Weird Science (1985

For their first album on MCA, Oingo Boingo dispensed with the aggressive high energy of their previous albums and created a more traditional Alternative Rock album with Dead Man's Party. The first taste came with yet another soundtrack song, 'Weird Science'. The danceable electro-pop song charted in the mid-40's on the Billboard singles chart, which would be their highest charting single release. Continuing to increase their exposure, the band appeared in the 1986 movie Back To School performing the 'Dead Man's Party' title track, while 'No One Lives Forever' was included in the film The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2. Two other single releases 'Just Another Day' and 'Stay' both have a more radio friendly style than previous single releases.

After the success of their 1985 album Dead Man's Party, Oingo Boingo return in 1987 with Boi-Ngo. Continuing their evolution from the frantic high energy of the early albums, Boi-Ngo emphasizes electronics and dance grooves. The first single 'Pain', released in late 1986, makes use of then-current technology with a stomping beat and sound samples. The single 'Not My Slave' originally dated from the Dead Man's Party sessions but wasn't used at the time. The song harkened back to the earlier sound of upbeat and catchy hooks. The final single 'We Close Our Eyes' is a straight-forward Alternative pop song.

Recorded in 1976 - after Brian Eno had proclaimed them one of the best groups around - but for whatever reason not released until 20 years later, Tracks & Traces is a fascinating release not merely for Eno's participation but for the hints of music that would become mainstream in the future. Indeed, opening cut "Vamos Companeros" has an intense guitar line from Rother that in its nervous, choppy way suggests everything from Wire to Bauhaus, not to mention Eno's own noted production clients, U2. Having already created two excellent albums, the core Harmonia trio was easily placed to whip up a third, with Eno the wild-card factor who turned out to be a perfect addition. While contributing some lyrics and singing at a time when he was steering away firmly from both in his own solo work, most of the time Eno lets the band speak for itself musically, most notably adding snaky, quietly threatening basslines…

Issued on Essential in 1994, Shriekback's double-disc Natural History set merely couples The Best of Shriekback: The Infinite (Kaz, 1987) with The Best of Shriekback, Vol. 2: Evolution (Kaz, 1988) under a new name. For the curious, this might be preferable to The Y Records Years (also a two-disc set, released six years later in 2000), since the terrain documented here is more expansive, covering the band from its inception through 1985's Oil and Gold. One major attraction is the number of selections on the second disc culled from the long out of print Jam Science. One major problem will be finding Natural History, as it has gone out of circulation since its release.