Review: “Making Waves” by The Nolans (Vinyl, 1980)

Today’s Pop Rescue from a fate uncertain is the 1980 album Making Waves – the fourth studio album by the family quartet The Nolans. Will this album be your Sexy Music or will you be Waving it good riddance? Read on…

The Nolans - Making Waves (1980) album. — The Nolans – Making Waves (1980) album.

Side One opens with some fantastic synths of second single Gotta Pull Myself Together. This ushers in some wonderful gentle pop sounds and vocals which flow effortlessly along. The track bounces along lightly thanks to that synth and minimal distraction from the vocals, and giving us a great start. The single took the group to #9 in the UK.

Then it’s on to Don’t Make Waves, the album’s lead single, and this leans a little bit towards disco (which was on its way out by this time). It’s another gentle singalong track, and it steadily builds warm vocal harmonies for the final third. The track gave The Nolans a #12 UK hit single.

It’s a cover of Diana Ross’ 1973 hit Touch Me In The Morning next, and this gives us the chance to hear the group deliver a heartfelt ballad, and the vocals we’re given here are soft and rich. The song builds well, and delivers a solid mid-tempo love song.

Picking up the tempo is Don’t Stoke The Fire, and it returns us to an up-beat disco fuelled sound. This is a really fun and catchy pop song with a simple beat, off-set with playful vocals and disco-esque string motifs. It’s a great little track.

Then Better Late Than Never turns up, and this gives us a more sultry slower number thanks to an 80’s saxophone. Vocal harmonies are at play early here, and whilst this works well in the chorus, the verse is a little disorientating at times. It feels like a bit of a filler.

This side closes with Sexy Music, which made it as a single in Japan. Here though, we’re definitely into a full disco sound, and it works perfectly with the vocal range and soaring strings, and the lyrical mentions of disco too. It’s a foot tapping romp to end to this first side.

Side Two opens with a mix of 80’s synth sounds and a thick funky disco sound of third single Who’s Gonna Rock You. The vocals here are more energetic and really shine well. Rightly, it gave them a hit – reaching #12 in the UK chart.

Attention To Me follows that, and this is a wonderful track – with oodles of energy and a great beat. You can almost hear the group smiling whilst singing this – even the video is perfect too. This catchy track was the album’s fourth and final UK single, and it took the group to #9. Should have got more attention!

Then it’s time for a slower track in the form of Old Feelings Again. It’s a fairly standard plodder of a song, one that I can imagine the group sat upon high stools and gently swaying as they sing this effortlessly into their mics. It’s a nice song, but it certainly has ‘old feelings’ and feels like this side’s filler.

That leads on to Lead Me On, which is a nice mid-tempo track that aptly flows really easily from verse to chorus and back again really gently, and by the time the track heads for the fade, you’ll be singing along with the Nolan harmonies.

Next it’s the mellow and reflective Directions Of Love. Flanked by an orchestra, the chorus sounds really good in this track, although the track feels really short, and is, at just 2m 57s. The vocals are delivered again with seemingly great ease.

The album closes with Get Ready – a hit for The Temptations, and here The Nolans pick up on the energy of the original whilst blending it with the funkiness of disco with a nice bass and brass interjections. The vocals are quite soft though, but seem to lift for the key change.

Performance of The Nolans’ lead single ‘Don’t Make Waves’ (1980).

Verdict

Over all, this album is a blend of safe and cosy songs, and catchy disco-pop numbers.

It certainly feels like an album released on the cusp of the exit of disco from the charts in the early 1980s, and that allows for some brilliant disco-pop songs amongst some less exciting pop ballads. Either way, the Nolans deliver each with seeming ease, knowing where the vocal harmonies will expertly power-up any vocal moments that the lead can’t quite handle.

Highlights here include Gotta Pull Myself Together, Sexy Music, Attention To Me and Who’s Gonna Rock You, with some great moments in Get Ready too. Of the remaining tracks, there’s little between them, although Better Late Than Never and Old Feelings Again feel like tracks that have landed on the Nolan doormat and they’ve knocked them out in a couple of hours to fill the vinyl side.

As a first foray into the Nolans’ world of music, the album was better than I had imagined, and the blend of vocal warmth in lead and harmonies works well throughout, and with the right up-beat song, it works a treat. Definitely worth a spin.