Sad Café – Anthology

British rock outfit Sad Café maintained a somewhat schizophrenic identity throughout the equally vacillatory '70s and '80s musical landscape. Paul Young's rather competent and eerily close mirroring of Mick Jagger brought them to wider attention, but it was the group's dead-on approximation of Styx's "Babe" in 1979 that really threatened to send them stratospheric - "Everyday Hurts", their much-loved signature tune, is a shockingly brilliant ballad so deeply revered as a soft-rock classic that it actually proved detrimental. As 2001's "Anthology" demonstrates so well, Sad Café was not a flash-in-the-pan, and crucially, "Everyday Hurts" was not their only stab at a mainstream hit. In fact, they never failed to disappoint, undertaking all manner of styles on their eclectic and enjoyable albums (yes, they have quite the extensive back catalogue), from light-hearted hard-rocking blooze to smoother, more synth-laden efforts, with the same unbridled conviction and ease that won them such a large live following in their early years.

DJs, curators and collectors will know better than to blindly write off acts that seemingly fell off the radar after a brief period of notice. After all, the discovery of hidden gems and curios that either through sheer ignorance, ineptitude, oversight or neglect did not connect with listeners at the time is part of the fun of preserving rare music. Any rock act capable of producing at least one chartbuster during the disco-dominated late '70s warrants further investigation, and since Sad Café is one such act with a substantial oeuvre overshadowed by their biggest hit, a consolidation of said underrated songs is a welcome provision. Thankfully, "Anthology" prevails. The greatest quantity of the material herein is top-notch, with sixteen lushly-arranged rockers and ballads, principally "Run Home Girl," "Black Rose," "Refugees," and "Losing You", all making a solid case for Sad Café's insufficient mainstream appreciation and popularity. Released quite belatedly to a modicum of fanfare, this retrospective was issued exclusively on CD (a given considering the time period in which it was compiled) and remains the definitive digital collection for fans new (and old) to acquaint themselves with some of the finest new wave/soft-rock-inspired pub rock of the era.

RATING: 4.5/5