Mac McNaughton, Journalist

In fact, it might well be the Boys' safest album yet.

Electrospective gives you a lot of essentials that will inspire you to compile your own third disc to fill in the gaps. I did.

As he prepares to perform his first two albums across Australia for the first time in nearly 30 years, ‘80s synth-pop icon Howard Jones chats to starstruck fan (and former ‘snood’ wearer) Mac McNaughton about putting his dream into action.

Four is massive, just fucking huge in size and the band got value for money employing producer Alex Newport’s services (At the Drive-In, The Mars Volta).

Human Woman by itself is one of the strongest releases of the year so far.

Bedroom-budget, basement-fidelity electronic pop music is the order of the day here, like an under-funded Phoenix who’ve had their ‘80s record collection taken away.

Then there is the wretched version of Moby’s Go which seems recorded purely to earn an easy buck from an arty car commercial. Put this disc in your Excel’s stereo and you can safely say it’s over.

What’s left is an album falling some way short of greatness, of disposable music for pleasure.

With a touch of prog-rock here and electronica there, the DIY mentality of Here Comes The Bombs makes for a very homely kind of rock record.