March 1 1982
Cuddly Toys
Trials and Crosses
Genre: New Wave
4 out of 5
Highlights:
Trials and Crosses
Columbine’s Song/Fall Down
Lo and Behold
Well, color me stupid. I’ve never heard of Cuddly Toys (or the previous band, Raped) but one of these guys would go on to create Family Fodder and that shit was banana crackers good.
And this…well…smack me in my synth-wave nerds and tell me I don’t know anything cuz, jeez, this is a trip.
The foundations of that big New Romantic sound is here, with angular rhythms and tribal thumping amidst a sea of synths that call to mind the better Duran moments.
But it isn’t just New Wave ditties, this thing is grounded in both punk AND grandiosity. You hear the former all the way through it and the latter creeps up on tracks like “Columbine’s Song” but that’s just a lead in to the heavy Wall of Voodoo-ism to “Fall Down”.
Nothing on this lets you down, although you might find Purcell’s voice annoying at times, it’s definitive of the 80s so, in a word, it’s perfect.
https://music.apple.com/us/album/trials-and-crosses-remastered/308594660
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