We fail to recall by whom, how, or when exactly we got turned on to Australian rockers Boom Crash Opera, but we do remember very much enjoying the band's self-titled debut [Warner Bros-1987], with its catchy tunes, tight arrangements and crisp production--the latter courtesy of noted producer Alex Sadkin, who died tragically shortly after completing work on this album--which we owned on pre-recorded cassette (!) no less.
BCO never took off here in the US, and we soon forgot about them. (They kept releasing studio albums in their homeland for another decade, and after a lengthy hiatus are said to be back.) But we've been recently dusting off some old issues of "5" from its email newsletter days and came across a mention of this particular album--What would a hard-rockin’ Duran Duran have sounded like?--which is sadly out of print. Prompted by this, we did a little research and were quite pleased with what we found.
While it wasn't their biggest hit, "City Flat" was our fave track off the record and quite representative of BCO and the engaging attributes we mentioned before. So, we thought we'd take you on an '80s Fixx/INXS/Tears for Fears-type nostalgia ride:
