Retro Spins: A Flock Of Seagulls - The Story Of A Young Heart

Fans are fickle. Sometimes, they don't like it when an artist changes their musical direction, experiments with new sounds, or in general, doesn't continuously make the same music over and over again. As such, it can have quite the backlash when an artist does just that.

For their third album, lead singer Mike Score wanted to create a concept album, surrounding the themes of suicide and heartbreak. It was a subject matter close to him, having just lost a friend to self-deletion.

Despite all their efforts, 1984's The Story Of A Young Heart would be a commercial failure. Though, it did spawn two top forty hits, The More You Live, The More You Know, and Never Again (The Dance).

I don't know. The subject matter may be deeper, if you pay close enough attention to the lyrics. Otherwise, to me, it just sounds like another album from A Flock Of Seagulls.

Personally, I dug European (I Wish I Was), Remember David, Over My Head, Heart Of Steel, The End, and Suicide Day. The two singles aren't too bad either. Overall, it's a pretty solid album. I think the critics may have missed something with this one.

If I hadn't done so already with my Retro Spin of Listen (1983), I would have definitely gone back at this point to revisit their debut album. A Flock Of Seagulls have definitely made me a fan of their music at this point.

When the band set out on tour in support of the album, guitarist Paul Reynolds went down a dark path, becoming addicted to drugs. This would impact him heavily, resulting in him needing to leave the band mid-tour. Without a guitarist, the tour was cut short, leaving the remaining members to struggle with what to do. While they would decide to regroup as a remaining trio, A Flock Of Seagulls wouldn't ever achieve the success they once had.

I want to stop there, lest I spoil anything about their final release of the era, 1986's Dream Come True. We'll pick up there tomorrow, even though I'm quite eager to jump in now.

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