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Visage This first album of Visage's was truly wonderful, with every single song a classic. Although the best songs the group did were on their next album, overall this one is so far superior that it's not funny. The sounds are a bit dated now, but since the album came out in 1980, that shouldn't be too surprising. However, most of them still sound surprisingly good, even now. The sound isn't as purely synth as some of the other bands that were coming out around the same time and attracting pretty much the same crowd, like Soft Cell or Spandau Ballet, since Midge Ure added a harder edged guitar song to many of the songs, but the sound is still strongly New Wave as is the theme. The title song, "Visage," is a wonderful dancey song, with a French accent on the title, nice synthwork and a piano intro. The song is one of the best here, showing that Steve Strange had more talent than just a self-promoting doorman at a gay nightclub. The beat here is punchy and the song is very catchy. "Blocks on Blocks" established a moody, slightly dark New Romantic theme which other bands would pick up on (and even improve on in many cases.) It has very clever synthwork, but it's not as exciting as "Visage" and the sound is more primitive. "The Dance" is an instrumental, with tough punk-influenced guitar but a very New Wave dance beat, and plenty of synth sounds as well. "Tar" has a very similar sound to "Blocks" but has considerably more clever lyrics, including a condemnation of cigarettes. The next song is the one most remembered by Visage today, and if any yanks have heard a Visage song, chances are it's the classic "Fade To Grey." Even now, after years and years of hearing this song, I think it's wonderful, with delightfully delicate synth sounds that erupt suddenly into a dark New Romantic synthscape of atmosphere. Even the fact that it lacks any real lyrics (nine lines in all, I think including the chorus, and the spoken French girl parts) don't make it any less interesting. "Malpaso Man" is considerably harder, and features a lot of guitar, which "Fade to Grey" lacked completely. Steve chants a description of what sounds like Clint Eastwood in any spaghetti western, and the synth and drum parts are very energetic and lively. Next comes "Mind of a Toy" a much more atmospheric piece with a dark, synthy New Romantic theme and a slightly slower dance beat. It segues very neatly into "Moon Over Moscow," another instrumental. This one is much more synth-oriented than "The Dancer." This in turn segues even more nicely into "Visa-age," a clever play-on-words with the group's name, another dark New Romantic dance song, that has a feel of Cold War spies disembarking from the Prague airport with sensitive data. Yes, I like the 80s atmosphere, alright? Anyway, I think this really sums up that feel nicely. The final track is yet another instrumental, "The Steps." This one is not danceable at all, in fact it's very slow, ponderous and dark. But that's a big part of what the New Romantic atmosphere was all about, chic film noir atmosphere and cold, dark Eurostyle. Overall, I think this cd is a modern classic, and there are few that can really compare to it as far as influence and trend-setting atmosphere go. Perhaps the only one I would care to put on the same level is John Foxx's Metamatic of the same year, although his influence wasn't nearly so direct. And although The Anvil had some better songs, especially "The Damned Don't Cry," this is the best work Visage ever did. Of course, they didn't really last too much longer after that either, as groups like Depeche Mode, Yaz, the reinvented Ultravox and others came onto the scene and cannibalized the founders of their order, including Visage. But the influence and timeless classics that Visage churned out before all was said and done stand as a monument to the post punk style of the very earliest 80s.