Warm Guns "Follow Your Heart or Fall / Lonely" (1983)

Follow Your Heart or Fall / Lonely
release date: 1983
format: vinyl / cd (1996 reissue)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,56]
producer: Nils Henriksen
label: Vertigo Records / CMC - nationality: Denmark

Track highlights: A) 1. "Bedtime Story" - 2. "I'm Just Blue" - 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.

Warm Guns "Italiano moderno" (1981)

first issue cover

Italiano moderno

release date: Apr. 1981

format: vinyl (first issue) / vinyl (1982 reissue) / cd (1996 reissue)

[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,84]

producer: Rod Huison

label: Vertigo Records - nationality: Denmark

Track highlights: A) 1. "Arrivederci" - 2. "Wonderkids" - 4. "Golden Dreams" - 5. "Nightcrawlers" - 6. "Public Enemies" - - B) 1. "The Night Belongs to You" - 2. "Hard Luck" - 3. "Magic Motions" - 5. "Luckie Walkie"

2nd studio album by Warm Guns shows a more complex sound within a new wave universe. Again, Nils Henriksen produced several tracks, which was sent to the band's English label, where Rod Huison then produced the majority of the selected tracks (Henriksen is credited as producer of tracks #A1, B5, and the bonus tracks 13-15 on the '96 cd re-issue). Jacob Perbøll left the band before making most of the album, and the band members here are: Lars Muhl on vocals and keyboards, Lars Hybel on guitar and bass, Jens G. Nielsen on drums, and with new member Frank Lorentzen (with whom Muhl and Perbøll had played in the band Daisy before forming Warm Guns) on guitar and keyboards. Also Georg Olesen from the band TV-2 plays bass on four tracks (most easily heard on #4), and Jacob Perbøll plays bass on tracks #1 and #11. The original vinyl album comes in two different issues and unfortunately, Vertigo already released a reissue after only one year with a completely different track listing. Not only are the songs mixed on the two sides but four of a total of twelve compositions have been exchanged from the original issue. These four new compositions had all been released on the 4-track ep 4 Heartbreakers Only earlier in '82, and they then concluded that the album would've been stronger with these replacements. Both vinyl issues consists of 12 tracks, whereas a '96 cd reissue contains 15 tracks, which combines the two vinyl issues somehow leaving out the song "The Young Go First". After this, drummer Jens G. Nielsen left the band to focus on his primary band, Gnags - he was subsequently replaced by Troels Møller, and Frank Lorentzen (who continued with Bamses Venner) was replaced by Kaj Weber on bass.

I have always found this their strongest and most vital album. Here, the inspiration is less obvious, the band appears playful and original, and they basically play with a distinct international sound, which however, never was sought for, nor acknowledged. Perhaps, some would argue that Lars Hybel has been working hard to sound much like James Honeyman-Scott of Pretenders, but really, if he can pull that off, it's hardly a bad thing is it?!

In my mind, Italiano moderno stands as one of the best Danish albums of the early 1980s and also a must in terms of original new wave releases. Sadly, the band played an international music, which didn't appeal to the Danish music buyers, and the English label didn't believe they had potential to make it on an international scale.

Because of the big differences of the early issues, I have both versions and simply never understood the need to change the original track listing.

1982 cover

Warm Guns "Instant Schlager" (1980)

Instant Schlager [debut]
release date: May 1980
format: vinyl (9198 686) / cd (1996 reissue)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,46]
producer: Robert Hauschildt, Warm Guns
label: Vertigo Records - nationality: Denmark

Track highlights: 1. "Back in the 80's" - 2. "The Young Go First" - 4. "Welcome in the CIA" - 5. "Under My Skin" - 6. "She's a Go-Go-Getter" - 8. "Rip Off" - 12. "So What?" (4 / 5)

Full studio album debut by Warm Guns originally released on Vertigo. Here the band credited consists of Lars Muhl on vocals & keyboards, Lars Hybel on guitar & bass, Jacob Perbøll on guitar & bass, and with Jens G. Nielsen on drums, which means that Per Møller has left the band (to play with Anne Linnet Band), and instead Perbøll and Hybel both play either guitar or bass. Lars Henriksen produced track #2, "The Young Goes First", which was the bands first real Scandinavian hit, although, I don't find it among their best songs. Apparently, the band had recorded some tracks in Denmark and sent these to the record label in England where they then went to finish the album, however, Vertigo didn't find it straight enough, so to speak [perhaps meaning: stylistically unclear], to make an international release of it. I think, the band had the potential, but were too close to Costello, Joe Jackson and not enough... something else. The band plays very fine, the songs are original compositions, but they were somehow put in a limbo in between genres and styles. I found it rather great back then and listening to it today, I find it difficult to understand why they never were big, or at least an international commonly known name. Yes, Muhl has a strange English intonation, and the band builds on Costello, Jackson, Springsteen and others - perhaps bits of Blondie and The Police, but who didn't back then? However, what they do really fine is to play energetic well-composed new wave songs with great enthusiasm.

Warm Guns "First Shot Live" (1979) (ep)

First Shot Live, ep
release date: 1979
format: vinyl (first pressing - WGLP1) / cd (1996 reissue)
[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,08]
producer: mixed by Lars Muhl, Werner Scherrer, Per Stan
label: Smash / CMC Records (reissue) - nationality: Denmark

Album ep debut by Danish new wave band Warm Guns from the city of Aarhus is a live album consisting of 7 tracks at a total playing time of 26 mins. The band consists of vocalist and primary composer Lars Muhl (also credited on piano), Jens G. Nielsen (who also plays drums in the band Gnags, and who is older brother to the artist Elisabeth Gjerluff Nielsen) on drums, Jacob Perbøll on bass, Per Møller on guitar and vocals, and with Lars Hybel on guitar and vocals. Well, at least that's how they are credited on the album. Fact is Lars Muhl is the band's lead vocalist, all others are singing backing vocals.
I purchased the album on vinyl back in the early '80s, and I was rather fond of it then. Now I think it's somewhat less interesting, and the album hasn't aged all to well. The band plays a British founded new wave, especially inspired by Elvis Costello, Joe Jackson, Graham Parker, and The Knack, but also combined with a blend from American artists like Bruce Springsteen and Roy Orbison, it both sounds new and direct while maintaining something from the past. This particular album was recorded live in '78 at Aarhus Musik Teater.