Flock Of Seagulls.

I had ridden the coat-tails of mocking this band, largely because of the reason everyone did. The hair.

Mike Score, lead singer of the band sported some crazy hair and was critically burned for it. It was a classic case of judging the book by the cover and I sorely admit it.

To be fair, Mike was a hairdresser as he started the band. Surprised? Further, I didn’t even know that Ali, the drummer and Mike were brothers.

During my 80’s revival phase not too long ago, I picked up the first Flock Of Seagulls album on vinyl and to my surprise… I loved it. I showed it in one of my You Tube videos and tried to atone for my senseless derision of the band for so many years.

Recently I bought their second album, from 1983, called “Listen”.

It is ALSO great. Maybe even better than their first self titled album.

“A Flock Of Seagulls – Listen”

This is the album the hair shot is from, but you can see the 80’s dripping all over all the guys in the band on the back cover.

Notice all the hand jives.

At any rate, I listened to this and absolutely loved it. Sort of a happier Gary Numan with a hint of dance in its blood. I can’t recommend both of their first 2 albums enough. Sorry it took me over 30 years to realize it.

Interestingly, as I talked with Mike E. (hi Mike!) about music, and that I was listening to this he asked something about the band and I had to look it up. To my surprise, I found out that they had just reunited and done an album in 2018! No way.

Check out this quick interview with the band. Note no more crazy hair on Mike.

They mention Jonathon Livingston Seagull. Oh man, that connects with me on a lot of levels.

The new album is called “Ascension” and yes, I have ordered it from the library.

For some background on why this reunion is so amazing, you need only watch a few minutes of this VH1 show “Bands Re-United” on Flock Of Seagulls to see what they were up against.

None the less, a new album, with all 4 original band members is real and happened.

This is the cover.

Prague Philharmonic Orchestra? Hmm… normally I shy away from albums that are orchestra accompanied, but I’m going to keep an open mind. After all, Neil Diamond’s “Jonathon Livingston Seagull” album is fully orchestrated and I love it.

I’m not sure it’s fair to be jumping into this new album without having first listening to the 3 that came before it and after the 2 that I have, but…

First impressions:

I have to say that while I was skeptical that the orchestra was going to add to the sound of the band, I was deathly afraid it would altogether ruin it and sound wholly pretentious and this would quickly never be listened to again.

However, it’s good!

The orchestra creates a dramatic lead in and helps to fill out the sound, carefully weaving in and out and not overtaking the song itself. I was actually impressed. Far better than I could have imagined. Don’t get me wrong, given the choice I would still listen to the original albums, but this IS something you could add to a Flock Of Seagulls mix and they would blend right in. That’s the word I think… blend. The orchestra and the band blend well.

Add to that the fact that it’s been almost 30 years for this band, they sound fantastic.

Great job Flock Of Seagulls, glad you could put it all aside to complete this CD and have a nice conclusion to the legacy of the band.

Bravo.