小简介
80 年初新浪潮乐团 The Fixx 因他的吉他手 Jamie West-Oram 而闻名 . Jamie West-Oram 的 funky 音色结实乾净而清脆, 利用手掌闷音让节奏像刀切过一样果断, 听听那首 One Thing Leads to Another 那接近完美的吉他就了解了. 因为音色处理得漂亮, Jamie 后来出现在很多人的专辑里, 包括老阿妈 Tina Turner, 电子乐名团 Depeche Mode, Stevie Nicks, 还有大头头 Brian Eno. 现在 The Fixx 还在出唱片, 今年会有新作. 在此推荐曲目: One Thing Leads to Another, Red Skies, Saved by Zero, Stand or Fall.
by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
A London-based new wave group that managed to sustain a successful career in America for several years in the mid-80s, the Fixx always flirted with the mainstream with their catchy, keyboard-driven pop. Formed by college friends vocalist/keyboardist Cy Curnin and drummer Adam Woods in the early 80s, the pair advertised in the music press for additional members; the remaining members of the group — guitarist Jamie West-Oram, keyboardist Rupert Greenall, and bassist Charlie Barret — all responded to the ad. Taking the name the Portraits, the band recorded a single for Ariola Records, Hazards in the Home, which failed to gather much attention. Within a year, the band had changed their name to the Fixx and recorded Lost Planes, the single that led to a record contract with MCA.
The Fixx released their debut album, the Rupert Hine-produced Shuttered Room, in 1982. The record spawned two minor U.K. hits, Stand or Fall and Red Skies, and spent a short time in the charts. In America, none of the singles were hits, yet the album stayed on the charts for nearly a year. After Shuttered Room, Barret left the group and was replaced by Dan K. Brown. Reach the Beach, released in 1983, established them as a hit-making force in the U.S. The terse, pulsating One Thing Leads to Another became a number four hit, sending the album into the Top Ten. Reach the Beach would go platinum by the end of the year, launching two more Top 40 singles — Saved by Zero and Sign of Fire. Despite all of their American success, the Fixx failed to break back into the British charts with Reach the Beach; in fact, they never had another British hit in their career.
The Fixx returned in 1984 with Phantoms. While it performed well — it peaked at number 19 and went gold — it didnt match the success of Reach the Beach; after it launched the number 15 single Are We Ourselves? the record fell off the charts. Although their audience was shrinking, the band kept their basic, synth-driven sound intact for 1986s Walkabout, which featured the hit Secret Separation. After Walkabout, the Fixx stopped working with producer Rupert Hine, which resulted in a harder, more guitar-oriented sound for 1988s Calm Animals. The album charted at number 72, but it spawned no hit singles. Ink (1991), the groups next album, didnt reverse their declining fortunes, even though they tried to update their sound with an emphasis on guitars and slick, dance-ready beats. After the record failed to recapture their mainstream audience, the Fixx seemed to fade away before resurfacing in 1998 with Elemental. A year later, they returned with 1011 Woodland, a collection of re-recordings of their greatest hits.