''Neo Wave'' is the second album by the British

power pop Power pop (also typeset as powerpop) is a form of pop rock based on the early music of bands such as the Who, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and the Byrds. It typically incorporates melodic hooks, vocal harmonies, an energetic performance, and ch ...

band

Silver Sun Silver Sun are a British power pop band, who formed in 1995 in Camden, London. They released their self-titled debut album in 1997, and after two major label releases that saw moderate success, the band released two further albums independe ...

, released in 1998. It contains a

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

of the

Johnny Mathis John Royce Mathis (born September 30, 1935) is an American singer of popular music. Starting his career with singles of standard music, he became highly popular as an album artist, with several dozen of his albums achieving gold or platinum s ...

and

Deniece Williams Deniece Williams (born June Deniece Chandler; June 3, 1951) is an American singer. She has been described as "one of the great soul voices" by the BBC. She is best known for the songs " Free", " Silly", "It's Gonna Take a Miracle" and two ''Bill ...

number-one US hit "

Too Much, Too Little, Too Late "Too Much, Too Little, Too Late" is a song performed by singers Johnny Mathis and Deniece Williams. Lyrics and music were arranged by Nat Kipner and John Vallins. The single was a comeback of sorts for Mathis as his last U.S. top 10 hit was 1964' ...

". The album reached No. 74 in the

UK albums chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

. Two singles reached the

UK Top 40 The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

: "Too Much, Too Little, Too Late" (No. 20) and "I'll See You Around" (No. 26).

Critical reception

The ''

Sunday Mirror The ''Sunday Mirror'' is the Sunday sister paper of the ''Daily Mirror''. It began life in 1915 as the ''Sunday Pictorial'' and was renamed the ''Sunday Mirror'' in 1963. In 2016 it had an average weekly circulation of 620,861, dropping marke ...

'' wrote: "Quirky guitar spankers with funny shades and a Johnny Mathis fixation mix the fast ones with the slow ones for a golden blend of fine roast pop." ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' thought that "with their huge guitar riffs and layers of harmonies, these Midlanders offer a refreshing take on classic 1980s American rawk with a tongue-in-cheek dab of Queen's pomposity and a nod to the power-pop excellence of Cheap Trick."

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

thought that "Silver Sun have created a disc that is a blatant throwback to mid-70s power-pop ... and while at times the formula works, it often falls flat."

Track listing

#"Cheerleading" (James Broad, Lee Collard) – 4:03 #"I'll See You Around" (Broad) – 3:32 #"Would've if I Could've" (Broad, Collard) – 2:45 #"

" (N.Kipner, J.Vallins) – 3:59 #"Scared" (Broad, Collard) – 3:01 #"There Goes Summer" (Broad) – 2:42 #"Sharks" (Broad, Collard) – 4:16 #"The Profit on the Prairie" (Richard Kane) – 1:23 #"Mustard" (Broad, Collard) – 3:00 #"Pixie, Pixie" (Broad, Collard) – 3:27 #"Hey Girl Friend" (Broad, Collard) – 2:51 #"Only a Girl" (Broad, Collard) – 2:59 #"Special Powers" (Broad) – 3:04 #"Fire & Blood" (Broad) – 1:06 #"Patients" (Broad, Collard) – 2:48 #"Dead End" (Broad) – 2:48

Personnel

*James Broad -

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

*Paul Smith -

*Richard Buckton -

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

*Richard Sayce -

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

*Al Clay -

producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

*Bob Ludwig - mastering

References

{{Authority control Silver Sun albums 1998 albums Polydor Records albums