release date: 1983
format: vinyl (812 142-1) / cd (1996 reissue)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,46]
producer: Nils Henriksen
label: Vertigo Records / CMC - nationality: Denmark
Track highlights: A) 1. "Bedtime Story" - 3. "Love Waits for No One" - 4. "The Girl's Not Happy" - 5. "Let's Go" - - B) 1. "Every Teardrop Means a Lot" - 5. "You Can't Make It Alone"
3rd and final studio album by Warm Guns following Italiano moderno (Apr. 1981) is produced by Danish producer Nils Henriksen who also pre-produced the band's previous album before sending all songs to England for final production, only this time everything remains produced in Sweet Silence Studios in Denmark. Lars Muhl on vocals and keyboards, and Lars Hybel on guitar are the only two remaining members from the formation of the band, and new members credited here are bassist Kaj Weber and drummer and percussionist Troels Møller. Furthermore, Pete Repete from Malurt is credited as keyboardist on the album. All songs are (as usual) written by Lars Muhl (Lars Hybel is co-composer on tracks #4, #5, and #8), and the style is developed from the predominant new wave on Italiano moderno with a stronger mainstream pop / rock sound. Compared to its predecessor, the sound is broader with the use of strings and a stronger focus on keyboards and vocal arrangements. The 1996 cd reissue on CMC Records comes with the truncated title: Follow Your Heart or Fall.
Like previous albums by Warm Guns this didn't attract much national interest, and I think Lars Muhl saw this as a final test - if this didn't make it, they might as well call it a day. On the following tour the band recorded the live album Hey-Hey-Hey (1984) at Roskilde Festival, which was intended to be the band's final live performance, but the band continued to play throughout 1983 and in the first half of '84 before finally splitting up. Lars Muhl began composing music for others and after experiencing success with the song "Ind til dig" (a hit in Norway for Sissel Kyrkjebø as "Inn til deg", in Denmark a hit for Lis Sørensen with "Ind til dig" - released as "One More Minute" on his debut album), and after taking part in the Danish 'Music for Africa' project, he initiated a successful solo career, which took its start with his solo debut album The Glorious Art of Breaking Little Girls' Hearts and Blowing Big Boys' Brains in 1986.
Initially, and back in the day, I remember seeing this one as a pretty decent album, which I used to play quite a lot. Time hasn't been that good to it though, and in retrospect I understand how they weren't perceived on par with British contemporaries, as the album comes close to British influences from how Elvis Costello and Squeeze handled their move from a more energetic version of new wave to a embrace a softer mainstream sound - eg. East Side Story by Squeeze and (the mix of) Get Happy!! (1980) and Trust (1981) by Costello. The album contains some good music, but imho, their '81 album outshines this one with a clear margin.
