Published on Oct 9, 2003
I think the first time I seriously experienced “sophomore slump”
was in 1984, when I purchased the second Men At Work album
Cargo. Like thousands of other fans, I had gotten hooked on
the quirkiness of “Down Under,” “Be Good Johnny” and “Who Can It Be
Now,” and was anxiously awaiting (undoubtedly with borrowed money
from my parents) the day when
Cargo hit the shelves.
But after I had torn off the shrinkwrap and listened to the
whole disc, I remember walking away from the album a tad
disappointed. Sure, the lead-off single “Overkill” was decent, if
not as powerful as the singles from
Business As Usual.
In truth, Colin Hay and crew were learning how tough it can be
to follow up a debut smash – especially when those songs were the
ones which the band had plenty of time to craft and shape into
something wonderful.
Cargo sounds rushed at many points in the album, and though
it does have some great moments on it, one wonders what could have
been had the band received more time to work on it.
The lead-off track “Dr. Heckyll And Mister Jive” is the first
obvious warning sign. Almost sounding forced into cutesy territory,
this whole song doesn’t work from the get-go. Lyrically inept and
musically weak, this is not the way to kick off an album. (Scarier
still is that there was once a video for this song. Thinking back
to over 17 years ago, I do remember Hay looking relatively
bored.)
The two well-known tracks, “Overkill” and “It’s A Mistake,” are
still remembered for good reason, as they are undoubtedly the best
tracks on
Cargo. The former almost being a diatribe about paranoia,
the latter an anti-Cold War treatise, each one has its own unique
charms in both structure and lyric, and sound surprisingly fresh
even today, nearly 20 years since they were released.
Yet there are some hidden gems on
Cargo. “Blue For You” is a lightly-peppered reggae beat
which may be a little light on the lyrical content but is a
pleasant listen nonetheless. “No Sign Of Yesterday” has hints of
“Down By The Sea” in its basic structure, but is powerful enough to
stand firmly on its own and prove its own mettle. Same goes for the
disc’s closer “No Restrictions,” an energetic number which
sometimes feels like both the band and the listener are racing
towards the end of the album.
Yet for all these strengths, it is the weaknesses on
Cargo that stand out. “Settle Down My Boy” almost feels like
a sequel to “Be Good Johnny,” but has none of the quirkiness and
charm of the original, sounding almost like a parental lecture —
something I was actively trying to avoid when I was 13, thank you
very much. “I Like To” tries to nail down the inspired silliness of
“Helpless Automaton” and fails miserably, while “High Wire” falls
flat despite Hay’s attempt to make this track into something
special.
No matter what Men At Work could have put out, it would be
compared to
Business As Usual due to the unexpected success of that
first album. While this might not be fair to
Cargo — indeed, the band does experiment more here than
they did on their debut — it does happen nonetheless. Truth be
told, had
Cargo been released as the debut, chances are Men At Work
would never have reached the level of success they did enjoy. The
long-time fans will still find things to enjoy on
Cargo, but the rest of us can get by with any number of 80s
hits collections to harvest the solid tracks from.