''2WO'' is the second

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records c ...

by Canadian new wave band Strange Advance released in February, 1985. It featured two hit Canadian singles, "We Run" and "The Second That I Saw You". Along with their first album, this was a Canadian gold record for the band.

Background and writing

This recording features heavy use of keyboards and synthesizers including the Fairlight,

Yamaha DX7 The Yamaha DX7 is a synthesizer manufactured by the Yamaha Corporation from 1983 to 1989. It was the first successful digital synthesizer and is one of the best-selling synthesizers in history, selling more than 200,000 units. In the early 1980 ...

, and

Jupiter 8 The Jupiter-8, or JP-8, is an eight-voice polyphonic analog subtractive synthesizer introduced by Roland Corporation in early 1981. The Jupiter-8 was Roland's flagship synthesizer for the first half of the 1980s. Approximately 3300 units have ...

. Recalling the inspiration behind the hit song "We Run", Drew Arnott said it was "one of those 'wake up sweating' dreams. I just described what I saw. The smallest things can be the most inspiring. Ed Shaw added a delay to a sound in "We Run" which made the whole track come alive for me. Major bow to Michael Kamen for the strings and Scott Litt (REM) for the mix." One song written during the ''2WO'' sessions but left off the record was "Lady with a Blade", which would later appear on the 1995 compilation album ''Worlds Away & Back''.

Critical reception

Tomas Mureika of

allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Music ...

calls ''2WO'' "A seriously overlooked album".

Track listing

Album credits

Personnel

* Darryl Kromm – lead vocals, guitar * Drew Arnott – keyboards, drums, vocals, lead vocal on "We Run" with: * Ken "Spider" Sinnaeve – bass *

Gerald O'Brien John Gerald O’Brien (2 December 1924 – 13 December 2017), known as Gerald O'Brien, was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party. Early life O'Brien was born in Wellington on 2 December 1924, the son of John Thomas O'Brien, and was ed ...

– keyboards and arrangement assistance * Howard Ayee – bass on "We Run", "The Second That I Saw You" * Dawnlee Tait – backing vocals *

Andy Bown Andrew Steven Bown (born 27 March 1946) is an English musician, who has specialised in keyboards and bass guitar. He is a member of the rock band Status Quo. Career Bown's first major band was The Herd, along with Peter Frampton. After The H ...

– 12 string guitar; bass on "Running Away" * Ed Shaw – guitar *

Andy Newmark Andrew Newmark (born July 14, 1950)

– drums on "Running Away" *

Earl Slick Earl Slick (born Frank Madeloni in Brooklyn, New York, October 1, 1952) is a guitarist best known for his collaborations with David Bowie, John Lennon, Yoko Ono and Robert Smith. He has also worked with other artists including John Waite, Tim ...

– guitar on "Running Away" * David Roberts – backing vocals *

Steve Sexton Steve Sexton is a Canadian composer, arranger, musical director, producer and keyboardist. He served as Canadian singer Anne Murray's Musical Director for 25 years with responsibilities as her pianist, conductor, arranger, and on occasion her p ...

– keyboards on "We Run" * Keith Scott – guitars * Chitose Ishikura – Japanese voiceover on "The Second That I Saw You" * Chris Arnott – Gaelic voiceover * Kevin Markland – percussion * Laura Oldham –

slapstick Slapstick is a style of humor involving exaggerated physical activity that exceeds the boundaries of normal physical comedy. Slapstick may involve both intentional violence and violence by mishap, often resulting from inept use of props such ...

Michael Kamen Michael Arnold Kamen (April 15, 1948 – November 18, 2003) was an American composer (especially of film scores), orchestral arranger, orchestral conductor, songwriter, and session musician. Biography Early life Michael Arnold Kamen was bor ...

– oboe, keyboards, vocal effect on "I'll Be the One to Cry" *

Domenic Troiano Domenic Michele Antonio Troiano (January 17, 1946 – May 25, 2005) was a Canadian guitarist and songwriter, best known as a member of Mandala, Bush, James Gang, and The Guess Who. He also recorded music for film and television, often made guest ...

– guitar on "The Second That I Saw You" * Tony Lester – guitar * Simon Brierley – lead guitar * John Jones – piano * Ericka Goodman – harp *

Bernie LaBarge Bernie LaBarge (born March 11, 1953) is a Canadian performing and session guitarist, an award-winning singer and songwriter, and producer, who has gone on tour and made recordings with Canadian and international artists. In a wide-ranging care ...

– backing vocals * John Forbes, Jean Piche, Dee Long, Drew Arnott – Fairlight programming

Production

* Drew Arnott –– producer * Michael Kamen – producer of "Nor Crystal Tears", string arrangements on "We Run" * Remixing – Scott Litt; Drew Arnott & Lenny DeRose on "Nor Crystal Tears" * Engineering – Lenny DeRose, Andy Jackson, Dave Oglivie, Dee Long,

Scott Litt Scott Warren Litt (born March 10, 1954) is an American record producer who mostly works with artists in the alternative rock genre and is best known for producing six R.E.M. albums in the late 1980s and early to mid-1990s during the band's most su ...

* Mastering –

Bob Ludwig Robert C. Ludwig (born c. 1945) is an American mastering engineer. He has mastered recordings on all the major recording formats for all the major record labels, and on projects by more than 1,300 artists including Led Zeppelin, Lou Reed, Que ...

, Masterdisk, New York

References

;Citations ;Other * {{Authority control 1985 albums Strange Advance albums Capitol Records albums