Beauty and the Beat [Deluxe 2CD Ediion] [Digipak]

Rating

Album: Beauty and the Beat [Deluxe 2CD Ediion] [Digipak]
#	Song Title	Time
1)	Our Lips Are Sealed
2)	How Much More
3)	Tonite
4)	Lust to Love
5)	This Town
6)	We Got the Beat
7)	Fading Fast
8)	Automatic
9)	You Can't Walk in Your Sleep
10)	Skidmarks on My Heart
11)	Can't Stop the World
12)	Surfing and Spying
13)	We Got the Beat [Single Mix] - (remix)
14)	Lust to Love [Demo]
15)	How Much More [Demo]
16)	Living at the Canterbury/Party Pose [Live at Rehearsal] - (live)
17)	Fashion Seekers [Intro: Live at Rehearsal/Live at The Mabuhay] - (live)
18)	Screaming [Live at The Mabuhay] - (live)
19)	Johnny Are You Queer? [Live at the Mabuhay] - (live)
20)	Fun With Ropes [Live at the Mabuhay] - (live)
21)	Blades [Live at Rehearsal] - (live)
22)	He's So Strange [Live at Rehearsal] - (live)
1)	Skidmarks on My Heart - (live)
2)	How Much More - (live)
3)	Tonite - (live)
4)	Fading Fast - (live)
5)	London Boys - (live)
6)	Cool Jerk - (live)
7)	Automatic - (live)
8)	Lust to Love - (live)
9)	Can't Stop the World - (live)
10)	This Town - (live)
11)	You Can't Walk in Your Sleep (If You Can't Sleep) - (live)
12)	Our Lips Are Sealed - (live)
13)	Let's Have a Party - (live)
14)	We Got the Beat - (live)
15)	Surfing and Spying/Beatnik Beach - (live)
16)	(Remember) Walking in the Sand - (live)
17)	Vacation - (live)

Album: Beauty and the Beat [Deluxe 2CD Ediion] [Digipak]
#	Song Title	Time
1)	Our Lips Are Sealed
2)	How Much More
3)	Tonite
4)	Lust to Love
5)	This Town
6)	We Got the Beat
7)	Fading Fast
8)	Automatic
9)	You Can't Walk in Your Sleep
10)	Skidmarks on My Heart
11)	Can't Stop the World
12)	Surfing and Spying
13)	We Got the Beat [Single Mix] - (remix)
14)	Lust to Love [Demo]
15)	How Much More [Demo]
16)	Living at the Canterbury/Party Pose [Live at Rehearsal] - (live)
17)	Fashion Seekers [Intro: Live at Rehearsal/Live at The Mabuhay] - (live)
18)	Screaming [Live at The Mabuhay] - (live)
19)	Johnny Are You Queer? [Live at the Mabuhay] - (live)
20)	Fun With Ropes [Live at the Mabuhay] - (live)
21)	Blades [Live at Rehearsal] - (live)
22)	He's So Strange [Live at Rehearsal] - (live)
1)	Skidmarks on My Heart - (live)
2)	How Much More - (live)
3)	Tonite - (live)
4)	Fading Fast - (live)
5)	London Boys - (live)
6)	Cool Jerk - (live)
7)	Automatic - (live)
8)	Lust to Love - (live)
9)	Can't Stop the World - (live)
10)	This Town - (live)
11)	You Can't Walk in Your Sleep (If You Can't Sleep) - (live)
12)	Our Lips Are Sealed - (live)
13)	Let's Have a Party - (live)
14)	We Got the Beat - (live)
15)	Surfing and Spying/Beatnik Beach - (live)
16)	(Remember) Walking in the Sand - (live)
17)	Vacation - (live)

Performer Notes

The Go-Go's: Charlotte Caffey (vocals, guitar, keyboards); Jane Weidlin (vocals, guitar); Belinda Carlisle (vocals); Kathy Valentine (guitar, bass); Gina Schock (drums, percussion).
Recorded at Pennylane Studio, New York, New York.
Personnel: Charlotte Caffey (vocals, guitar); Jane Wiedlin, Belinda Carlisle (vocals); Gina Schock (drums, percussion).
Liner Note Author: Paul Myers .
Recording information: Live, The Metro Club, Boston (08/20/1981); Pennylane Studio, New York (08/20/1981); Record Plant Studio, New York (08/20/1981); Sound Mixers Studio (08/20/1981).
It's not quite right to say that the Go-Go's' 1981 debut, Beauty and the Beat, is where new wave caught hold in the U.S., but it's not quite wrong, either. Prior to this, there had certainly been new wave hits -- Blondie had been reaching the Top Ten for two years running -- but the Go-Go's ushered in the era of big, bright stylish pop, spending six weeks at the top of the U.S. charts and generating two singles that defined the era: the cool groove of "Our Lips Are Sealed" and the exuberant "We Got the Beat." So big were these two hits that they sometimes suggested that Beauty and the Beat was a hits-and-filler record, an impression escalated by the boost the Go-Go's received from the just-launched MTV, yet that's hardly the case. Beauty and the Beat is sharp, clever, and catchy, explicitly drawing from the well of pre-Beatles `60s pop -- girl group harmonies, to be sure, but surf-rock echoes throughout -- but filtering it through the nervy energy of punk. With the assistance of Rob Freeman, producer Richard Gottehrer -- a veteran of the Strangeloves ("I Want Candy") who also wrote the girl group standard "My Boyfriend's Back" -- sanded down the band's rougher edges, keeping the emphasis on the hooks and harmonies but giving the Go-Go's enough kick and jangle that at times the group resembles nothing less than early R.E.M., particularly on "How Much More" and "Tonite." But this isn't Murmur; there is nothing murky about Beauty and the Beat at all -- this is infectiously cheerful pop, so hooky it's sometimes easy to overlook how well-written these tunes are, but it's the sturdiness of the songs that makes Beauty and the Beat a new wave classic. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Professional Reviews

Rolling Stone (10/31/02, p.136) - Ranked # 36 in Rolling Stone's "Women in Rock: The 50 Essential Albums"

Rolling Stone (p.77) - 4 stars out of 5 - "[E]very element is exactly in its place. But it's the combination of pop-rock production and a band that was unhinged, unschooled and unlovely that makes BEAT great."

Spin (p.104) - "[With] handclap rockers and terse love notes, they actually became, no joke, America's sweethearts. In a shocking pop upset, they also write their own songs."

CMJ (1/5/04, p.10) - Ranked #9 in CMJ's "Top 20 Most-Played Albums of 1982".

Q (Magazine) (p.132) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "Spilling over with girly melodies and spangly riffs..."

Record Collector (magazine) (p.93) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "The Go-Gos seemed to pick up from before when The Runaways went wrong, replacing jailbait sleaze with harmless, radio-friendly power-pop fun."

Uncut (magazine) (p.87) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "[The] elegant 'Our Lips Are Sealed,' by Jane Wiedlin and Terry Hall, remains their finest three minutes."