release date: 1981
format: vinyl (SLP 1588)
[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,18]
producer: Cy Nicklin
label: Sonet/Dansk Grammofon - nationality: Denmark
Track highlights: B) 1. "Trafik" (4 / 5)
Studio album debut by Danish sextet News consisting of vocalist Gitte Naur, guitarists Aske Jacoby and Jakob Vejslev, bassist Jette Schandorf, keyboardist Martin Nordborg, and with Peter Biker on drums. Or, that's how the formation was on this album 'cause before recording this, the band had another bass player and drummer, and Nordborg is a new member. From the formation in 1979 and up until '81, the band was called Aske Jacoby Band, but after the change of line-up they changed the name of the band. Also in the aftermath the band went through various changes in the line-up. Essentially, only Schandorf and Biker would be stable members until the split in 1995.
The band quickly became a house-hold name on the national scene, and they also received positive reviews, and within from the mid-80s and until '87 they were among the major Danish acts.
Musically, the album hasn't too well, and my initial interest was maintained as long as they played an uptempo new wave kind of pop / rock, which from my perspective bonded with the German band Ideal. However, they soon began playing a much more polished pop / rock with a broader appeal.
