The Mothmen's first album, Pay Attention, was a trippy dub affair which was released by Adrian Sherwood on his On-U Sound label in 1981. While the band produced the album themselves with no input from Sherwood, it's a dead ringer for Sherwood's own psychedelic dub style. That sound is nowhere in evidence on the band's second album, One Black Dot, released in 1982 on the Do It label. Their style this time around is more conventional, new wave-y with a bit of postpunk funk thrown in. There are hints of other bands throughout the album: the Police, Way of the West, Funkapolitan, The Blue Nile, Modern English, and Medium Medium, for examples. There are many inspired instrumental moments, and it's quite a good album over its ten tracks, but the sound never quite congeals into something distinctive, and there is no killer single (though "Temptation" comes close). The band lineup on One Black Dot is:- Bob Harding: vocals
- Tony Bowers: guitar & sax
- Charlie Griffiths: synth
- Ronnie Hardman: bass
- Chris Joyce: drums
Bowers and Joyce would go on to be part of the original Simply Red lineup. The rest of the Mothmen, I don't know about. Get the One Black Dot vinyl rip here or here.
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3 comments:
Thanks for this. This is one of my all time favorite albums from the 80s. I have the vinyl and a cd-r rip. Nice to see someone else knows about these guys. They were from Connecticut, I think. Funny, but the review fails to mention that this album sounds alot like early Talking Heads, especially the singing.
Oh yeah, Talking Heads, that's another sound thrown into the mix there. They're actually English, though!
Any chance for a re-up of this great album?
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