Liverpool's A Flock of Seagulls are best remembered for lead singer Mike Score's hair (and their number ten hit "I Ran [So Far Away]"). The quartet actually scored three lesser hits aside from that archetypal '80s smash. The kinetic "A Space Age Love Song"; the cascading, multi-layered "Wishing (If I Had a Photograph of You)"; and the sweeping "The More You Live, the More You Love" are also included here. The set is fleshed out with non-hits and album cuts that most listeners will find pleasant but unessential (although the neurotic "Nightmares" is quite fun). It's an interesting curio from synth-rock's heyday and all the Flock of Seagulls that anyone aside from ardent fans or '80s junkies needs. ~ Tom Demalon

Music Club's The Best of A Flock of Seagulls is an excellent 16-track roundup of A Flock of Seagulls' best material. Their catalog wasn't particularly deep outside of the hits "Wishing (If I Had a Photograph of You)" and "I Ran (So Far Away)," but they did do some good new nomantic synth pop, particularly on cuts like "Nightmares," "A Space Age Love Song," and "Telecommunications," all of which are here. As a matter of fact, this really does contain all of the group's best material, and while new wave fetishists will likely go for the actual albums anyway, most listeners will be more than satisfied with this. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Though now considered little more than a punchline, thanks largely to singer/songwriter Mike Score's appallingly goofy haircut, Liverpool's A Flock of Seagulls were actually a more than credible technopop band whose success during the early days of MTV paved the way for a number of other seemingly uncommercial bands. This compilation is an excellent precis, limiting 1984's STORY OF A YOUNG HEART to its two good songs and ignoring 1986's abysmal DREAMS COME TRUE entirely. Aside from a dance mix and a 1985 single, the rest of the 12 tracks come from the band's two excellent early albums. Besides the hits "I Ran," "Space Age Love Song" and "Wishing," the set includes the excellent post-punk bash "Telecommunication," the creepily atmospheric "Nightmares" and "DNA," the wistful "Transfer Affection," and the manic "It's Not Me Talking"--all first-rate synthpop. minimize