Wonder I mainly "wonder" why this record was made, but then I "wonder" even more why I am bothering to listen to it. It's a good example of the genre that no one wants to think too much about, "misguided Eurodisco." Slick production values can't disguise the fact that this album is total garbage. I "wonder" if the guy on the front cover, looking like a glammed up/drugged out David St. Hubbins from "Spinal Tap" and flanked by two "attractive models," is himself Wonder, or if Wonder is the "band" responsible for making this. I think he is Wonder. I bet he went around in clubs introducing himself thusly: "Hallo, I am Wonder. Are you for dancing?" His mush-mouthed attempt at enunciating the English language "lyrics" leaves no room for comprehension, not to mention that the lead vocals are recorded so deep into the mid-range that the whole thing rather sounds like a night janitor trying to sing along to some backing tracks as he sweeps up the studio. Clearly this was another Italian mafia job. "Executive producers" Johnny Damiani and Robert Bacchiocchi must have made this to call in a marker on some failed counterfeit-watch scam. "You now owe Damiani e Bacchiocchi one thousand millions! We now are for make LP recording for Wonder." The frazzled studio engineer was just thankful not to have his fingers chopped off. Wow, there sure are a lot of "syntesizer" (sic) credits on this one. And there's a session musician credited as "courtesy 'Apic Records'." Might they have meant "Epic?" Who knows. Lame disco with paltry European new wave dressing, incomprehensible words and no noticeable hooks or grooves. "Up & Down" features an incessant squawky percussion instrument that sounds like someone hyperventilating. Titles like "I Have Pushed" and "Homage to the Savage" aren't even funny enough for quality mockery value. "My Trip" is just plain irritating. Did I just catch the line "Every killer has a friend?" I don't think I've understood one word on this record since I put it on. "O.K." is some kind of attempt at a "My Way" sort of song – probably the closest thing to funny on here, but hardly "O.K." A few name session players are somehow involved (Alex Acuna, Vinnie Colaiuta, and Peter Wolf – not that Peter Wolf, surely – oh, and just to be smarmy: "Gary Grant"), no doubt for drugs and/or sex. Oh, what a surprise, this album was released in 1980.
Review by Nancy Draw |