The Fixx

Box set includes 3 albums: Big '80s, Essential '80s, '80s Hits, originally released in 1998 on the label Time Life Music, as part of the series "Sounds Of The Eighties". Contains 36 songs (all original recordings by the original artists, and digitally remastered) on three Audio CDs, packaged in a beautiful storage box with a rich leather-like finish and a wood frame.

Elements: Former Deep Purple bassist Roger Glover's first true solo album is an ambitious concept built around the properties and powers of the four elements – earth, wind, water, and fire – with the four principle tracks dedicated to each one in turn. Recorded with the Munich Philharmonic, plus an impressive arsenal of keyboards, percussion, and wind, the sound of the album is vast, yet never so prepossessing as to leave the listener feeling at all alienated by another ham-fisted attempt to meld rock with the classics. The Mask: Unlike the orchestral reach of his previous solo works, for The Mask Roger Glover updated his sound to slick guitar and synth rock that lands somewhere between The Fixx and Simple Minds. Having a Deep Purple member attempt eighties pop sounds like a recipe for disaster, but Glover pulls it off.

Thinkman - The Formula (1986)
(Rupert Hine)
EAC AccurateRip | APE, IMG+CUE, LOG | 259,6 MB | MP3 CBR 320 Kbps | 91,1 MB | Complete Scans (300 dpi) | 10,7 MB
New Wave, Synth-Pop | Label: Island | Catalog Number: 257 723-222 | Time: 42:55 | RAR | RS.com

Three years after his solo album The Wildest Wish to Fly, pop producer and songwriter Rupert Hine came back under the disguise of the pseudo-group Thinkman. The three musicians who accompanied him in interviews and lip-sync performances were actors, the whole project becoming a concept revolving around media manipulation. The Formula, Thinkman's first album, sticks close to this idea (the title track begins with the lines "It's an interview/But it's a second take"). During the early '80s, Hine followed an evolution that led him from disturbing art pop to intelligent but more commercial songs. The Formula is pretty much middle-of-the-road but has a harder edge than the singer's previous LP. Songs like the title track "The Ecstasy of Free Thought" and "The Days of a Champion" are fueled by newly found energy and feature the hook-filled melodies that made Hine an important part of England's '80s pop music. More importantly, there are no weaker tracks, no jumping off the bandwagon for a quick one. As far as concept pop albums go, this one is particularly successful. The Fixx's James West-Oram provided guitar tracks and Stewart Copeland (ex-The Police) plays some real drums whenever the producer felt the machine was not enough – they are both featured on the closer "There Shines Our Promised Land." This album is more than a marketing curiosity, it can be considered as an essential part of Hine's discography. AMG

Three years after his solo album The Wildest Wish to Fly, pop producer and songwriter Rupert Hine came back under the disguise of the pseudo-group Thinkman. The three musicians who accompanied him in interviews and lip-sync performances were actors, the whole project becoming a concept revolving around media manipulation. The Formula, Thinkman's first album, sticks close to this idea (the title track begins with the lines "It's an interview/But it's a second take"). During the early '80s, Hine followed an evolution that led him from disturbing art pop to intelligent but more commercial songs. The Formula is pretty much middle-of-the-road but has a harder edge than the singer's previous LP. Songs like the title track "The Ecstasy of Free Thought" and "The Days of a Champion" are fueled by newly found energy and feature the hook-filled melodies that made Hine an important part of England's '80s pop music…