Three albums from the 1980s that did not age well

Men At Work - Two Hearts

Two Hearts was made when Men At Work were falling about as a band. Only three of the original five members were involved in the making of the band's third album and it shows. The instrumentalists are fine, but the group doesn't sound nearly as tight. The production comes through as singer Colin Hay and everything-musician Greg Ham seemed mostly on their own and sometimes joined by guitarist and co-founder of the band, Ron Strykert. Strykert left the band during the recording of the album.

Men At Work are an odd band in hindsight. They had a sound that was far more popular than likely anyone expected and that meant that there was going to be tension eventually. The band would have had to have been satisfied with falling a bit out of general favor and more into a band like the Dave Matthews Band where the group still made sterling albums but didn't expect there to be 10s of millions sold. That obviously didn't happen.

Yet, Two Hearts did produce lots of good songs, in my opinion, and two fantastic singles, "Everything I Need" and "Maria." Two other tracks were released as singles, "Hard Luck Story" and "Sail to You" but this was a mistake as neither had to kind of sound for broad appeal. Some critics thought the album sounded too mainstream, but this was part of the issue. Men At Work was never truly mainstream as intended, and Two Hearts didn't fit with everything else coming out in 1985.

The vinyl ends with both sides having songs that are anything but happy. "Children On Parade" ends side one and entails children leaving the world due to their toxic environment. Side two ends with "Still Life" that includes the verse, "With a photographic memory/I could live in a time that used to be/Is this the threshold of a fantasy?/Is there still life at all?" Rough. But for those willing to listen, this album might still hold some meaning.

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