This month I have the privilege of reviewing some of rock's legends as they release new albums for the first time in years. "The Fixx" is one of those legends. Their last studio album, "Ink," came out in 1991, leaving the music world without its "Fixx" for far too long. I remember my first encounter with "The Fixx." I was in college, living with my Dad, so I had plenty of money to buy records. Yes, this was "way back when" in the age of vinyl. You could buy a new record for about $5.00 on sale. I was buying records without having heard any tracks, sometimes just because I liked the cover. That's how I bought their first album, "Shuttered Room." The cover was all I needed to know it was different and definitely New Wave. I was hooked after listening to it, purchasing every album by "The Fixx" as it came out. Sixteen years later, I have their newest album, "Elemental," on CD, sitting in my computer for
review.

Most of the original "Fixx" line up is intact. Cy Curnin's haunting vocals are here, along with Jamie West Oram's guitars, Rupert Greenall's keyboards and Adam Woods' drums. Chris Tait takes on the bass playing for the band. Over the years, "The Fixx" produced numerous hits from each of their albums, "Red Skies," "Stand or Fall," "One Thing Leads to Another," "Saved by Zero," "Secret Separation," "Driven Out" and "How Much is Enough." They took three years to write and prepare their new self- produced album.

The opening track, "Two Different Views," is classic "Fixx." I'll be
surprised if it doesn't become a hit for them. The song is about the conflict arising from multiple views of a situation. It starts off soft, with only acoustic guitar. Greenall's eerie keyboards come in with Woods' drums soon after. Curnin's echoey vocals sound as sharp and crisp as ever. Smooth backing vocals round out the song. This is the perfect track to start off the album, sounding like, but not the same as, their best hits. It pulls the listener in, a welcome back to the world of "The Fixx."

"Going Without" is as unlike "Two Different Views" as anything they've ever done. It starts off with guitar twanging, nearly like country. Of course, "The Fixx" uses that twang in an entirely different way. You won't mistake this song for Country at all. It has a "Thompson Twins" feel to it at times. My impression of the song's message is of living with the mistakes of past relationships. "I'd like to pride myself on being a man who gets by in the end/ When all I'm left is circumstance and chance to make amends/ Just a little self respect because the smile makes the man. . ."

Funky bass, and an overlay of electric guitar, dominate the intro of "Is That It?" There's an obvious Rocky Horror influence to this one. It's about being dominated in a relationship, and wondering if there is something else out there. "Is that it after all/ You're the bat, I'm the ball/ I'm a slave to your trade/ Are we compatible?" "Happy Landings" is moody and soft with acoustic guitar and Cy Curnin's warm vocal. The melody gives the feeling of travel and distance leading to the happy landings of the title. Musically it sometimes reminds me of "Split Enz." The song examines the futility of geographic solutions. "It takes more than a full tank of gas/ To drive away from thepast."

"Silent House" continues the theme of letting go of the past, setting free its ghosts. The lyrics are awesome and haunting. "Oh temptation well I was born a libertine/ If there's one lesson it's only me that sets me free/ Hiding eyes so aware of what they've seen/ I'll face the music and the scene." A deep bass line drives "Fatal Shore," a song steeped in mystery and rhythm. Curnin sings of gene pools and chromosomes, battlefields and blood. I'm not sure what it all means, but survival of the fittest comes to mind. It's definitely heavy. "Ocean Blue," with its complicated percussion, is pleasing to the ear. Greenall's keyboards play the dominant role through much of the song, with Oram gradually adding more and more guitar as the song progresses. It's a wonderful effect. Wavelike keyboards bring home the feeling of oceanic proportion to the song. This is one of my favorites from the album. The message is of our smallness in the grand scheme of things.

"You Know Me" starts off with funky guitar. It's a definite departure for
"The Fixx," sounding unlike anything they've done before. The subject matter is pure "Fixx," though, telling the story of seeking for more than just sex or shallow things in people. "Me, I need the spiritual touch/ It's something where the road unwinds/ Deep in the back of my mind/ Something bigger than both of us/ And it's more than sexual."

"We Once Held Hands" maintains the move toward a different sort of sound, which really begins with the first songs, gradually shifting away from what might be called the classic sound of "The Fixx." Opening with whispered lyrics, soft bass and Arabic sounding keyboards, the song examines the Gulf War - or at least the problems and politics surrounding oil and the Middle East. The song has wild, out of control guitar work through some of its passages. It points out that once we were all brothers, "We Once Held Hands." "Life's What's Killing Me" carries "The Fixx" farthest from their old sound. It has its high points, but I don't particularly like this song.

Highlights for me on this album were "Two Different Views," "Happy Landings," and "Ocean Blue." A new album by "The Fixx" is always a welcome event, particularly if they keep up their quality, as they have here. You need this.