 Kon Kan Few albums scream "1989!" as loudly as this one by Kon Kan, a group about whom I know nothing but I assume must have been comprised entirely of L.A. studio musicians. As far as I am aware, Move to Move was their only album, and that's a good thing. Throughout the tracks, they seem to seek the same sort of wistful synth pop of OMD, New Order, and early Depeche Mode, but succeed mainly in achieving the wimpy blandness you'd expect from California Dreams or The Heights. The songs are as prefabricated as they are annoying, but overall it's an inoffensive enough sort of album. The sole reason to seek it out is the excellent single "I Beg Your Pardon," in which Lynn Anderson's "I Never Promised You a Rose Garden" meets a sampling keyboard, back in the day when it was impressive to use samplers to produce a stuttering effect. I'll always be a bit sentimental regarding that song, which was a big one for me in high school and that explains why Move to Move has never "moved" along to the used CD shop in any of my huge CD collection pogroms. In fact, I'd say it's a safe bet that listening to it for this review was the first time I'd ever given it a full listen straight through, and I can't say it's horrid, despite the preponderance of orchestral hits and whatever it is that makes that "ching-ching-ching" sound used in virtually all dance and R&B songs from 1987-1990. I hate that goddamn sound! It has ruined more than enough otherwise enjoyable Top 40 hits (Hammer's "Do Not Pass Me By," for example), and has definitely not helped with utter shit like "Workin' Overtime" by Diana Ross. Wow, that was a pretty solid argument against something I can't even accurately define. Kon Kan seems to be essentially Barry Harris (not exactly Ian Curtis, in terms of names with artistic credibility), producer, assisted by Kevin Wynne as the token flat-monotone vocalist (I don't mean that as insult – I'm a big Pet Shop Boys fan, after all) and various session background singers. The music has about as much depth to it as you find in, say, a made-for-TV movie about a musician who slides into an addiction to painkillers – the focus being on the addiction, not the music – with a few scenes where you see the "band" rehearsing the last 30 seconds of their song. That's kind of what the music sounds like. Nothing flashy, and for the most part, extremely generic. A few tracks utilize sampling or quasi-sampling, such as the catchy and frustrating "Puss N' Boots," which utilizes Led Zeppelin and Nancy Sinatra amid the usual wash of orchestra hits and programmed drums. I can't see these production values ever becoming cheesily retro like the early 80s music has become – but if so, Move to Move will be the rediscovery of the 2005s. Even at the time, though, I recognized it for the cash-in that it is – even at the height of my love for "I Beg Your Pardon" I never considered Kon Kan a band. Other tracks like "Harry Houdini" (the other single, I seem to recall) don't stack up to "I Beg Your Pardon," but nothing is too god-awful, all things considered. Fans of dance music and perhaps even the wimpier end of the goth food chain might still enjoy this album, though there are definitely enough unintentionally hilarious moments (the "Simpsons"-esque rip-off of Cameo's "Word Up" in "I Can't Answer That" is my favorite bad moment) to keep anyone from arguing that this is some sort of neglected synth-pop gem. Rather, it is a , a harsh reminder that a great song doesn't always get a great album around it, and we should never let the late 80s happen again.
Review by Butte Montana |