Through the teens, we saw the 80's as junk. In the late teens, you might have discovered that Sonic Youth and Pixies were infact very dominant during those times. So you'll give it that, and maybe a couple of really good songs, held back and restrained by the sound. Now, a young adult, if you still have an interest in what the 80's were capable of dishing out, you might want to look into Wall of Voodoo.

Yes yes yes... "Mexican Radio." No, I completely understand, it is a great song. I loved growing up to it aswell. But have you ever wondered what else these guys have come up with? A fair number of releases, all worthy of hearing. A surprise, I know. Their second full length, and final with original frontman Stan Ridgway,"Call of the West," has the weight of a successful single to keep it in the memory. Their original self titled EP had a very creative and very inventive cover of Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire." Now squished between these two peaks is an album so obscure and now so rare to find that it really only "exists" to the underground collectors.

I had yet to hear a band that has been "successful" with the 80s sound, instead of just being oppressed by it. I just avoided the synthesizers and big hair completely for as long as I could, until I ran into these guys. In an era of awful and usually laughable sound executions, we find a band that actually had their own sound. It is rich, slightly off, a clashing of genres to show their variety of influences, and once you enrich yourself in it, very much the sound of Wall of Voodoo.

"Dark Continent" is the band's first full length, coming before their successful "Call of the West." Before mentioning the quality of the songs, let me tell you what's going on. Vocalist Stan Ridgway is as much of an entertainer as he is a lead singer. Through an affirmative and stern yelp, he delivers songs about working class individuals, being in the jungle, realizing animals are switching places with us on the food chain, and an overall mindset of people competing with an industrial over-kill. The lyrics attempt to stay afloat with a respectable sound against a sea of mechanical disaster and synthesized creativity.

Backing up Stan's vocals, we have Marc Moreland's well-before-its-time Western twang and screeching. He delivers some insanely catchy and weird squalls of sun-dried guitar whines, if anything just creating a contrast to the mechanical beats. Joe Nanini takes it upon himself to layer percussion above and around the synthesized beats created by Chas Gray and Marc's brother Bruce, who also plays the bass guitar. Nanini's technique to the percussion is about as original as Stan's approach to lyrics and delivery. While occasional whole bar beats and crashes are done, Nanini is more interested in smashing away on pots, pans, pieces of metal, and any other "weird-sounding" thing that these guys could come up with. Unique at the very least, the percussion brings the Wall of Voodoo sound full circle.

All told, a good sound during a time of band sounds is NOT enough to carry a band. No, I understand that. Where Wall of Voodoo succeeds is in drawing you into their world, and once they have you there, anything they throw at you makes sense.
This is not a singles band, although their songs would work extremely well as personal anthems to the existential heroes battling the evil machine in any of Terry Gilliam's films.

"Red Light" begins the album. The layering of synth and beats clash right away to make a surreal sound, while kitchen percussion clatters away in the background. Ridgway points and declares to all who will hear "There's a red light in the window, and a Blue Light in the car/ They'll be running, maybe won't get far."

"Two Minutes Til Lunch" takes the opposite direction in delivering a more natural sound. A very quirky and catchy bassline is finally assisted by a lost Western harmonica and Moreland's electric screach. It is very catchy, and Ridgway's lyrics only make it that much more interesting: "Don't touch that you'll blow this place up!"

As cool as the previous song was, "Animal Day" makes it a tough battle for Favorite Album track so far. Hooky as heck with its harmonica piece and guitar twang working together, the song is definitely weird and only gets weirder once Ridgway opens his mouth and delivers reliable nonsense.
"Uh oh! Well there's hair on my hands/ Better run for the mirror/ I'm an animal" He then begins to explain the role reversal of animals as they run us over with cars, seals clubbing us, dogs calling us Rover... yeah, I'm dead serious. But these guys know what they're doing. The song ends in an instrumental climax as the guitar begins to wail away respectably, reassuring the listener that although the band is peculiar they are infact grounded.

"Full of Tension" exists as a small number showcasing Ridgways' still lingering desire to speak like he is in a 50s suspense/sci-fi thriller. The backing band have fun clashing away and keeping you disoriented. "Me and My Dad" continues in that vein, with affirming lyrics with a dead pan delivery, a quick drum beat and a swirling of mechanical insanity.

"Back In Flesh" is definitely one of the band's solid songs. A catchy bassline holds together a placehold for Moreland's tricky twang, and the schizophrenic delivery of the lyrics. It is very catchy, and very cool for the entire run. The song reaches an A-Plus level when Moreland and Ridgway begin to scream at one another, a classic Wall of Voodoo moment for those who remember live renditions of "Can't Make Love."
Frantic, undanceable beats fall all over the place while sped-up, noisey percussion create unthinkable fills and ques.

An extremely slow fade in for "Tse Tse Fly" help make the song the album's epic track. Once fully in, Ridgway preaches of passing through a jungle being bitten at by the titled insect. Bass and guitar interplay with one another, and the synth and percussion by this point are doing their own thing completely. Naturally, sounds of insects swarming and flying is qued all over the place and the band members only go that much further to make things more frantic with uncalled-for instrumental stabs and strikes.

"Call Box" holds a steady pace and reaches sing-along status several times, a change of pace following the darker shadows of "Tse Tse Fly." There is nothing intelligent about Ridgway's rhymes here; the mere fact that he has decided to go through with them is enough credit in itself. By this point, the instruments that may have sounded awkward before are now becoming very familiar and making that much more sense. In other words, they're getting to you.

A beat resembling a ticking clock, a swirling sound effect and the babble of a baby introduce us to "This Way Out." Once in, the bassline is very catchy, not unlike "Two Minutes Til Lunch" and the guitars and synth parts work together. For the chorus there is actual emphasized beats and crashes. It is more musical in theory for them, but ofcourse they do things to it that one wouldn't have thought up.

"Good Times" and "Crack the Bell" bring the album to a solid close. "Good Times" boasts a catchy and quirky little keyboard part, only to be thrown aside for a epileptic guitar whining, back and forth. "Crack the Bell" fools around with an offbeat keyboard part which somehow still aligns itself with the beats. Moreland crunches and almost riffs away accordingly. The song sounds light and cautious for some time, then as the ending nears the instruments and their supporting parts seem to deteriate and everything becomes hazy. The guitar begins to grind, Ridgway yells away almost muffled in the background while Nanini freaks out on some bells and triangles. I'm SERIOUS.

And... there you have it. Yes, in theory, it's a bit hoaky, I'm sure. However, nothing sounds good on paper. The prospect of barbershop quartet vocals, big beats and indie instrumentation doesn't sound like a winning combination, but it sure worked for Tv on the Radio. Consider Wall of Voodoo the 80's TotR, just with different goals in mind.

"Dark Continent" is probably Wall of Voodoo's strongest release. Once Ridgway left, the band was a different entity yet it chose to follow in the same vein. Although the album lacks a few of the solid, solid songs from "Call of the West", namely "Factory","Lost Weekend" and "They Don't Want Me," it makes up for it in sheer scope and vision. "Call of the West" does hold a lack of cohesive feel, and gets uneven at times, peaking with strong songs and then slumping with oddities. "Dark Continent" on the other hand is solid from start to finish. It is probably better that the songs remain the same amount of intrigue and catchiness because if there were stronger songs, they would break the flow, such is the case with "Call of the West."

I strongly recommend listening to this album, or any of the other Ridgway-era ones, to start with atleast. It is annoying that so many people simply regard the band as a one-hit wonder when they were so much more and had so much more going for them. I was surprised enough to find an actual 80's band using the 80's sound and limitations to its own devices and creating a completely original style to call their own. For any of you who are fans of just the 90's and up music, I'm telling you now, you are now officially missing out. Get digging.

Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Cleaning the House