For their third album, the Go-Go's abandoned all pretense of being punk, or even new wave, and went for an unabashed mainstream pop masterpiece. They nearly achieved their goal with Talk Show, an album filled with great pop songs but undermined by its own ambition. Talk Show has a sharper sound than its predecessors, with bigger guitars and drums, which helps drive home the accomplished pop hooks of "Turn to You," "I'm the Only One," and "Yes or No." However, the record is cluttered with half-realized songs and an overly detailed production which occasionally prevents the songs from reaching their full potential. But when the production and song are teamed well, the results are incredible, such as the surging "Head Over Heels," another classic single. Unfortunately, those moments don't arrive frequently enough to make Talk Show the new wave classic that it wants to be.

Pop is such a plastic concept that to call this a pop comeback just confuses things-with its clean, bold, Martin Rushent sound and confident basic chopswomanship, it shares less with Beauty and the Beat than with, oh, Sports (and less than Bananarama does, too). In other words, it's an AOR move (with top-forty goals assumed). Lyrically, it represents a retreat-no place for sly subcultural anthems among these straightforward love songs (really relationship songs), which while sensible enough are never acute or visionary (or thematically consistent/complementary). And having peeled away several layers of resistance, I find the record thrilling. Its expressive enthusiasm gives me the same good feeling I used to get from their musical godmothers in Fanny-a sense of possibility that might touch women who are turned off by more explicit politics, and that these women are strong enough to put into practice.



Tracklist:

01. Head Over Heels (3:38)
02. Turn To You (3:52)
03. You Thought (4:19)
04. Beneath The Blue Sky (3:04)
05. Forget That Day (4:31)
06. I'm The Only One (3:32)
07. Yes Or No (4:04)
08. Capture The Light (3:20)
09. I'm With You (3:37)
10. Mercenary (3:34)