The AtlanticsAtlantics | Something Hot  December 7,
2006 3:18:45 PM
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The song title “Pop Shivers” tells you everything you need to know about the Atlantics: unlike many of the harder-edged, early-’80s Boston bands, these guys lived for the thrill of the hook. Their best-known tune, “Lonelyhearts” (included here), is four minutes of non-stop hookage: its heavy 4/4 beat got it into the dance clubs, but everything about the track is addictive, from the opening “diddy-wahs” to the percussion break and the big unleashing in the chorus. This retrospective CD amounts to the sophomore album the Atlantics would have done if they hadn’t lost their major-label deal after 1979’s long-gone Big City Rock (MCA). The two above-named songs and “Weekend” all got heavy play as radio tapes; the latter embodies the giddy, Cars-like side of the band. Yet the less familiar numbers are almost as good if less obviously commercial. “Perfect Stranger” and “Believe in Love” employ darker twists in the harmonies and guitar lines, suggesting early dB’s and mid-period XTC respectively; “New Identity” could be Mission of Burma in a cheerful mood. “Lonelyhearts” and its original flipside, “Can’t Wait Forever,” are the only tracks to feature that big ’80s drum sound. Everything else sounds shiny and modern — the only bad call was sticking the one cover, Gary Glitter’s “Rock’n’Roll,” in the middle instead of making it a bonus track. The Atlantics got screwed by not being able to release an album this hit-ready at the time, but the optimism in these tracks still rings out.
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