Monsters Are Waiting - Fascination (CD)

All Music Guide

The Eighties are back with a vengeance, the decade that turned clothes horses into international stars and the rest of the population into fashion victims is being revived faster than a heart attack sufferer hit with an amp of epi. Monsters Are Waiting are the latest to join the new wave of New Wavers.Of course, the original wave began surging in the late Seventies, and it's from the precursor postpunk scene that these Monsters were hatched. That's dead obvious from the opening track, "Last Goodbye", the best song New Order never wrote, but could have, perhaps they decided the guitar part was a just a bit too U2) for comfort. "Nobody", too, is unadulterated Eighties, The Cure in dream mode, "HaHa" giggles its way into Goth, while "Don't Go" stutters its jerky rhythms around just like Wire. So far, so wonderfully derivative; which isn't an insult, it takes work and talent to so lovingly recreate the atmospheres and sounds of the past without having lived it or slavishly copying it."Fire...fly", however, suggests that there's much more to these Monsters than mere revivalists. The past still fluttersabout, but here the group sound nothing like any band you've heard before, while the atmospheres shimmer in uncomfortable dreaminess. "Christine", too, defies easy categorization, its militaristic beats and intricate bass line vying with a psychedelic tinged organ and big rock guitar. "Monsters" has an even stronger Sixties flavor, Wire covering The Kinks springs to mind, while the languorous "Time" manages to encompass an entire almanac along the way.Oddly enough, the Monsters hail not from the UK, but LA, and boast a quartet of extraordinarily talented multi instrumentalists. Singer/keyboardist Annalee is a wonder, with the sweetness of Pauline Murray, the energetic punch of Fay Fife, and the disarming straightshooting style of Poly Styrene. The melodies are unforgettable, the musicianship flawless, the production perfect, and the lyrics alternately haunting and anthemic. The Monsters Are Waiting, but not, one thinks, for very much longer. - JoAnn Greene, All Music Guide Read more Less