Album #128: Pseudo Echo - Love An Adventure

Pseudo Echo

Love An Adventure (1985)

Pseudo Echo sprung up in the mid 1980s in the midst of the synth-pop New Wave explosion, acting as Australia's answer to Duran Duran, Ultravox and The Human League. Bearing more hair than a Tina Turner lookalike contest, and sporting cool fashions of the time (just look at that album cover for proof), they were rather popular with the young, hip musical set, and not just because of their look; but also because of their easily accessible, inoffensive, club-ready synthpop.

Love An Adventure was the band's second album, released in 1985. In terms of the commercial success of the songs on the album, it's probably Pseudo Echo's best, sporting several Top 20 singles, and the international smash Funky Town. Today I bring a review of it to you.

The Album

The sound of the album can best be summed up like this:

SYNTH SYNTH SYNTH SYNTH

GATED REVERB HEXAGONAL DRUMS

SYNTH SYNTH SYNTH SYNTH

guitar

SYNTH SYNTH GATED REVERB HEXAGONAL DRUMS SYNTH SYNTH

It's wall to wall synthesiser lines that harmonise, duel and cross over each other, with groove-setting bass and the occasional flecks of guitar for texture. Actually, that's slightly unfair - there are a couple of cracking guitar solos on the album that are both welcome and energetic. Vocalwise, Brian Canham is no star, merely serviceable. In fact, that probably sums up the band and pretty much all of their material - serviceable.

The only times that Pseudo Echo lift themselves above the banal are where the songs either have an extra bit of verve, or where there's an undeniable hook. Funky Town was an international smash for a reason - it takes a fairly placid, lame disco track and reinvents it as a rocking, synth-heavy party tune. In fact, it's far more grooveable than the original disco track, which is funny given that disco was supposed to be the ultimate dancing music. Its cracking guitar solo is the icing on the cake. Listening is synthpop done right - verses that utilise a darker chord progression, a chorus hook that's easily singable and some pulsating bass work - as is Destination Unknown, which has a good tempo and some pleasing synth and guitar licks.

There are also attempts to try something different. Lonely Without You tries to be a tender love ballad, and it's not a bad attempt, but somewhere, somebody forgot to tell the band that tender love ballads don't often have grating SYNTH SYNTH lines all over the place that kinda ruin the tender mood you're creating, distracting you from all that introspective sadness (though in fairness, the saxophone solo at the end rescues the song). Love an Adventure tries to be all moody and atmospheric, and combine this feeling with some groove-laden, uptempo pop....and again it's not bad, except for the GATED REVERB HEXAGONAL DRUMS destroying the atmosphere with all the GATED REVERBverbverbverbverb.....

Everything else is pretty much just bog-standard synthpop, except for the truly tedious I Will Be You, which is five minutes (FIVE FUCKING MINUTES) of the blandest synthpop you've ever heard.

The Verdict

Love An Adventure is a relic of the 80s, encapsulating many of the sounds, production techniques and instruments that were a key component of the 80s synthpop sound.

The 1980s is probably where they should stay. Albums like this simply sound extraordinarily dated - even the good tracks, while they're still good, sound a little out of place nowadays.

Get Funkytown and Listening, maybe Destination Unknown and Lonely Without You, don't worry about the rest because you're not missing much.

My rating: 4.8/10

Standout Tracks

Funkytown

Listening

Destination Unknown