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| Men Without Hats - but wearing a hat |
I’ll put it on the table that Men Without Hats “Rhythm of
Youth” and “Folk of the 90’s P.III” are 80’s classics that should be just as
revered as Human League’s “Dare” or New Order’s “Low Life.” Those MWH albums
were full of 3 minute synth pop tracks with catchy hooks and choruses built for
singing along with. The younguns probably only know MWH by “Safety Dance” but there were
several other good songs on those albums that didn’t hit the radio. While there
have been MWH hats albums since, one included another favorite song
of mine, “Pop Goes the World,” none of them captured the synth pop glory that
those first two albums did.
Now some 30 years later Men Without Hats is back with a new
record, “Love In the Age of War” that harkens back on those seminal synth pop
gems and adds another 10 songs that re-establish them as they should be recognized, as New Wave Synth
royalty. The album kicks off strong with the near-Devo “Devil Come Round” and
lead singer Ivan Doroschuk’s vocals come in sounding like they haven’t aged a
day. “Head Above Water” follows with a quicker pop beat. Along with the
melodies come a fresh sense of optimism and positivity towards life laced with politics and dancing.
Like recent releases by OMD and Devo, Men Without Hats prove
they can still put out competent new material that should please old fans and
hopefully capture some new ones.
This Post by Mikel O.D. of
