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Artist: DEAD OR ALIVE Title: "Nukleopatra"
Label: Cleopatra Records Reviewed: By Vinnie Apicella Rating:
3.5 Stars
Come on, admit it. Who doesn't remember
passing through the channels and coming across MTV and finding
this wild looking "female" strutting around with the
big black hat as the beat stammered behind the "You Spin
Me Round, Round Baby, Right Round Like a Record Baby Right Round,
Round Round…?" Everybody knew that song. Whether they
liked it or not, they knew it. At around that time, it was 1984-85,
"Dead or Alive" was fast becoming Epic Record's answer
to Boy George with their smash album, "Youthquake."
Yes, "Dead or Alive," and their funky leader Pete Burns,
did their share of shaking up the world, and then some, when
they first arrived on the pop/dance scene in the early '80's.
Their biggest hit, of course, "You Spin Me Round,"
off of their "Youthquake" album, was a club staple
for many years after, and continues to remain their biggest attribute.
The band was in and out during the time that followed, and as
their popularity stateside waned, they picked it up abroad in
places like their native England, and, more recently, Japan.
So, after years spent seeking repeat successes
and the winning formula that seemed to evaporate for them as
quickly as it began, "Dead or Alive" makes their stateside
return with a new recording, the first, we may presume, in quite
a number of years, with "Nukleopatra." Far from being
inactive, Pete Burns and company have done fairly well for themselves
overseas, and gotten off a handful of popular singles, one of
which made its way to the new record, "Unhappy Birthday,"
a 12" remix from the "Fan The Flame Part I" import.
Today, the makeup wearing "diva" adorns himself in
tackier outfits, with a darker image, consisting of black lipstick
and jet black hair, his/her "new" look something a
little more intense and direct than in the past.
The new record features fifteen tracks
interspersed with re-mixes and a twice reworked classic (yep,
you guessed it!), livening things up for the future, that for
an artist like "Dead or Alive," could today be as wide
open as it's ever been. "Nukleopatra" as a song is
bold and direct, like the many others that follow, with the overall
theme derived from the "let yourself go," "be
free" and "Hey, look at me!" attitude, as this
line from that first song shows. "I was a brand new gender,
not a man, woman, boy or a girl, I was a brand new species, in
a mixed up, muddled up, shook up world…"
"Nukleopatra" features a new
wave of techno/dance tracks that might well be topping the charts
already. Among the most compelling they have to offer include,
"Sex Drive" which appears twice, once in regular form
and once in the "Scream-Driven Mix" at the end of the
album (this one's better incidentally). "You Spin Me Round"
appears twice as well, both times produced with different mixes.
The first one comes with the "Sugar Pumpers Radio Remix,"
and the next with the "Jail House Mix," which has a
little more flavor to it, although both versions are sure to
be faves of retro fans, as well as current spinners.
With the exception of their interesting
take on Bowie's "Rebel Rebel," and Blondie's "Picture
This," the best of the newer titles include "I'm A
Star" (for its lyrics, not the music), "Gone Too Long"
and "Spend The Night Together." The supposed U.S. Edition
bonus track, "International Thing," is not listed on
my copy for some reason, but in any case, this is the one that
tops 'em all. The re-mixes and new material are good, but this
is the song I keep reverting back to. Pump this one up, and blast
off. "Now that it's the weekend and the night is mine/ I
need a little extra kick to blow my mind/ Nothing caught my eye
until they brought you in/ A little touch of innocence and so
much sin" Can't you just feel the energy?! Dead or Alive?
That is the question. Is the world ready to be shaken again?
Only time will tell, but for now, "Nukleopatra" makes
a fashionable return for them today, with a hot new look, and
a sizzling new album, that'll be sure to leave club-goers raving
till dawn! |
