Things were getting worse in 1978… Punk was not a trend of the year and maybe that was the reason, why the Island refused to release the Automatics LP, which had been recorded and (produced?) by (now) classic new-wave maestro Steve Lillywhite. Okay. I’m a big fan of punk-77 and early new wave music and listened to hundreds and thousands releases of the genre and I want to notice that this album was absolutely masterpiece! About music – a good mix of Heartbreakers (“Radio On”), early Costello (especially on slow numbers like “Ball And Chain” or “To The Goodtimes”) and Boomtown Rats (“Moth Into A Flame”), but much more fast than the originals. About mix – a fantastic work of Steve: great backing vocals, great electronic effects (even vocoders on “Stab Your Back”), all standard new-wave things are here: claps, three-chord rockers (“Danger Signs”), non-stop track mixing, slogans and so on. There are no any weak songs on the album, just the “Tanks” sounds not in a row because it’s a cut of Island single (not re-recorded version) and there is a difference in a quality (someone could say the same thing about “Watch Her Now” (the “Tanks” b-side) but Steve mixed this one with “Dumb Games”, so you don’t feel the difference). But anyway if you’re still interesting in this kind of music – welcome back in 1978 with the Automatics album! 5 stars from 5! (Sadly I didn’t listen to the LP version due to high prices on vinyl, just this CD only)