A Flock of Seagulls - Listen

A Flock of Seagulls are remembered more for Mike Score's hair than their music, which is a real shame. Oh sure "I Ran" is often considered their "hit" and the band is dismissed as a one hit wonder which to me makes no sense at all considering they had quite a few songs I remember hearing on the radio. Then again I may be confusing what I heard in my car, with what I heard on the radio.

Coming in a year after the release of their debut Listen was in many ways a stronger and more cohesive album than it's predecessor. Although at the time I read a particularly savage review more of less relegating the band to being a collection of hairstyles and that it's a shame Ali Score wasn't able to do more with his thinning hair.  There was very little mention of the music, other than to say it was formulaic and boring.

This was the album I spent the most time with. I had picked up a cassette copy, back when for five minutes I was so sick of clicks and pops that I decided cassettes were the way to go. They weren't, but on Listen there were several bonus tracks that were cool and at times so experimental they were borderline unlistenable ... but they were really interesting because it showed a band who was working to create their own sound. Like their debut, Listen was produced by Mike Howlett and he seemed to know how to bring out the best in the band.

The album opens with "Wishing (If I had a Photograph of You)" which is an absolutely brilliant pop song, and from there it was one great song after another winding things up with "(It's Not Me) Talking" a song that should have been a huge hit. The music was fresh, and very keyboard oriented, but it was anchored by Frank Maudsley on bass and Ali Score on drums. Yeah, I'm sure he was rocking a Simmons kit, but you can hear his breakables and Paiste gets a shout out on the insert.

The dark and moody textures created by Mike's vocals and keyboards was taken to another level by the sonic textures created by Paul Reynolds guitar work. It's mind boggling to think that when Listen was released Paul was only 21, and his ability to work with delay and an EBow to bring about harmonic sustain and long droning notes was simply incredible. It was all in the service of the song. Paul was always the secret sauce that separated A Flock of Seagulls from their contemporaries.

It's funny how quickly things change. A year later the band would drop their third album "The Story of a Young Heart" and I was enamoured with the first single from the album, "The More You Live, The More You Love" a song that to me is up their with their best work. However I didn't get the album and after the summer of '84 that would be as far as I'd go with the band. I remember the band came through Vancouver supporting the album and the only thing that was reported was the show was so loud people were worried about permanent hearing loss. 

Sadly around this time Paul Reynolds would embrace the drugs side of rock and roll, and the tour would be cut short as Paul would leave the band to get himself together.

For a brief period of time these guys helped to define the '80s, and the music has survived, but so has the memory of Mike's hair ... of which he has none now.