Since September 2010, this blog has recorded the journey of this music junkie as I attempt to listen to all the music in my CD collection. CDs revisited in their entirety from start to finish - no skipping tracks, no shuffle. Compact Discs only - no vinyl, no tapes, no files.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Heaven 17 - Bigger Than America (1996)


German import

Every now and then, I listen to a CD when I'm not really in the mood to listen to it. This inexplicable practice has a great influence on whether or not I listen to the album again. Take this CD, for example. Being a long-time Heaven 17 fan, I'm sure I ordered this disc online as soon as it was released and probably listened to it as soon as it arrived. For some reason, I didn't like it then. And I feel safe in guessing that I haven't listened to the disc since '96. But now that I listen to it, I can't figure out why I wouldn't like it. It's classic Heaven 17, as good as any of their '80s stuff with plenty of early analog synths. It bears a strong resemblance to music from 1984's How Men Are. I'm happy to rediscover it through this project.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: not released in the US

Tracks: Designing Heaven, Another Big Idea, the title track, and, of course, Freak! (a great title for a great dance track). I want to hit the skip button for Unreal Everything and The Big Dipper.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: I think I was fully online in '95, so by '96 a whole new music world had opened up to me. I wouldn't have heard of this obscure release by a British group if it hadn't been for the Internet. I certainly wouldn't have found a copy of the CD at the local Wal-Mart.

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