Published on Jun 29, 1999
Back in the ’80s, The Fixx were considered one of the top
New Wave artists of their time. Tracks like “One Thing Leads To
Another,” “Saved By Zero” and “Are We Ourselves?” are still heard
on the radio from time to time today. But something happened later
in the ’80s: the public’s ever-fickle tastes changed, and Cy Curnin
and crew were left on the side of the musical highway.
Despite this, The Fixx have always maintained a decent level of
interest, enough to bring forth their reunion disc
Elemental last year. (We reviewed it thanks to Jeff Dinkins;
I still owe Jeff a disc in return.) Now, Curnin and company look
back on their career by moving their old favorites into the new
millenium with
1011 Woodland.
In one sense, I questioned why the band didn’t just record a
full live album to accomplish the same means, but I guess that’s
what the album
React was for. In another sense, I wondered how they could
revive interest in some of these songs by recording new versions of
them. But even for the diehard fan who probably knows the lyrics to
each song, this disc is a nice treasure trove – even if it is less
rock and more contemporary sounding.
The band – vocalist Curnin, guitarist Jamie West-Oram,
keyboardist Rupert Greenall, bassist Chris Tait and drummer Adam
Woods – seems to recognize that they are treading on holy ground by
daring to remake tracks like “Saved By Zero” and “One Thing Leads
To Another,” but they also realize that music changes with the
passage of time, and they were eager to share these new snapshots
with their fans.
Now, I don’t claim to be a whiz-kid when it comes to The Fixx; I
have a few of their albums in the Pierce Memorial Archives, but I’m
not well-schooled in them. So,
1011 Woodland is like taking in a big gulp of fresh air to
me; the diehard fans might occasionally feel otherwise.
The Fixx draw heavily on the first three albums of their career,
which also matches the height of their popularity. Tracks like
“Cameras In Paris,” “Stand Or Fall” and “Red Skies” (all originally
on
Shuttered Room) sound like new life was poured into them,
and the more gentle musical touch – not as keyboard heavy – seems
to make all the difference. It doesn’t work as well on tracks like
“Saved By Zero” and “One Thing Leads To Another” (both off
Reach The Beach), but neither track is horribly changed. (I
do wonder, though, why The Fixx ignored some of their better-known
songs from
Phantoms, like “Are We Ourselves?”, “Sunshine In The Shade”
and “Less Cities, More Moving People”. I mean, they had the room,
with the second disc clocking in at just over 35 minutes.)
But there is enough variety on
1011 Woodland to keep even the diehard fans’ ears tuned in
for each twist and turn. They even made me interested in listening
to
Ink again, though the last time I listened to it while I was
in college radio, I hated it. (The versions of “One Jungle” and
“Still Around” are quite good.) Only
Walkabout seems to get the short end of the stick, having
only one song – “Secret Separation” – culled from it.
Elemental, their last release, even gets one song on this
disc.
1011 Woodland is really not meant to be a greatest hits
package; there are enough of those on the marketplace to saturate
that need. Nor is it meant to be a live album, another hole plugged
by
React and a session from the King Biscuit Flower Hour.
Instead, it is meant to be the portrait of a band looking back over
the course of 20 years and seeing what contributions they have made
to the musical scenery. What
1011 Woodland suggests is that they made more of a mark on
the land than most music fans would admit to these days.
While
Elemental was a decent effort,
1011 Woodland is definitely the album that has rekindled my
interest in this British band. Chances are, if you give this
two-disc set a shot, you’ll experience the same awakening.