Magazine 60

With a smattering of Spanish, lots of synthesizers and Euro-disco fire, and a few Depeche Mode/New Order-isms cleaved into the background to fascinating effect, Magazine 60 turned the second half of the middle of the 1980s into their very own kind of twisted, paint-spattered party with the release of 1987's Costa del Sol LP. And while band and album alike escaped any notice on the charts, both proved to be embraced and elevated to mythic heights by the hipsters in the clubs -- thanks mostly to one massive, monstrous song. The outrageous, exuberant, and unstoppable "Don Quichotte" was an immediate underground hit -- courtesy of the six-and-a half-minute 12" mix which has now become an iconoclastic must-have on any '80s box. One of the last, and admittedly late, great disco songs, "Don Quichotte" reverberated with scything guitar slices and the echo of off-kilter handclaps. Add a few rings of the telephone and a misguided Brit trying, and miserably failing, to reach "Mr. Don Quichotte" (butchered to quiche-ot, of course), ceaselessly rebuffed by the woman on the other end of the line, and well, there's not much out there that's better. The band knew that they had a winner on their hands -- besides the album version, the song appears again in a groovy beach-saturated mash with the title track. And while Magazine 60 tries to pull a few more hits out of the hat, sadly, everything else on Costa del Sol sounds like a lost cause. "Pancho Villa" proved another sassy club hit, and is the only other song on the set that gives "Don Quichotte" a run for its money, leaving "Playa del Mor" to founder and "Hasta Luega Trinidad" as just plain silly. "People for Peace: John Lennon," meanwhile, should be cringe-worthy, but is oddly compelling as "Hazy Shade of Winter" harmonies meet the spoken word. Sadly overlooked and damnably hard to find, Costa del Sol is ultimately an outstanding, secret slice of the neon generation's cake. Sweet, sticky, and delicious. ~ Amy Hanson, All Music Guide