Shock

The Motels’ “Shock”, released in 1985, was the band’s final album during their hit making years. Coming on the heels of 1982’s Platinum “All Four One” and their 1983 Platinum effort, “Little Robbers”, “Shock” is very much a product of a mid 80’s band now trying squarely to be a part of the mid 80’s MTV scene and leaving their attempts at Arena styled Pop Rock behind. Still led by dynamic talented front woman Martha Davis and with Richie Zito now handling production duties, “Shock” finds The Motels in a much more synthesizer driven setting with the results a mixed bag. Perhaps bringing Zito as producer was not the best choice for The Motels since Val Garay did such an outstanding job on “All Four One” and “Little Robbers”, giving both those albums such an atmospheric feel. “Shock” in turn feels more formulaic, but that is not to say that there aren’t some arresting moments on “Shock”. Martha Davis is still an amazing singer, a talented poet whose lyrics are still deeply personal and often dark, and a great songwriter. As on previous albums, Davis wrote or co-wrote all of the ten tracks on “Shock” and played guitar. First single off the album, the brilliant piano driven melancholy “Shame” is as good as anything The Motels have previously delivered and deservedly became an across the board hit, fueled by a stunning video which received heavy rotation on MTV. Title track was the second and final single off the album and became a moderate Top 100 hit and received some Modern Rock support as well. “Icy Red” is a rocker which starts slow and kicks into faster tempo midway through the song. “Hungry” is a mid tempo rocker with a passionate saxophone solo that fits right at home at Modern Rock radio as well. The haunting highlight of “Shock” has to be “Annie Told Me”, a chilling tale of child abuse that would put anything Suzanne Vega later did to shame. The lyrics and the music just come perfectly together here to create a stunningly aching feeling of shame and pain. Why Capital failed to capitalize on this potential Top 10 smash is a mystery.The remainder of the album is a mixed bag and a bit less intriguing but has its moments. “New York Times”, “State Of The Heart” and “Cries And Whispers” are mid-tempo pop rock songs that are pure mid 80’s pop but not too memorable. “My Love Stops Here” slows down the tempo but ends up sounding like Berlin did circa 1983. However, “Shock” closes on a great note with “Night By Night”, a deliciously sexy up-tempo pop rocker that could have easily been a single had it been given a chance and some promotion.Big Thanks to Culture Factory for doing such a beautiful job of re-mastering this long out of print and much sought after gem. This series is called a Vinyl Replica Collection but this is actually a great High Definition re-master. The sound here is out of this world. And preserving the striking album cover art front and back is simply genius. The over all look is sleek and has a feel of a vinyl record in mini form. Even the disc it itself looks like the original vinyl record as does the album sleeve. Thanks Culture Factory for a job well done.

I'm giving this one 3 stars, and that's a hard one to do since its THE MOTELS and they are one of the most interesting bands to come out of the late 70's - 80's to the present. They were one of the best to showcase the dramatic rock hook in their songs. Any band that went through this period (1980's) had some tough choices to make with all the production and musicianship,(real or fake) and the chaos of the time. This also was a very exciting time in music as people took so many stylistic chances for better or for worst and when SHOCK came out in the middle 80's everybody in music was working with synthesizers and fake drums both overseas and America, but what stands out in this recording is the voice of Martha Davis. Had the material been more even throughout it would be a classic of its time. Choice cuts break through all the keyboard programming, SHAME, SHOCK, ANNIE TOLD ME, CRIES AND WHISPERS & ICY RED, and to a lesser degree a few others on here especially the closer. I have always loved this band, the way it started out, the first two collections paved the way but getting into the 1980's as I said and dealing with producers with a different vision for this band only to make $$, looking back now split it all apart but as with all Motels collections there are so many highlights and a few misteps in song quality but that will not spoil the sum of this great teaming of vocals and musicianship. As a whole I likedthe next Martha Davis project "POLICY" even though it had the same producer, there is a real collaboration between singer, material and production than on SHOCK. For collectors of this great band you have to have SHOCK just for the memories.....One other note, several reviewers talk about the new High Def mastering being overblown, well I also think the bombastic nature(in a good way) of many songs here just make it all over the top anyway and may cause some distortion in the frequency range when its to loud in spots, I'm not a pro at this but I can tell what i hear, sure its a bit loud in spots but I don't think its half as bad as some make it to be, the songs on here I truly like sound fine and make things even more dramatic...

This is one of my favorite Motels albums. For me, it's probably the second best after "Little Robbers." It is incredibly '80s-sounding in production, but it works because the songs are fantastic and Martha Davis is at her vocal best here.I was very worried this reissue was going to be poor quality because Culture Factory really messed up their reissues of "Little Robbers" and "All Four One." Strangely, their other two Motels reissues ("Motels" and "Careful") sound fine, but A4O and LR are plagued by very clear and obvious distortion throughout. It really is a shame.But on "Shock," Culture Factory got it right. As far as remasters go it is on the louder side, which doesn't bother me. I actually prefer it. I like a bold and bright sounding remastering job that pops, and that's what we have here. I thought because this one was on the louder side too that it would have the same distortion problems the previous two have, but I've listened multiple times with headphones already and can't detect any problems. In fact, the album has taken on a new life with this edition.If you are someone who's bothered by loud remasters, you might not want to add this one to your cart because you'll probably just be frustrated by it. But for everyone else, rest assured that you're not likely to find a version of this album that sounds better.

Al principio, es decir, al recibirlo, me decepcionó y me preocupó, puesto que venía en un sobre con burbujas sin mayor protección al disco, que no venía en caja de plástico, sino en cartón de la edición especial. No obstante, el verlo y, sobre todo, escucharlo nuevamente después de muchos años me hace poner en esta reseña que vale la pena, que tiene muy buen sonido (remasterizado) y que es un excelente disco. Buen precio.

L'ultimo album della prima fase dei Motels, (1979 - 1985), i suoni sono più elettronici che nei precedenti album, c'è l'hit single Shame, tutti i brani sono ben suonati e ben cantati, sulla copertina di cartone sigillata che riproduce i vecchi LP, è stampigliata la scritta che avverte che questo è un cd a tiratura limitata di tremila copie. Sono soddisfattissimo.

This limited edition vinyl replica, created by Culture Factory USA, is excellent, love the music and style.For those not familiar with The Motels and Martha Davis, I'd recommend this selection and others from The Motels.

Had it on vinyl (bought it -85). Still an amazing album by this odd band from the "dark" ages. Recommended!

et oui je suis très très fan