M - New York–London–Paris–Munich

In those early heady days of new wave there were a few unrelenting earworms that would practically define the genre, and lay the table for what was to follow in the early to mid '80s. Although "Rock Lobster" by The B-52's came out in '78, its impact would ripple through a lot of what was to follow. 1979 saw the release of The Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star" and Gary Numan's seminal hit "Cars," and then there was "Pop Muzik" by M ... and it was really one of those goofy songs that just caught on. I mean, it would go number one practically all over the world. All of these were rooted within rock, but veered wildly off kilter with futuristic vocals and synthesizers, combining the energy of punk with their brand of new wave while more or less crafting pop songs that were strangely radio friendly.

"Pop Muzik" was also a song I didn't understand, and to be honest I don't know if I actually liked it, but it couldn't be ignored. It was everywhere ... and then it wasn't. Over the decades the song quietly, or not depending on how loud it was being played, settled into the murky history of bygone one-hit wonders. It's funny, I have a lot of anthologies and one-hit-wonder collections, and none of them contained "Pop Muzik."

Here on the cusp of forty-five years later I found myself a pretty nice copy of New York–London–Paris–Munich ... and I honestly got it for one song, but I was also curious about what else was to be found on the album.

My copy had no liner notes, and more than likely didn't have any to begin with. There wasn't a lot of information on the jacket, but the record itself at least provided a couple of credits that seemed to start and stop at the name Robin Scott, who wrote and produced the album. There's a decent wiki entry on the album, and in a nutshell, "M," as the band was called, was just the name given to the collected session players, with the principal being Robin Scott. Although it would seem his brother Julian played bass and his girlfriend (at the time, and maybe still) Brigit Novik provided harmony vocals.

The songs were catchy, danceable, and honestly fun to listen to. What I did not expect to hear were the disco elements. I mean, true blue full-on strings and everything. Yeah, disco and new wave ... they do mix. You just have to shake it a little harder. While this is fun and all that, I have to admit this was never really where I was musically. My new wave ran more in the direction of The Cars or The Records or XTC, and the pseudo-novelty elements found in the quirky new wave songs like "Pop Muzik" or even "Rock Lobster" didn't really resonate with me.

I did find it interesting that the album version of the big hit was about a minute longer than the version I was most familiar with ... not a bad thing, or a good thing, just a thing. It was actually kind of fun to experience something familiar and new at the same time.

This was more fun than I expected, and there's always a little worry when you first drop the needle that it's going to be filler and padding. Of the eight songs here, there weren't any throwaway tunes, or ideas that felt half baked and included for the sake of taking up space. "That's the Way the Money Goes" is really solid, and a lot of fun, and probably one of my favourites on the album ... then again, that disco-infused number "Moderne Man/Satisfy Your Lust" is also really fun.

Did I mention this is a fun listen, as an album ... and while the album does kick off with their seminal hit, the momentum carried through. I have a number of albums where the strong start is more of a curse than a spark that starts a fire. Billy Joel knows all about this, as he didn't start it ... um, yeah, I may go back and delete that one. It just smacks of a desperate attempt to tie things together.

No, I'll leave it, but pretend it never happened.

What was I talkin' about anyway ... right, "Pop Muzik" - yeah, that's going to be stuck in my head for the rest of the day.