Search - Soviet, Freezepop, White Town Heaven 17 :: Electricity Vol II - (Amazon.com only edition)

If you liked Soft Cells other music, you'll love this....

synthpopheroine | Cleveland, Ohio | 02/27/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I did not like this CD. I listen to bands such as De/Vision, Wolfsheim, VNV nation, Iris, Mesh, Beborn Beton, Neuropa, and most of the Different Drum label bands. I saw in many reviews on amazon.com that people who like the music I do, listened to this and liked it. Im not saying its a bad CD (or I would have given it a one star.) To me, its sounds like the b-sides from 80's bands like Soft Cell (which I also gave a fair chance and did not like.) Some reviews say this is the current state of synthpop or the future of synthpop but to me it sounds too much like a past that hasnt evolved. It reminds me of the background songs in every John Hughes film from the 80's. I gave 3 stars because it is well done and gives a great variety of music from Ninthwave so that I dont have to go and spend 10$ per cd to found out that I dont like these bands. I guess my bottom line on this one is.....
If you liked Soft Cells other music besides Tainted Love, then buy this, you'll love it, its very well done.
If you like current synthpop and more progressive music (bands like Sweep, Mesh, Iris, ect) then you will hate this as much as I did."

Great overview of some of the current synthpop out there

R. D. Waters | Newton, NC United States | 07/20/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"For the variety and price you can't go wrong with this double CD sampler. Great bands such as Soviet, Ganymede, and Spray are well respresented here. I was surprised at the sheer variety of artists. Quite often I complain that synthpop continually emulates Depeche Mode or Gary Numan, but these artists embrace a variety of styles ranging from the breezy pop of NASA to the anthemic dance of Heaven 17.



The high points are many including Heaven 17 "Hands Up To Heaven", Cosmicity "The Dreamer", Spray "Don't You Know Who I Am?" and so many more. There are two low points for me, the absolutely vapid "It Couldn't Be Further From My Mind" by Macondo and the odd inclusion of a noodling, spacey piece by Symbion Project which seems so totally out of place in this collection of primarily pop and dance tunes. Still -- two duds out of 29 tunes sounds like a bargain to me. Highly recommended if you want to get a quick overview of some of the synthpop out there today."