The Hitmen — Torn Together

This was the release we were looking for when we became so enamored of the early MTV hit “Bates Motel” (wrote about it last time). For a band that was on MTV, they didn’t seem to get much distribution, and we looked all over trying to find the song or anything by the band. We kinda couldn’t believe how hard they were to find; I was able to grab up promo records (one of which did include “Bates Motel”) well before we could find the album. (The promo I have includes half the album.)

As what I would consider peak new wave music, this 1981 album is much better and more memorable than their previous year’s “Aim For The Feet,” but it is still very much 1981. This is not timeless music. It’s fine. It’s synth pop. It’s got new wave vocal swagger. You could skank to “Picking Up The Pulse.” But despite our early desperation to find it, I didn’t consider this particularly timeless. I’ll gladly listen to “Bates Motel” at any time, but the rest of the album — well, if I’m in the mood for peak new wave, I’ll probably pull out Four Out of Five Doctors or Humans.