Tuesday, November 17, 2015

"Dancing in the Shadows" by After the Fire

Song#:  1465
Date:  05/28/1983
Debut:  91
Peak:  85
Weeks:  3
Genre:  Rock



Pop Bits:  It was bad timing for this band who broke up before they scored a major hit with "Der Kommissar" (#5 Pop, #4 Rock, #17 Dance). They decided not to reform after the hit so that basically sealed their fate as a one-hit wonder. Their record label tried to capitalize on the single's success by issuing this 1981 song, but it fell off the chart after a minor few weeks.

ReduxReview:  I'm not exactly sure what I was expecting from this band after "Der Kommissar," but this certainly was not it. Any of the Europop/New Wave goodness that was in that song is sorely missing here. It sounds like a mid-70s album cut from a second-tier rock band. I started to think that "Der Kommissar" was just an oddity in the catalog, but they have some other good songs like "Laser Love" or "Sometimes." While they may not have been hits, they were better than this retro-rock track.

ReduxRating:  4/10

Trivia:  Although the full band could not be reunited after "Der Kommissar" hit, lead singer Andy Piercy decided to try and continue as After the Fire. He recorded a full album of material with one single being released. It failed to get any attention and that prompted CBS to shelve the album. Later in 1997, Piercy produced the album "King of Fools" for the UK Christian rock band Delirious? It would be a highly successful album reaching #7 on the US Christian Album chart and #13 on the UK Album chart. Two singles from the album would reach #20 on the UK Pop chart.

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2 comments:

  1. Originally I was thinking, "meh, this is turrible." but then I realized that it kind of sounds like some Elvis Costello, which kind of bumped it up a level for me.

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    Replies
    1. I can hear that - a bit o' El Cos goin' on. However, I think it is still turrible.

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