Norm de Plume

The reason I bring them up is because I just bought compilation discs of both bands, and they are among the best CDs of music I have yet heard.

Americans might not be familiar with these bands, and indeed even many Canadians will not have heard of Strange Advance, but any Canuck who grew up in the '80s is familiar with Glass Tiger.

If you are at all interested in melodic pop from the eighties, you can't go wrong with either The Best of the Best: Air Time by Glass Tiger or Worlds Away and Back by Strange Advance.

From the G.T. collection I most like the tunes "Diamond Sun", "Thin Red Line", "My Town", "Don't Forget Me" (probably their best-known song), "My Song", and "Someday". All but 2 of the 17 tracks are nice. Alan Frew's vocals are extremely resonant.

From the wonderful S.A. collection I most like "We Run", "Till the Stars Fall", "Worlds Away" (new rec.), "She Controls Me", "Perfect Day", "The Second that I Saw You", and "Alien Time". This disc contains no weak tracks, in my view.

johnbook

Yes i enjoy glass tiger "someday" being my favorite song, i once owned there cd the thin red line but found myself really only liking the two radio hits off the album so i sold it...

strange advance i've never heard of...

Celtic Bob

GT are great.
Saw them live for the first time last summer. What a time!! They lost the power so the singer did a couple things on an acoustic for us up front. The band also took turns chugging beers. I got a Heiniken bottle signed by Alan. One of the ones he chugged in stage.He wandered around after signing stuff and meeting people.

Numanoid

Wow, I can't believe someone here knows Strange Advance. I have had a compilation of theirs for a while, Over 60 Minutes With... I'm a collector of '80s synthpop/New Wave, and I was introduced to them through another collector. Aside from these couple of compilations, their stuff is really hard to find, and when you do, it's pretty pricey. Even the collectors don't seem to be very aware of them.

I'm familiar with Glass Tiger's hits, but not much else. I tend to lean more toward the non-mainstream, and GT were just a little too radio-friendly for me. Maybe I'll pick up that Best Of and see what else they did.

iggystar

Never heard of Strange Advance. I know Glass Tiger from their radio hits though. I've thought of getting their greatest hits before, now I'm going to put it on my wishlist. Loved "Someday", good song.

Stats

Is there a more mainstream '80s synthpop band that you would compare Strange Advance's music to? That's the genre I grew up on and I still listen a lot to 80s Depeche Mode and Pet Shop Boys. I'd love to expand my collection with some new artists in the genre. Thanks.

Numanoid

I guess they're kind of reminiscent of earlier Depeche Mode, or Alphaville, with a little Ultravox mixed in. Not really dark, but not really too light either.

Norm de Plume

Yeah, Alphaville is a good comparison. From what little I know about Ultravox - I only have their "The Collection" album - I wouldn't compare them to these two. I find Ultravox produces a less pleasant, more clinical kind of sound.

I'm glad others out there like these groups. As I said, I think both collections are shoo-ins for synth-pop (thanks; that's the specific term for which I was searching) enthusiasts.

Numanoid, it's true that G.T. is the more mainstream of the two, and they are unfairly (in my opinion) denounced by some as fluff, but the best-of disc features some beautiful stuff, especially "Diamond Sun" and "Thin Red Line" in addition to all the more familiar tunes. I find the review at AMG too dismissive. We're not talking about vacuous trash like Britney Spears or boy bands here.

Anyone interested can purchase these at the Canadian branch of Amazon - www.amazon.ca (I wouldn't normally shill for a corp. like this, but the Canadian site has some very good CD prices. Of course, Americans have to pay a nominal cost for shipping)
The Glass Tiger compilation "The Best of the Best: Air Time" is $14.99 Cdn. The Strange Advance disc "Worlds Away and Back" is $12.99 Cdn.

You can listen to snippets of the first five songs on both albums.

bill_n_opus

Glass Tiger had a couple of decent songs ... but I never really liked them that much. Probably because of the heavy, heavy rotation on the airwaves due to CRTC regulations about Canadian content.

Hearing GT pretty much every 45 mins just did me in.

Strange Advance had a couple of good songs. Actually, I used to love "We run". "She Controls Me" is decent too. Can't say I remember any other SA songs apart from the radio releases.

Speaking of these bands - I used to love "Nova Heart" by The Spoons. Remember those guys?

Stats

Thanks for the reply. Like Norm de Plume, I'm not a big fan of Ultravox so I'm glad SA is only a "little" bit like them. I'll check SA out.

Norm de Plume

Asia is another group with comparable sounding music.

Numanoid

Ultravox happens to be my favorite band of all time.

Norm de Plume

That's understandable. The overplaying of anything, even if it's one's personal fave, can lead to dislike.
Embrace our differences Anyway, I don't dislike Ultravox.