Men at Work
Cargo
(Columbia/Legacy 86608)

What Cargo may lack in actual, verifiable greatness, it makes up for in comfort, like a good bowl of homemade macaroni and cheese.

I hadn't heard this album in many years before recently buying the expanded CD reissue, but I'm sure I've made the argument many times that it's a phenomenal album. Of course that's not the case … it's my 1983 incarnation buried deep inside subsequent years of shifting musical tastes, trying desperately to hold on to the idea that Men at Work must get their due.

So it's easy for me to sit through the unmemorable album tracks, buoyed by the band's energy when I can't be elevated by their genius. And it's easy for me to hear "Overkill" and "It's a Mistake," two of the best singles of the 80s, and excuse the rest of the album as though it doesn't need to live up to that standard.

And it's easy for me to bounce my head along with "Settle Down My Boy," despite its overlength and overall innocuousness, because I remember doing so while listening to the album, sorting baseball cards in my room back in '83.

And to insist that "Dr. Heckyll & Mr. Jive" ought to have been a much bigger single, despite its clunky lyrics and general oddness. And to seize upon the reasonable let's-get-this-arena-rockin' thrills of "High Wire" as proof that Cargo is an underrated, sadly neglected gem, a victim of the whitewash we've applied to its era.

So Cargo is a rare one for me: a simply-not-very-good album that I absolutely love. It doesn't have to be great musically, because it's great at evoking really nice memories. I guess in my heart of hearts, I still sort of wish I were afraid of nuclear war, instead of, like, unemployment. I'd be willing to bet that most of the former Men at Work feel the same way right now.

Review by Morris Knight