The Vapors - New Clear Days
#295
by Tom Mott
The Vapors
New Clear Days
GENRE: Puttin' the "New Wave" in "New Wave”
Allen’s Rating: 5 out of 5
Tom’s Rating: 6 out of 5
HIGHLIGHTS:
All ten tracks
REMINDS ME OF: The Jam, Hoodoo Gurus, Kirsty MacColl, Joe Jackson's first two albums, The Romantics, Shoes
1. PLEASE Stop what you're doing right now and listen to Spring Collection. PLEASE.
2. If you like it, listen to Prisoners.
3. If you're still with me, listen to Sixty Second Interval. At this point, either your day has been happily derailed, or the rest of this review won't matter anyways. We all have our "secret albums"--those albums that we adore but for whatever reasons, they weren't part of our social life or public life. They might be huge, acclaimed albums but we discovered them on our own they end up being deeply personal. Donovan is that for me. Meat Puppets "Up on the Sun." Sly Stone "There a Riot Going On." Kraftwerk "Computer World." And this album.
All ten tracks play like a Greatest Hits album. Magical, hummable, wonderful songs, with sing-along choruses, infectious bass lines, and addictive double-tracked vocals. Some purists slag on The Vapors as second-ham Jam--they shared a manager and producer--but that's like writing off The Monkees or ELO for being too Beatlesque. You'll miss out. Listen to the original North American release from 1980. It's a better track order, it leaves out the least interesting songs, and it includes their first single Prisoners. It's tight!
NOTE: Link to the original North American LP release: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3PeBNArsu4j9w9uI7kF1Nm?si=sLXXlmmoSjOggKWy1pbILQ
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