Some of you lovely people
may, or may not, remember when I posted Cactus World News debut album Urban
Beaches (if you don’t already have it, get it, Now!). It is, and always will
be, a stone cold classic album that seemed to fall through the usual cracks.
Having sold a credible 250K copies, toured as special guests of The Cult on
1985’s Love Tour, continued air-play on college radio of the single The Bridge that
their future was, rosy. Unfortunately,
not. With a three year wait for new material, CWN became the forgotten, lost,
Irish jewel. By 1989 a second, more pop-oriented album was shelved by MCA after
two singles failed to draw any further attention. CWN eventually called it a
day in 1991. Finally, after being leaked on the internet, No Shelter was released
in 2004 by Red Coral; the waiting had ended, but was it was worth the wait? No
Shelter is a bit more polished, a bit more over produced and the rawness of the
debut is at times, missing in action. But now, today, after almost 33 years it
sounds fresh, bright and shiny shiny. Don’t get me wrong, it is no Urban
Beaches, but it definitely deserves a shot across your boughs. Just for fun,
play No Shelter‘s “Falling Sun” for that annoying collector who claims to own
every rare U2 track.
