Men at Work - Business As Usual (14 tracks) +Album Reviews

Very cool - but not perfect!

Ian Johnston | Independence, MO USA | 12/16/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I'd just like to say that Business As Usual was one of the formative influences in my life when I was growing up. I loved Men at Work then and still do. This album never fails to conjure up the nostalgia for my early adolescence with great tunes, quirky lyrics, and Colin Hay's incredible vocals. Overall, it's a tremendous album, which deserves much respect.Naturally, then, I was excited to see it remastered with bonus tracks from the band's "Golden Era", and snatched up a copy right away. The new remastering is excellent and it is superior in sound quality in many ways to the original CD that has occupied my player for so long. The liner notes are helpful and give a nice retrospective for fans of the band, along with a lot of unique pix of the lads.Which brings me to the extra stuff. The bonus cuts are a very cool and welcome addition. I loved Crazy and F-19 (an experimental ditty if there ever was one), but was frankly puzzled by the addition of the live tracks from the "Brazil" album. Why? I was hoping to get live performances from the "Business as Usual" era, but was instead confronted with two tracks that I already have on another disc! This was somewhat disappointing to me. Why not include live performances from 1981 or thereabouts instead of the reunion concert tracks? Another glaring omission is the b-side "Anyone for Tennis?" which should be on this disc but is sorely lacking.All that aside, the two 1980s-era b-sides and the remastering make this a must-have for any MAW fan. Enjoy!"

World-class pop.

M J Heilbron Jr. | Long Beach, CA United States | 03/29/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The phenomenal ascent of Men At Work had to be seen to be believed. I was present at their Universal Amphitheater concert during one of the first weeks this album was number one, and I saw a group of guys completely taken aback, but genuinely appreciative towards our applause and enthusiasm.
In retrospect, their first album is world-class pop music. It had a definable, unique sound...borrowed from a few sources, sure, but gelling into a wholly original package. The singles were marvelous radio singalongs, but the rest of the album has variety, depth and some impressive musicianship!
The remastering has resulted in the crisp sonic reproduction of a sound that will take you back twenty years, in the time span of a sax break. If the name "Men At Work" gives you any sort of fond recollections, this will be a most worthwhile purchase."

Though uneven and not for everyone, this is a very good jazz

C. Cross | 01/03/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Most people know Men At Work for their hit single "Down Under" (and for good reason) and possibly for their other top 100 singles "Who Can It Be Now" and "Be Good Johnny" . These 3 songs are great 80's rock tunes that alone make the album worthy of a purchase (they at least help its appeal), but the album does contain several other good tracks too. Unfortunately it's all kind of a guilty pleasure which hurts its possibility of being a classic. It's also pretty uneven so chances are you'll skip several tracks. The lyrics aren't that great, but like their singles they're simple and catchy enough to have fun singing along with. The singer I think is sort of love-it-or-hate-it for most of the songs. Its three hits move it up from a 4 to a 4.5 (it's also a kind of unique album musically - it's mostly jazz/blues influenced rock but it has a little new wave thrown in). Overall a very good debut that 80's rock fans and those with an open mind will probably like (and its relatively cheap price certainly helps). Recommended!

Highlights include:

"Who Can It Be Now?

"I Can See It In Your Eyes"

"Down Under"

"Underground"

"Helpless Automaton"

"People Just Love To Play With Words" (kind of)

"Be Good Johnny"

"Down By The Sea" (kind of)"

Men At Work's classic debut is still phenomenal over 25 year

Terrence J. Reardon | Lake Worth (a west Palm Beach suburb), FL | 02/01/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Australian new wave rockers Men At Work's debut album entitled Business as Usual was released in April of 1982 here in the US and late in 1981 in the band's native Australia.

The title for Men At Work's debut album said it all: Business as Usual(good straight rock songs with a reggae influence). This album is indeed a classic.

The band (which consisted of Scottish born guitarist/singer/songwriter Colin Hay plus Australians John Rees on bass guitar, Greg Ham on saxophones/flute/keyboards, Ron Strykert on lead guitar and Jerry Speiser on drums) got signed to Columbia Records first in Australia because of the song "Who Can it Be Now". After the song did well in Australia, America's branch of Columbia/CBS signed the group and released this debut in the spring of 1982. How is this album, read ahead and find out (as I did at age 6 when I kept heisting my sister's LP copy and then subsequently got the cassette in March of 1983 and now the remastered CD).

The opening "Who Can it Be Now" kicks off the album and was the song that gave Men at Work its first US Top 10 hit and is a great rocker. Next is "I Can See It In Your Eyes" and is a great rocker with some tasty solos from Strykert. Next is the chart topping "Down Under" and is a great number and a classic flute solo from Ham and popularized the term vegamite in the US which was unknown outside Australia prior to 1982. Next is the rocker "Underground" which is a great rocker. The first half ends with Greg Ham's vocal debut "Helpless Automaton" which is about a robot helplessly in love.

The second half begins with the Strykert penned rocker "People Just Love to Play With Words" which is a great song. Next is Business As Usual's third and final single "Be Good Johnny" which is a superb rocker. We slow down a bit with the mid tempo "Touching the Untouchables" which is a great song. We follow with the reggae-ish sounding rocker "Catch a Star" which would have not sounded out of place on The Police's first three albums. We end with the classic epic "Down By the Sea" which is, hands down, my favorite track on the album.

This album turned out to be a huge success and was #1 on the US album charts for an astounding 15 weeks in late 1982 and early 1983 (only to be KO'd by Michael Jackson's massive seller Thriller).

I really didn't like new wave much (save The Police and The Cars and some Talking Heads) but Men at Work was one band from childhood I did not ever really outgrow because their songs were catchy and quirky and are still good to listen to 25 plus years on.

The album was re-released with remastered sound in 2003 with FIVE BONUS TRACKS including three live versions and two B-sides.

Recommended!"

Very good package but could have been great

StatMan89 | 08/19/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I give this five stars for the performance--I still enjoy listening to MAW after more than 25 years. The original band had great chemistry and "Down Under" has joined "Waltzing Matilda" as an unofficial Australian national anthem. I give the programming 3 1/2 due to the omission of the B-side "Anyone for Tennis?" (I had to rip it from my old 45--check it out on YouTube) and the inclusion of tracks from the still available "Brazil" album. Contemporaneous live tracks would have been much more enjoyable, and there were a few live songs that never made it to record.

Contrary to the notes, "F 19" was released in the US--just barely. It was originally the B-side of "Be Good Johnny," the band's third single for CBS Australia. That single was never released in the US, but "F 19" finally appeared stateside in 1983 on a 12" with "It's a Mistake" and a remix of "Who Can It Be Now?" I know because I have one. Justice was done here, because "F 19" was a staple of MAW's stage act and is easily their best instrumental.

And whoever mastered this overmodulated it to hell--it just about blew me out of my chair when I first played it. Once I ran it through an MP3 editor and cut the gain a bit, it was fine.

"

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