The 1981 Listening - Orbits - Q: What... Ans: Nothing

 Reviewed by Stephen Romone Lewis

Released: 1981 Orbits Q: What... Ans: Nothing Genre: New Wave/Synth Pop Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Highlights: Rear View Mirror Q: What’s it sound like? Ans: Lots of Devo-esque “Pssoo-PSSoo” laser sounds mixed with that nasal guitar sound The Cars use. The interplay between the band members is fantastic: the bass, guitar and synth lines weave together, instead of rock’s typical strummed chords. They do NOT sound even a little bit disco. Q: How did the band form? Ans: The keyboard player and drummer from the disco band Tavares were kicking around Boston and started writing poppy rock tunes. Q: Did they steal the idea for the title from Devo’s 1978 disc (Q: Are We Not Men A: We Are Devo) Ans: probably, maybe it’s an homage. Q: Is it worth our time to listen to it? Ans: There is great musicianship throughout, but the lyrics can be childish and the songs sound derivative. If you really love Devo or The Cars, you might love this. Q: Is there anything we DEFINITELY need to hear? Ans: Yes! Unless you are offended by the phrase “Big tits they make me giggle” you should listen to “Rear View Mirror”. I bought this album when I was 14 because I loved the song “Rear View Mirror”. It got heavy rotation on WBCN, and college radio. When I got software to transfer LPs to MP3s, “Rear View Mirror” was one of the first songs I copied. “Rear View Mirror” has a hit worthy chorus, a hit worthy guitar solo, a hit worthy bridge, a hit worthy coda and hit worthy verses. It also has one brief, hit-killing lyric: “Big tits they make me giggle.” Hip 80’s AOR stations played it, especially at night, but you couldn’t go national with “Big tits they make me giggle.” loudly proclaimed in the middle of your tune. Casey Kasem was not going to issue a long distance dedication featuring “Big tits they make me giggle” clearly enunciated for all of middle America to have a heart attack over. Q: Did any of the other tunes get any airplay? Ans: “7 Digits Away”, “Sensors” and “It's A Surprise” all did some time on college radio playlists. Q: How did you come up with a rating of 3.5? Ans: I took off 1 point because it’s an EP with only 8 tunes and I took off .5 because some of those 8 tunes don’t stand up to repeat listening.