That's Entertainment : A Flock of Seagulls
There are many things we do in life that one day come back to bite us on the ar$e - things that embarrass us, or come to haunt us. I'm playing the flippancy card here, so I'm talking pork pie hats, parachute pants, blue eye shadow, puffy sleeve shirts, cartoon character ties and thankfully, come in and out of fashion every decade or so. Yep, we have all committed atrocities of fashion and taste we would like to forget. But for some reason, when it comes to music, there is a band that many, many people refuse to acknowledge, let alone confess to buying or listening to any of their songs or LPs. In fact, mention A Flock of Seagulls to people and they run…so far away…that they have to get away. Which is quite ironic, because this band went to Number One in Australia and has one of the most aired video clips of all time.
Of course there's been the 'ironic appreciation' but recently there's a bit of a revisionism about A Flock of Seagulls amongst the 'cool school'. When other bands of the New Romantic / Futurist movement of the early-mid 1980's were lauded for being pioneers and instigators and musical geniuses, A Flock of Seagulls were derided as naff and unworthy of your listening time. But now the 'cool kids' are turning the tables and arguing for AFOS. And sure, band leader Mike Score did have that 'haircut' that has been much ridiculed - Friends, The Wedding Singer, etc - but to focus of the fashion faux pas of the era (when Simon Le Bon and the Duran Duran boys committed style crimes too) is ignorant of the musical prowess A Flock of Seagulls possessed. I grew up in a house that owned the debut LP. I Ran and Space Age Love Song and Modern Love Is Automatic were staples. Telecommunication - a pompous techno-pop freak out is owed a debt by hundreds of synth pop/rock fusions over the past three decades with its wall of sound, cold electronica, delicious guitar line and thumping beat.
At their height, the band released four long players in five years, and despite being categorised as 'one hit wonders', they did release a number of charting singles. The self-titled debut is choc-a-block filled with hooks, synth lines, foreboding lyrics and a propulsive beat and rocky guitar licks. Not only did A Flock of Seagulls appeal as a rock band, they were infectious enough to get the dance floor moving. Mixing the vocal stylings of Gary Numan (along with his science fiction leanings), these were songs about isolation in the modern world and alluded to dystopias, aliens and the end of the world, but was full of emotion.
The follow up - Listen - contained one of my fave AFOS songs in Wishing (I Had A Photograph of You). The second LP actually did more business in the UK than the first, and is littered with electronica gems whilst the third album - The Story of a Young Heart - still did good business. And while sales are the indicator of success, the breadth and scope of their work cannot be measured nor underestimated. Sadly, by the time the ambitious Dream Come True arrived in 1986, the band was afflicted by infighting and fracturing at the seems, finding it difficult to retain record label interest and confidence, while losing traction with an audience that was changing its tastes. By year's end, the band had split.
For mine, it is the ambitious album track - (Cosmos) The Effect of the Sun - cut from Dream Come True that highlighted what could have been and emphasises the ahead-of-their-time sentiment. Presciently predicting the genres of trance and chill out by 10-15 years, the song is a sweeping twelve and a half minute epic aural journey. There's no need for LSD (not that I've used it) when you can sit back and immerse yourself in a total mind bend. It wouldn't be out of place on any science fiction film's soundtrack from the past twenty years and despite venturing in to a poppier mid section, (Cosmos) The Effect of the Sun is an exclamation point in the catalogue of A Flock of Seagulls.
Ultimately, a crime has occurred. For too long, A Flock of Seagulls have been criminally undervalued, maligned and left languishing in the playlists of 'cheesy' 'one hit wonder' radio/video formats. Dig in to their LPs - they're all available on i-tunes or digitally remastered on CD with all the bells and whistles - and you will find a cornucopia of aural treats. I guarantee you will be surprised, entertained and wonder why you haven't been listening to these guys all your lives. And if you get in now, you might just sneak in ahead of all the cool kids who one day soon will sing A Flock Of Seagulls praises instead of sneer and laugh about haircuts.
