I Want Candy
Artist: Bow Wow Wow

For many in America, "I Want Candy" was their first introduction to young Annabella Lwin and the band Bow Wow Wow. The song, a cover of a Strangeloves hit, barely scraped the Top 50, but became an enduring new wave classic. The song gave its name to the band's 1982 release, which was mainly a compilation, but included a couple new cuts produced... Read More

Complete Madness
Artist: Madness
Community Score: 8.00

The 16-track compilation The Complete Madness compiles all of the group's early singles -- from "The Prince" to "House of Fun" -- and adds a handful of classic album tracks and concert favorites like "In the City," "Bed and Breakfast Man," and "Madness." It's thorough and a thoroughly entertaining collection, encapsulating exactly why Madness... Read More

Presents the Rise & Fall
Artist: Madness

Madness Presents the Rise & Fall marks the band's most mature effort and artistic statement. Completely devoid of their early ska influence, they paint a picture of British life in the spirit of the Kinks' Village Green Preservation Society. Though it was never released in the U.S., several tracks were later placed on the compilation Madness,... Read More

White Feathers
Artist: Kajagoogoo

"Too Shy" was one of the flimsiest singles of the new wave era, a cloying and catchy bubblegum tune disguised as synth-pop. Kajagoogoo never quite matched those heights again -- in fact, they rarely even came close. Their debut album White Feathers is filled with similarly lightweight synth-pop like "Magician Man," "Ooh to Be Ah," "Eronomics,"... Read More

So Far Away
Artist: The Chords

In later years, the Chords were often cursorily dismissed as little more than Jam copyists, and while there's no denying that the two groups traveled in very similar musical waters, both drawing from the British beat and Northern soul that filled their youths and sending it soaring through the prism of punk, it's there that the comparisons end.... Read More

Suburban Rebels
Artist: The Business
Community Score: 10.00
Madness
Artist: Madness
Community Score: 10.00

Madness is a U.S. compilation released to capitalize on the success of "Our House." Aside from handful of earlier singles like "Night Boat to Cairo, " "It Must Be Love, " "Cardiac Arrest," and "House of Fun, " the collection's real focus is on material from the previous year's Madness Present the Rise and Fall, which wasn't released in America.... Read More

Fresh Fruit in Foreign Places
Artist: Kid Creole & the Coconuts
Community Score: 10.00

Musical gumbo of esoteric lilting, jazzy, laid-back disco, an acquired taste. ~ Bil Carpenter, All Music Guide Read More

Off the Coast of Me
Artist: Kid Creole & the Coconuts
Community Score: 10.00

Mixing disco, Caribbean music, and strains of big-band jazz, Kid Creole engages in a self-deprecating dialogue with his backup singers, The Coconuts, who dismiss him as "Mister Softee" and plead, "Can You Get Me Into Studio 54?" on this hilarious debut album. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide Read More

The Best of the Damned - ROADRUNNER
Artist: The Damned
Community Score: 7.25

Rock & roll doesn't get much more recklessly fun than the early recordings of the Damned, one of the bands that (along with the Sex Pistols, the Clash, and Sham 69) helped to define early British punk rock. While the late-'70s gems Damned Damned Damned, Music for Pleasure, and Machine Gun Etiquette are all well-worth acquiring, The Best of the... Read More

The Gold Collection
Artist: Kim Wilde