We left Freur yesterday with their 1983 debut, Doot-Doot, a song (and album title), which would become the band's one and only hit, officially labeling them one hit wonders. As noted in that post, Freur didn't make a big impact outside of a few foreign countries, and failed to chart in the USA during a time where synth pop was in full swing. I concluded that possibly that they just got lost in the shuffle of volume during this timeframe.
I too missed Freur, and didn't become aware of them until one day when watching a Professor of Rock video on Youtube (great channel). Even then, while I added their album Doot-Doot to my want list in Discogs, I didn't make it a priority to track down until recently. After playing through it, I thought I would try to track down their remaining studio album, 1986's Get Us Out Of Here.
While this album was released on CD in 2005 by Cherry Red Records, which also included their debut Doot-Doot, there is a problem. See, to make both albums fit on one CD, Cherry Red decided to trim two minutes of music from the latter album, prematurely fading out tracks Emeralds and Pearls, The Devil and Darkness, The Piano Song, Happiness and Endless Groove. That's kind of annoying. I mean, blank CD's cost pennies. Just put each album on its own separate disc. It not only would have presented better, but the obvious resolution is that you get the entire album, and not some Frankenstein hack job. Disappointing.
Turning to the original vinyl pressing, we'll use that to have our Retro Spin session, and conclude that Get Us Out Of Here isn't worth buying on CD.
Unfortunately, the other downside is that Get Us Out Of Here also isn't really worth listening to. Take everything Doot-Doot had to offer, toss it out the window, and replace it with generic forgettable synth pop. The album is bland, boring, and like I said forgettable.
Apparently the label didn't have much faith in it either. CBS Records only released it in Germany and Netherlands. John Warwicker left the group that same year, and the remainder of the band took an unannounced hiatus. They would later form the band Underworld with Baz Allen, and had minor success in 1988 with their single Underneath the Radar, which reached number five in Australia.
Underworld would disband in 1990, but reform in 1991. Since then they've become quite popular on the dance and electronica scene, especially with their 1996 hit, Born Slippy .NUXX. They've since continued to release albums every few years, with their latest being 2024's Strawberry Hotel. So, there you go. A happy ending for Freur, the forgotten band of the 80's.
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| THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS July 6, 1985 |
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