Track Listing

1. Anvil
2. Damned Don't Cry
3. Move Up
4. Night Train
5. Horseman
6. Look What They've Done
7. Again We Love
8. Wild Life
9. Whispers

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #111575 in Music
• Released on: 1997-09-01
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Extra tracks, Import

Customer Reviews

Good second album - but how good is this reissue on CD?
It's interesting that Steve Strange stated in his auto-biog that most of the lyrics were thrown together for this album, due to the bands' lifestyle at the time, as only on tracks like "Wildlife" is this apparent. The first 4 tracks (vinyl side 1) work brilliantly together, the harder album mixes of "The Anvil" and "Night Train" being far more coherent than the John Luongo single mixes (although they are also good in their own right). "Move Up" is a personal favourite too, and whilst "Horseman" and "Look What They've Done" are strong tracks the rest of the album is far more low-key.

Having worked through the cassette and vinyl issues I was fortunate enough to get the US 1997 One-Way issue (with the two unrelated bonus tracks) at a sensible price at the time. So what does this CD reissue on Cherry Pop offer the fan, and is it good value?

Value isn't a question here, the US CD goes for silly prices as long deleted, so it's good news for any Visage or 80s music fan that they have reissued the album with additional bonuses. On their website Cherry Red were obviously looking for digital quality sources of "Motivation" and "I'm Still Searching" (plus "Night Train dub"), but not surprisingly they didn't find any, so the b-sides are sourced from vinyl (surface noise is apparent on "I'm Still...", but nothing worse than that).

The first 11 tracks are exactly as per US CD, and don't seem to have been re-eq'd atall (I'm assuming they took straight from that release). As a result the album sounds a little flat, especially compared to the earlier 12" b-side material which is far more punchy. It must be stressed Cherry do not state anywhere that this is a remaster (some naughty sellers are!) and it clearly isn't. However the sound is perfectly acceptable throughout for a budget reissue.

Why they picked the 3 "Mind Of A Toy" 12" dance tracks amongst the bonuses is anyone's guess, bearing in mind good sources have already been used on CD releases of "Night Train Dance mix" and "Pleasure Boys Dance Mix". Also one would've thought a decent 12" copy of "Anvil (Luongo remix)" existed, and there would've been room if they'd dropped the earlier era material.

The liner notes are nicely produced however, giving a general Visage history (not focussing on this album) with scans of the various single sleeves and related press art. Far far better than the poor US inlay :-)

Buy it if you're a fan and haven't got the US version, as it may not be around for long. The b-sides may be from vinyl but they definitely deserve to be here (this is the real Visage "Motivation" track) and overall hats off to Cherry for getting the rights to release this underrated 'classic' of its time.

An underrated 80s Classic
Although famous for the "Fade to Grey" single, this is Visage at their best. The album contains two singles "The Dammned Dont Cry" and "Night Train" which met with some success, but the album as a whole is just great. With the help of Ultravox members including Midge Ure, this goes down as the best album of its kind. However it has taken me years to find this album on CD, but my long search was over when I found 1 copy in a famous London Record shop. The CD contains some bonus tracks which are ok, but its the original album that demands your attention. If your a fan of bands like Ultravox, OMD etc, then give this a listen (if you can get a copy!), you will not be dissapointed !!!

a fantastic 80's album
I couldn't believe my luck when i saw that this album is being releashed i have seen copies on some web sites that want as much as 400.00! so i am very pleased! Anyway enough said. For me everyone associates Visage with fade to grey and the first album. Personally i think the second album 'the anvil' is far better and consistently at a higher level to the first album. If you like Ultravox, john foxx, duran duran etc... you know the type of music. Then this will be a real treat. For me this is one of the all time great 80's albums.