Title: An excellent overview of artistic decline
Product review: Canada's Payola$ started out as a great, anthemic punk/new wave pop band, but by the time they were done, they'd descended into David Foster-produced commercial bid hell. The eleven songs here are in chronological order, allowing us to carefully trace the band's artistic decline. It begins strong with "China Boys" and "In a Place Like This" and includes the smartly crafted, reggae-inflected "Eyes of a Stranger," but it goes downhill from there. Insult is added to injury in that the group's dreadful final album Here's the World For Ya is represented by more songs (4) than any of their other records. Even fans of 80s commercial fluff (like Chicago, Foster's other clients at the time) will have a hard time swallowing the final four.This is not the best way to be introduced to the Payola$, but unless some enterprising label is going to reissue the band's albums, it's unfortunately the only way. "In a Place Like This" is almost worth the price on its own. Almost.
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