielded a couple of other hits, including the feel-good, percussion- and harmonica-heavy "You Take Me Up" and the mysterious, melodramatic "Doctor! Doctor!" "The Gap," the album's final single (and a definite standout), heavily leans toward Middle Eastern influences (as does "Doctor! Doctor!") and ranks as the album's most unstoppable (and unusual) dance cut. Other tracks, including "Sister of Mercy" and "No Peace for the Wicked," rank almost as high as the singles. Thompson Twins were quiet visionaries, blending intelligent lyrics, Eastern sensibilities, and new wave pop to create a wholly unique and unforgettable listening experience and an album that ranks as one of the '80s' most unique. [Edsel's two-disc 2008 Deluxe Edition featured 16 bonus tracks, including remixes, B-sides, and alternate versions.]
