Colin Hay
Topanga

Strong, aren't they, the Australian Men At Work?! Agile and melodic '80s pop rock, enhanced by an emotional voice, that of their leader Colin Hay.

In Italy, traces of this man have almost completely disappeared, yet he is in excellent health and still very much active in his artistic career. He holds dual Australian and American nationality because after the breakup of Men at Work, he settled in Los Angeles, more precisely in the suburb of Topanga Canyon, from which the album takes its title, the fourth (1994) among the fifteen(!) released so far under his name. Topanga... has seen many people before him, like Neil Young, Mitchell, the Eagles, the Mamas & Papas, Jim Morrison... None of these people (the living ones, I mean...) are there anymore, but he is, and he feels right at home.

It's still him, Colin: priceless and easily recognizable voice, with a timbre somewhat similar to Sting's, but less tenor-like, more expansive. And it's beautiful how he uses it, how he sometimes makes it leap an octave, perhaps in the last stanza of a song, bringing it up a level, where it loses its mellowness and gains in dramatic effect. But it's a bit worn... cigarettes, I think, but only slightly compared to the youthful years in Australia.

His strong rhythmic conception of pop rock also remains, with melodies that face very few ballads, preferring to develop in sustained mid tempos, even though they are quite light and minimalist as they were in Men at Work. However, in the music of the latter, there were more colors... primarily Ron Strickert's delightful electric guitar, and then Greg Ham's sax, which, mind you, makes a fleeting appearance at least in the last track.

All these reflections are based solely on an in-depth knowledge of the album in question concerning Colin's solo work... I still have to delve into the vast repertoire of this favorite of mine. So I refrain from further delving into contexts, genres, and his evolutions, limiting myself to conveying the personal sensation that it seems impossible for this man to make bad music.

Certainly, the dirty trick perpetrated by the CD in my possession, which includes as a final bonus track the sublime "Overkill" in an acoustic version... Heck! It overshadows all twelve preceding songs, this perfect war relic of 1983 (album "Cargo" by Men at Work), one of those wonderful pop songs with a spine-tingling melody.