The Other Ones

This is one of the first CDs I ever bought. I really have no idea what I was thinking at the time because it’s kind of lame. I guess I have to remember that in 1987 there weren’t that many cool bands releasing their records on CD (at least not at Musicland in the Northwoods mall where I would make my ill-informed music consumer decisions). The shelves were stocked mostly with The Beatles and your typical major label pop groups—in the absence of “Ringo” on drums, I’m pretty sure The Other Ones fall into the latter category. Perhaps I am being somewhat harsh because they aren’t really that bad. The single “Holiday” is probably what drove me to buy this CD and it is about as upbeat as a song can get. This single, like the rest of the CD, is awash with late 80’s digital synths and chorus-y guitar effects. With my love of cheesy horror soundtracks, I actually am turning back on to this sound these days, but the problem is that they tend to fill the rest of the disc with ballads. “We Are What We Are” is good, and I could see myself slow dancing the night away to this song but I would have preferred more tracks like “Holiday.” It’s hard to believe that one of the members of this group went on to create the legendary, thumping techno-soundtrack to Run Lola Run. Also, as an aside, this is the most valuable CD in my entire collection. I see it selling for nearly $100 for a used copy on Amazon.com!