From the Vault: Men at Work’s Brazil review

Men at Work
Brazil
Columbia/Legacy
Sony Music

Here they come and they’re all oh so faithful. Recorded in front of very vocal Brazilian audiences, Men At Work—basically Colin Hay, Greg Ham and a bunch of ring ins—go through their blister hot period (1981-3) as if trapped in a time warp. All the hits are here, including Who Can It Be Now, Overkill, and Be Good Johnny, each sounding just like the original, but also much more like The Police than a memory had pictured. Take out the flute-solo strained Down Under (Jethro Tull, anyone, while we are in the mood for slap-headed flautists?) and this makes a fair enough replacement for a studio best of. If there is anybody looking for such a beast.

Hay’s voice has added considerable character over the years, and the well drilled team blast out the party pieces, but it does feel a little strange thinking so many people were going this crazy for Men At Work in 1996, when it was recorded. They go at it like there’s no tomorrow, but it is hard to shake the feeling that they are merely replicating a yesterday that was a long time ago. As they so prophetically called their biggest album, this is business as usual. Who’s to say that is necessarily a good thing.

POLLY COUFOS.

This review originally appeared in Issue 627 of X-Press Magazine, published on Thursday, February 18, 1999. Share your memories of this and other classic X-Press content by joining the Rewind Facebook group. Rewind: 40 Years of X-Press Magazine by Bob Gordon is on sale now in hardcover and softcover.