I need more new wave in my life, so I'm looking for recommendations. No compilations, best of or greatest hits sets, please. Thanks

Visage - "Visage"
Eurythmics - "Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)"/"In The Garden"
Blondie - "Eat To The Beat" (though it's punk/new wave)

These are just at random.

All good so far...keep 'em coming.

NWF said:

I believe the original post asked for no compilations.

Most of my new wave CDs are greatest hits comps since I have less and less patience for album filler as I get older. I do own some studio releases however:


The Human League - Dare (1981)


The B-52's - Wild Planet (1980)


Berlin - Pleasure Victim (1982)


Book Of Love - Book Of Love (1986)


Siouxsie And The Banshees - Kaleidoscope (1980)

Cheek said:

My 2 favorites of theirs. "Touch" and "1984" are also excellent.

Pete Shelley - Homosapien



Marshall Crenshaw's brilliant self-titled debut



Aztec Camera's High Lands, Hard Rains



Ian Dury - New Boots and Panties



The dB's - Stands for Decibels. If there was any justice in the world, they would have been huge.

NWF said:

This is a personal favorite b/c it features the single Cars.

GangstaFam said:

Touch is definitely my shit also. Actually, I still vibe off some thier stuff even now. Annie has a beautiful voice.

Gary Numan-Either Replicas Or Pleasure Princple
Depeche Mode-Any..
Sex Gang Children- Blind
The cure- kiss me kiss me kiss me
the first yazoo album..

NEW WAVE MUST HAVE





NEW WAVE MUST HAVE

weepingwall said:

They weren't really New Wave at this point. Never really were other than perhaps "Japanese Whispers".

I was about to mention these guys but someone beat me to it. They are definitely my one of my favorite groups along with the B52's.

Imago777 said:

Imago777 said:

With Sympathy is ok if you wanna hear early ministry. Work for love is a catchy song.

lilgish said:

The singles are great: Work For Love, I Wanted To Tell Her, Revenge and Effigy. The rest of the album is just blah.

i did my top 80 for a new wave website that was compiling people's lists. here's the top 10 of my picks:

1. Sweet Dreams (are made of this) - Eurythmics
2. The Head on the Door - The Cure
3. Error in the System - Peter Schilling
4. True - Spandau Ballet
5. Synchronicity - The Police
6. Scary Monsters - David Bowie
7. Peepshow - Siouxsie & The Banshees
8. Phantoms - The Fixx
9. Feel - Human Drama
10. 1999 - Prince



By the way, the winner w/ the most votes was The Clash "London Calling"

JonSnow said:

London Calling

JonSnow said:

you could also say..Let's Dance...

oh yeah and anything by the cars or the go-go's

First of all, any new wave list that doesn't include Duran Duran is a travesty. You have to get "Rio" for sure.

You could also get anything by:
Thompson Twins ("Into the Gap")
Culture Club ("Colour by Numbers" or "Kissing to Be Clever")
Eurythmics ("Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)")


Berlin's "Pleasure Victim" is great, as is The Human League's "Dare" and Japan's "Tin Drum" or "Gentlemen Take Polaroids." Roxy Music is a good introduction to new wave because of how many bands they influenced, Duran Duran chief among them.

I'd also recommend stuff by Alphaville ("Forever Young"), Talk Talk ("The Party's Over"), Kajagoogoo ("White Feathers" rules), Frankie Goes to Hollywood ("Welcome to the Pleasuredome") and Bronski Beat ("The Age of Consent").
[Edited 8/15/05 21:08pm]

GangstaFam said:

that's a good one..

technically a post-punk record, but a must have all the same.

GangstaFam said:

OH HELL YES!!!

Somebody educate me. What is new wave and isn't Controversy a new wave album (I heard?)? I guess it's a kind of rock?

doctamario said:

During the late '70s and early '80s, New Wave was a catch-all term for the music that directly followed punk rock; often, the term encompassed punk itself, as well. In retrospect, it became clear that the music following punk could be divided, more or less, into two categories — post-punk and new wave. Where post-punk was arty, difficult, and challenging, new wave was pop music, pure and simple. It retained the fresh vigor and irreverence of punk music, as well as a fascination with electronics, style, and art. Therefore, there was a lot of stylistic diversity to new wave. It meant the nervy power pop of bands like XTC and Nick Lowe, but it also meant synth rockers like Gary Numan or rock revivalists like Graham Parker and Rockpile. There were edgy new wave songwriters like Elvis Costello, pop bands like Squeeze, tough rock & rollers like the Pretenders, pop-reggae like the Police, mainstream rockers like the Cars, and ska revivalists like the Specials and Madness. As important as these major artists were, there were also countless one-hit wonders that emerged during early new wave. These one-hit groups were as diverse as the major artists, but they all shared a love of pop hooks, modernist, synthesized production, and a fascination for being slightly left of center. By the early '80s, new wave described nearly every new pop/rock artist, especially those that used synthesizers like the Human League and Duran Duran. New wave received a boost in the early '80s by MTV, who broadcast endless hours of new wave videos in order to keep themselves on the air. Therefore, new wave got a second life in 1982, when it probably would have died out. Instead, 1982 and 1983 were boom years for polished, MTV-radio new wave outfits like Culture Club, Adam Ant, Spandau Ballet, Haircut 100, and A Flock of Seagulls. New wave finally died out in 1984, when established artists began to make professional videos and a new crop of guitar-oriented bands like the Smiths and R.E.M. emerged to capture the attention of college-radio and underground rock fans. Nevertheless, new wave proved more influential than many of its critics would have suspected, as the mid-'90s were dominated by bands — from Blur to Weezer — that were raised on the music.