Men At Work

Cargo
$6.98
In the early 80s, a previously unknown band from Australia suddenly sprang on the worldwide stage with an amusing but very tasty single called "Who Can It Be Now" before following it up with an even more amusing hit called "Down Under". This band was made up of extremely talented musicians such as Ron Strykert who plays fantastic guitar, Greg Ham who plays the woodwind instruments, John Rees who plays the bass, Jerry Speiser on drums and of course the face of the band, lead singer and for the most part songwriter Colin Hay. They were great entertainers as well and their clowning around on stage tended to be a double-edged sword for them as it seems that their great songwriting and musicianship has been forgotten making them one of the most underrated bands ever.

Listening to the mini-lp replica sleeve (mlps) version of the follow-up and in many ways more cohesive and mature album addressing the sobering theme of nuclear warfare after literally decades it amazes me just how well the tracks have aged over the years. For instance I realise that the guitar-work on "Overkill" is excellent and the guitar solo alone is evidence of just how underrated Strykert is as a guitarist. The influence of the Police and specifically Andy Summers on the guitar work is pretty obvious to me but Strykert does very well with the techniques like the tasteful use of delay and flange as well as the frequently muted appegiatted chords as well as the inclusion of reggae/ska styles especially on the track "Blue For You" but the similarities to Summers' stylings is very evident on "No Restrictions" and you would be forgiven for thinking that Summers himself was doing the guitar work on this track. My favourite and I believe to be the best track on this album is the brilliant "It's a Mistake"; it's simply a pop work of art and almost the perfect pop song with no weaknesses as everything seems to work. Great songwriting, great guitar work, bass work, keyboards everything just seems to come together and click. Change anything and it just wouldn't work and it reminds me of that other perfect pop song by Tears For Fears called "Everybody Wants To Rule the World". There are some tracks though that don't seem to belong and unlike "Business As Usual" where all the tracks seem in place with no fillers, tracks like "Dr Heckyll & Mr Jive" and to some extent "No Sign of Yesterday" don't seem to fit sonically although I can understand lyrically and thematically (atomic warfare) why that track is relevant. My other favourite tracks here are "Blue For You" and "High Wire" as well as the Police tribute (intentional or otherwise) "No Restrictions".

The bonus tracks include "Shintaro" which is nice, a strange filler called "Till the Money Runs Out" and live versions of "Upstairs In My House", "Fallin' Down" and "The Longest Night". The sound quality by the way is very good having been remastered well enough and a folded sheet that opens up to show all the lyrics in both English and Japanese plus the familiar black and white photo of the band in the toilet has been included. Unlike the relatively poor cardboard mlps design made of very thin cardboard shabbily put together that looks like it will come apart once the glue gets old that they did for "Business As Usual", the mlps design here for "Cargo" is very, very good and reminds me of the great designs Sony did for the Billy Joel mlps album series. The "Innocent Man" mlps version is an example of what Sony is capable of with regards quality mlps design if they are ever inclined or motivated to do it.

In summary, a very good 80s album that ages very well and has been remastered well enough and the mlps design itself is one of the best that I've seen.

Highly recommended!

Business as Usual
$7.99
Too bad they broke up after 2 blockbuster international albums!! We all miss Men At Work.

Down Under
$1.29

Men At Work
$14.98
If you like the TV SHOW, Two and a Half Men, starring Charlie Sheen and Jon Cryer, then you should check out this film, which stars the "real" brothers comedy duo, from the 90's. The plot is kind of goofy, but that's okay, because it's a comedy. Stewart Copeland (Rumble Fish, The First Power) performed the film soundtrack as well.