Tuesday, April 15, 2008

MI-SEX - Where Do They Go?



Mi-Sex first gained notoriety in their native New Zealand and Australia in late 1979 with their electro new wave chart hit, Computer Games. Although the band continued on until 1985, no other single brought them as much success.

Their more straightforward, pop-oriented final LP, 1984's Where Do They Go?, contains no less than two essential new wave treasures in addition to a healthy dose of others that are pretty enjoyable.

Castaway and Blue Day - both released as singles - are not tunes you'll likely hear on flashback radio, but ones that have "80s classic" written all over them. The former is an peppy, insanely catchy sing-along number, while the reflective Blue Day sounds like the best song Men at Work never wrote.

The reggae-tinged title cut is another highlight, as is the the lively pop of Falling in and Out, 5 O'Clock (In the Morning) and Don't Look Back in Anger.

This album tries to be nothing other than radio-ready new wave without many twists and turns, but it is a worthwhile listen all the way through. The powerful lead vocals by the late Steve Gilpin are particularly notable. Unfortunately, Gilpin died in 1992 after being struck in a car crash.

Mi-Sex - Where Do They Go? (LP, 1984)

Track listing:
1 - Only Thinking
2 - Where Do They Go?
3 - Castaway
4 - Blue Day
5 - I Lose Control
6 - Falling in and Out
7 - Making Love on the Telephone
8 - 5 O'Clock (In the Morning)
9 - The Stranger in You
10 - Don't Look Back in Anger

WEB LINKS:
- Mi-Sex on Wikipedia
- Informational site on Mi-Sex vocalist, Steve Gilpin
- Blue Day video on YouTube
- Castaway video on YouTube

2 comments:

Uncle E said...

Dude, I consider myself a fairly obscure music afficianado, but a good portion (more than I'd like to admit, actually) of your posts and LP choices are stuff I've never heard of! Damn you! Thanks to you and your posts I'll now have to buy me one of those vinyl-comuter-MP3-converter jobbies and start re-investing in actual records!
Keep it up, man. You're turning me on to some really good stuff!

*(By the way: VERY disappointed I haven't seen a post by you on Blue Peter or The Spoons as of yet...;)

Frank K said...

Haha I'll have you know I take pride in that, my friend!

Oh, and I just got two Blue Peter CDs in the mail. I was gonna find the vinyls, but the CDs had so many bonus tracks I couldn't resist. Love what I have heard so far. I am gonna write about it, but not post the music since it's easily available on CD. Thanks for turning me onto them!