And One- Bodypop 1 1/2

Artist:  And One

Album: Bodypop 1 ½

Label: Metropolis

Rating 3 ½ out of 5

80 are done in a fun way, and live!

Love is a Drug Abuser new Studio Single
Sometimes, Live
Big In Japan, live
The Great Commandment, Live
True Faith, Live

I grew up on the 80’s, and as such when people cover the 80’s “classics”, 9 times out of 10, they destroy the freaking hell out of the original by making it way too gloss, ridiculously girl-poppy ( “Heaven”, by Bryan Adams, and “In my Dreams “Dokken Remade by ,????.   God, I forget, thank the stars). Such atrocities were only done because in my opinion, to make a quick buck, not to pay homage at all in the least bit, to the actual song, or artist.

This brings me to this album, which I would define as a fun live one.   You can hear by the way they talk to the crowd before each song they cover, the way they deliver each song as if it was one of their own.  I was rather impressed not just by what songs they covered, but how they came out overall.

Covering  such songs as  “Blue Monday”, “True Faith”, “The Sun always Shines on TV(!)” which is a New Wave must that most  Americans don’t even know, And One always stays true to whatever song they are singing from the past, all the while though adding their own little personal  touch to each almost making it their own.

The studio cuts on here are pretty cool too.  “Paddy is My DJ”, and the new single, “Love is a Drug Abuser”, seem destined to be club favorites.  They aren’t as Industrial-stomping as Pannzermensch, but they will be more than effective at keeping a crowd dancing on the floor.

My only wish is that they had made this all studio, as I have a feeling it would have been an instant club classic throughout. 

My personal feeling is a 4 out of 5 album.   Those that do not like live albums though, will still find it enjoyable, I believe, which for them would give it just  the 3 ½  instead.