DeViCom CD-Review: Quick

The market for British synth pop duos was beginning to dry up by the time the Quick released its final album in 1986. Nevertheless, the badly christened Wah Wah (which came complete with inane back-cover art, and was later co-opted as an album title by James) showed that vocalist Col Campsie and bassist/keyboardist George McFarlane had lost none of the chart smarts featured on several U.K. singles. In fact, the album contains one of their best-ever songs, the slinky, should've-been-a-hit "Last Victim," and a handful of others nearly as good. With production by ex-Cure bassist Phil Thornalley, Wah Wah adds a bit more guitar to the band's usual sleek synths, and at times "We Can Learn From This" shows an unappealing desire to win American radio success. It didn't happen, although Campsie and McFarlane would later score that elusive U.S. hit as Giant Steps, with 1988's Top 40 smash "Another Lover." However, this outing — better, it should be noted, than the same-year efforts of more celebrated countrymen like Depeche Mode and Culture Club — closed the duo's underappreciated career as the Quick on a reasonably high note