Visage

Stylish, mysterious and undeniably futuristic (albeit in a retro-futurist manner nowadays) 1980's Visage LP has the music to match the style... kind of. "Fade to grey" is as you would imagine the stand-out track but nothing else much even approaches the height of that amazing single.

Thats not to say its a bad album, far from it, the bar was set so high but there are some other very good tunes too. "Tar" has an appealing funky fun about it. "Mind of a toy" has some interesting and sometimes amazing synths scattered throughout it. "The dancer" is urgent, driven by a thumping beat and sharp guitars. "Moon over Moscow" seems like it created the template for much of late 80s cantopop and jpop with its tinkly electronic beats. The track "Visage" itself is atmospheric and sharp.

The future Visage and the other New Romantics heralded never arrived (or at least not yet), which is a shame, but they lightened the early 80s grey gloom and this album stands as one of the key documents of that time.