After The Fire

WHAT YOU KNOW THEM FOR: Not being as cool as Falco.



Though, in fairness, no one is as cool as Falco.




BUT WHAT ABOUT THE REST OF THE ALBUM?

It was suggested to me that I do Falco for this blog. But I couldn’t in good conscience do so, because in addition to “Rock Me Amadeus,” he gave us “Der Kommissar.” But then I remembered that “Der Kommissar” had been covered by After The Fire. I really only knew this even existed because as a teen, there was a commercial for a best of the 80s Time Life collection. You remember those commercials? They had a scrolling list of songs included, with the current one playing highlighted in yellow. After The Earth was one of the highlighted ones, putting them in good company with Men At Work and Toto.

It’s a shame that the 21st century killed off CDs. I was really hoping for a best of the 90s Time Life collection, featuring hits by Candlebox and Positive K. Now, here’s Everclear singer Art Alexakis to tell us more about how you can order.

ATF’s version of “Der Kommissar” actually charted higher than Falco’s. Interestingly enough, ATF was a one-hit wonder in the UK but with a different song. Do they count as a one-hit wonder then? For the purpose of this blog, they do.

*NOTE: This is a compilation, as “Der Kommissar” never appeared on any of their proper albums, and I feel that reviewing just the single kind of defeats the purpose of this blog.

Holy 1980s, Batman! Right from the beginning, my senses are being assaulted by new wave synthpop blandness. I could probably forgive the laser effects and robot voice in “Laser Love” if the song had a strong melody or strong riff or strong laser effects or strong robot voice. If some Congressman had attempted to pass a bill outlawing synthesizers, “One Rule For You” and “Sometimes” provide plenty of compelling evidence to support the bill.

Interesting Wikipedia fact: ATF was supposed to perform on Top of the Pops, but the show’s producers didn’t want more than one synth-heavy act that week, so they went with Gary Numan instead. Good call.

Their cover of “Der Kommisar” benefits from being preceded by nine tracks of crap. Also, by being written by someone more talented. If I can say anything positive about this album, it’s that the music is more forgettable than painful. It’ll be scrubbed from my memory by the time I post this blog.


FINAL VERDICT: Falco is still the man.