The world of music needed New Wave in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Rock had lived its first great life, but disco had become far too prominent. It was unworthy.
The young lads and lasses in the UK weren't ready to give up on a genre that at that point was only a bit over 20 years old. A second British invasion was underway.
The term New Wave often incorporates many American bands now, but it shouldn't. The entire term comes from the 1960s British rock invasion, and molded rock into the force it became. The new British groups would do the same, thankfully, but in doing so gave us so many great tracks that some brilliant ones have been overshadowed.
These four New Wave tracks are too overshadowed by other excellent songs
The Fixx - "I Live" (1982)
From the band's criminally overlooked debut album, Shuttered Room, which also was home to "Stand or Fall" and "Red Skies" (both of which were later overshadowed by "One Things Leads to Another," from the group's second album, Reach the Beach), "I Live" is a bit more playful than some of the other early songs from the group.
The melody is simple enough and extremely catchy, and while the verses portend doom, the chorus is clever and amusing: "So I live/That's about all I can say/I breathe nearly every day/Some say that it's better this way/That I live, I live."
One can imagine lyricist Cy Curnin laughing to himself while writing the words, but that is part of the charm of the track. Musically rich and vocally enriching, "I Live" remains an underrated bit of New Wave bliss from an underrated New Wave band.
Duran Duran - "New Religion" (1982)
Stately at the beginning, followed by an absolutely funky bass a few seconds later, the track immediately gets one's attention. We might not know what is about to follow, but we likely assume we are going to like it.
"New Religion" is the first song on the second side of the vinyl for Rio, the album that contained the same-titled single as well as "Hungry Like the Wolf." "New Religion" is arguably better than both of those better-charting tunes.
The song also shows off what a tremendous band Duran Duran was, and not simply one formed in the studio by a talented producer. Excellent musicians made the group work, and Andy Taylor's guitar work on this track is brilliant. Fans also get a little vibraphone performed by vocalist Simon Le Bon.
Tears For Fears - "Head Over Heels" (1985)
Off the same album, Songs from the Big Chair, that delivered "Shout" and "Everybody Wants to Rule the World," "Head Over Heels" did have chart success, but is wretchedly underplayed decades later in comparison to the other two tracks previously mentioned. The bass line alone makes the track a treasure.
The video that accompanied the upbeat song was pleasantly peppy, taking place in a library where vocalist Roland Orzabal is trying to get the romantic attention of the librarian. (He wins in the end, it appears.) Plus, there is a monkey and the rest of the band messing about.
Lyrically, the song delivers Tears For Fears' usually intelligent observations of life, love, and the past. The chorus somehow nearly undermines that, but that was almost certainly the point.
The Police - "Tea in the Sahara" (1983)
The final song on the final studio album the Police ever recorded, Synchronicity, is fitting, though perhaps unintentionally so. The song's idea came from Paul Bowles' novel The Sheltering Sky, part of which follows three sisters who have tea with a prince who promises to return, but never does. The Police never returned with a new album either.
The track is definitely a slow burn, and Sting has said that he felt the band played it too fast. He is obviously keen to say whatever he wants, but any slower might have caused too much space between notes.
The somber feel remains more than 40 years later, knowing what happened with the group. Still, the instrumental parts somehow imply hope (while the lyrics definitely don't), and that makes for a rewarding listen.
Add us as a preferred source on Google