Login
A greatest hits collection should always make your band appear better than they actually were, or showcase how great your band was to begin with. This collection of Missing Persons songs does the former. They were as plastic and relentlessly chirpy as anything else associated with the Hi-NRG/synth-pop New Wave scene.
Dale Bozzio barely had a voice – it was mostly nasal vocal ticks and hiccups – but she had an impressive group of musicians backing her up. From the early almost punk-dance hyperkinetic beginnings, like “Mental Hopscotch,” to the funkier sound they adopted, like “Color in Your Life,” Missing Persons was a group of talented musicians. The Los Angeles New Wavers could deliver on the singles front – “Words,” “Destination Unknown,” “Walking in L.A.,” “Give” – but the album cuts get a little iffy towards the end. They deserved a better vocalist, but there’s some charm in Bozzio. Her shockingly sky-high pink hair and brazen outfits spring to mind. She aimed to be like a more accessible, and artificial, version of Debbie Harry. But no one else could squeak out a semi-decent New Wave cover of The Doors like she could.
But the problem with anything related to Missing Persons is that they never really evolved as a band. They tried to be punk, they tried to be funkier, but they never adapted their plastic sound to a more mature beat. It was all manic energy all the time, and this collection does wear thin after a while. But no one can deny that when they put everything together and made it work they could create great alternative dance-rock singles. DOWNLOAD: “Walking in L.A.,” “Words,” “Mental Hopscotch”
