WOV you been all my life?!

Wall Of Voodoo

self-titled debut EP

1980



Longarm
The Passenger
Can't Make Love
Struggle
Ring Of Fire
Granma's House

Back in the early days of MTV, back when the channel meant something and was at least halfway decent, one of the videos in regular rotation for awhile was for the very cool sounding Mexican Radio. That one song had been everything I knew about this Los Angeles post-punk, new wave, alternative band. Now, all these years later, I've finally expanded my knowledge of WOV beginning with their eponymous debut EP released a few years back.

Stan Ridgway, the lead singer, puts together a sound that reminded me of Devo & the B-52's rolled into one with perhaps some early Depeche Mode thrown in, maybe a smidgen of Bauhaus even. What an amazing sound! These songs really could've been semi-lost forever had they not been released onto CD in the 90's, on an album with live music included, called The Index Masters.

Two tracks are instrumental with one half being a ringing phone. The strongest songs are without a doubt The Passenger and Johnny Cash's Ring Of Fire. Oh my goodness, holy cow, that remake is out of this world. This band was so simple yet so complex with their whole electronic sound and they make Ring Of Fire like no other version of the song ever.

These songs will be played again and more Wall Of Voodoo I definitely look forward to!

The Index Masters for dload @ 256 kbps Here