Walkie Talkies - Surveillance 1980 (UK)

This album features the amazing Dave Stewart who guests on almost all of the tracks, which are all written by Dave Fuller. At the time Stewart was working with Brubeck. In fact a good point of comparison would be the band UK. It's very varied, all over the place stuff, with even some reggae, but enough progressive elements to make it highly interesting for us. A 'discovery' from the mighty osurec, we present you with a new and crystal clear rip today.

For canterbury fans, note that the beautiful and amazing Amanda Parsons sings on track 1.


From rym, some dead-on reviews:
"This is jazz rock music, with modern keyboards. The keyboards are varied, rythmic, floating, solos. There are some very interesting moods made by Dave Stewart. The acoustic guitars are omnipresent. Well, the songs are unequal: the lead and backing vocals are very disappointing. They are really not able to produce any catchy and/or addictive mood. Every time you hear a voice here, it is dramatically bland. The electric guitar is well played, but it lacks so much presence and originality: it sounds like the dull sound of Daryl Stuermer in the late 70's!! When the guitars are not solos, they are really good. The longer tracks at the end of each side are better: no vocals on them. They are quite loaded and even progressive. Dave Stewart can produce very urban keyboards sounds here. There are some fretless bass parts, and some Camel's eighties clean guitar notes. Sometimes it can sound a bit like Alan Parson of the 80's, but definitely less catchy. The drums are very good."

"Rob Spensley, a rock solid bassist, and Dave Fuller, an acoustic guitarist who succeeds in sounding power-assisted, gather around them a number of distinguished hired hands to produce music that touches several bases. Along the way you get high-flyin' harmonies, spacey synth sounds, healthy dollops of jazz and even a smattering of Police style reggae, performed to a high standard. Even so it's unlikely to get within sniffing distance of the charts. Are all the groups from Guernsey as confusing as this ?"


Tracklist:

Side 1
Whose World Is This?

We Tell No Lies
Spin It Out
Photosynthesis


Side 2
Cover Up
Man On Cobo Bay
Surveillance
Dangerous Dancing