http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006CLH9BY/?tag=imwan-20

1. Gathering Dust
2. 16 Days
3. Just A Thought
4. Move In Light
5. Grief
6. The Token Man
7. A Viable Commercial
8. Black Houses
9. Dance Of Devotion (A Love Song)
10. Smiles And Laughter
11. Mesh And Lace
12. Tranquility
13. Home
14. Swans On Glass
15. Incident

The debut album by this overlooked 4AD outfit from Colchester in Essex. In many ways, Modern English helped to define the sound and image of that pioneering label; while admittedly pretentious at times, they were also sharp-edged, intellectual, and obsessed with aestheticism. The standouts here are the title track, "Smiles and Laughter," and "Gathering Dust," an epic post-punk exercise in aural dynamics. The keyboard rush that they employ is one of the punkiest uses of Stephen Walker's synthesizer imaginable -- at least prior to the development of the industrial movement.



http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006CLHB62/?tag=imwan-20

1. Someone's Calling
2. Life In The Gladhouse
3. Face Of Wood
4. Dawn Chorus
5. I Melt With You
6. After The Snow
7. Carry Me Down
8. Tables Turning
9. Someone's Calling
10. Life In The Gladhouse
11. I Melt With You
12. The Prize
13. Life In The Gladhouse
14. The Choicest View

"I Melt With You" will forever be the one specific moment that's Modern English's place in pop history, but the album it came from, After the Snow, isn't anything to sneeze at. Indeed, in transforming from the quite fine but dour young miserabilists on Mesh & Lace to a brighter incarnation who still had a melancholy side, the quintet found exactly the right combination best-suited for their abilities.



http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006CLHDL0/?tag=imwan-20

1. Rainbows End
2. Machines
3. Spinning Me Round
4. Ricochet Days
5. Hands Across The Sea
6. Blue Waves
7. Heart
8. Chapter 12
9. Chapter 12
10. Ringing In The Change
11. Reflection
12. Breaking Away

Ricochet Days begins Modern English's move toward the status of synth band. The material, beautifully produced by the reliable Hugh Jones and boasting some pliable hooks, has the conviction and attack of old.

After all these years I just picked up After the Snow. Really good album, much better than the "one-hit wonder" tag I ignorantly placed on them.

Love Ricochet Days.

Bump:
All info for these and links now updated. They are released this week.