''Early Morning Wake Up Call'' is the fourth studio album by the Australian new wave group

Flash and the Pan Flash and the Pan were an Australian new wave musical group (essentially an ongoing studio project) formed in 1976 by Harry Vanda and George Young, both former members of the Easybeats; they were a production and songwriting team known as Van ...

, released in 1984 by Epic Records. It was produced by

Harry Vanda Johannes Hendrikus Jacob van den Berg (born 22 March 1946), better known as his stage name Harry Vanda, is a Dutch Australian musician, songwriter and record producer. He is best known as lead guitarist of the 1960s Australian rock band the Ea ...

and George Young, the core members of the group. ''Early Morning Wake Up Call'' peaked at No. 3 on the Swedish Topplistan chart, and No. 18 on the Swiss Hitparade. The album spawned two hit singles – the title track (No. 26 in Germany) and "Midnight Man", which charted in several countries, but again was the most successful in Germany, reaching #7.

Critical reception

'' Cashbox'' magazine wrote "This latest collection from the Australian duo of

Vanda & Young Vanda & Young were an Australian songwriting and producing duo composed of Harry Vanda and George Young. They performed as members of 1960s Australian rock group the Easybeats where Vanda was their lead guitarist and backing singer and Young wa ...

is a typical collage of novelty-effects

synth pop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s a ...

which oozes melodic hooks and eclecticism. While many of the tunes recall classic rock cliches, Flash and the Pan always come up with a way of making them sound original. Distinctly orchestral pieces such as 'Barking At the Moon' and the energised 'Early Morning Wake-Up Call' are the highlights here on an album which will certainly arouse enthusiasm in new music circles."

Track listing

Side one # "Early Morning Wake Up Call" – 4:06 # "Communication Breakdown" – 3:27 # "Barking at the Moon" – 3:59 # "Downtown Too Long" – 4:20 # "Opera Singers" – 4:51 Side two #

"Midnight Man" – 4:56 # "On the Road" – 5:06 # "Look at That Woman Go" – 4:54 # "Fat Night" – 3:57 # "Believe in Yourself" – 4:19 2012 reissue bonus track #

Critical reception

Track listing

Charts

References

External links