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December 25 Santa Ice SculptureStanding 24 metres tall and 160 metres long, China's freezing north-eastern city of Harbin has built what is being called the world's largest Santa Claus ice sculpture. Harbin is one of China's coldest cities where temperatures can dip below minus 35 degrees. Every year the city hosts an ice sculpture festival which attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists from all over the country.
 December 22 Classic Albums of the 1980s: Part 3/4In 1983, the United States drew sharp criticism for aiding rebels in Nicaragua as well as deploying cruise missiles in Britain; anti-government protests escalated in Chile; Ethiopia, credited as the nation that invented coffee, appealed for aid to its 4 million victims of drought and famine; 10 Bahá'í women were hanged to death in Shiraz, Iran for their religious beliefs; a Turkish earthquake killed 1,200; the U.S.S.R., convinced it was on a spying mission, shot down a South Korean airliner killing all 269 passengers; Aquino, an opponent of the Philippine president was assassinated; 281 American and French peacekeepers were killed by suicide terrorists in Lebanon; riots in Assam, India were responsible for 5,000 deaths and 300,000 fleeing refugees; the Pioneer 10 spacecraft left the solar system after an 11-year journey.
Music-wise, the compact disc (CD), an RCA invention, was introduced to the general public, and was eventually to replace both vinyl records and magnetic cassette tapes. And, in 1983, three great albums were released.
1. THE GOLDEN AGE OF WIRELESS* by THOMAS DOLBY
While the fashion of late 70s acts was somewhat menacing, with punk rockers' Mohawks and black lipstick, the 80s saw more accessible, almost cartoonish characters arise. One such character was Thomas Dolby. He promoted himself as a kind of mad-scientist, an egghead, playing the trombone with his nose. Gifted, not only in programming and playing sythesizers, but he built his own as well. Critic Ned Raggett calls Dolby the "peppier flip-side of Gary Numan". Though much less successful than Numan, Thomas Dolby's The Golden Age of Wireless is one of the best albums electronic rock has ever produced. Though best known for the single, "She Blinded Me with Science", we think the album's best tracks are "Cloudburst at Shingle Street", "Airwaves", and "One of Our Submarines".
*Note: The album was first released in 1982 in the U.K. but released world-wide in 1983.
2. QUICK STEP AND SIDE KICK by THE THOMPSON TWINS
After a couple of flops, the Thompson Twins shrunk themselves down to a trio, and released this masterpiece which, thrust by two Top 10 singles, barrelled up the charts to number 2 in the U.K. Many early 80s acts styled themselves after Roxy Music, a soft, romantic side of electronic pop. Artists contributing to this subgenre of new wave became known as the New Romantics and were popular more especially in Britain. Perhaps The Thompson Twins' success was due to their being more pop and dance oriented than these New Romantics. Music critic Stewart Mason writes:
"Quick Step & Side Kick is the Thompson Twins' most fully realized work, with a trio of dance-rock classics — "Love Lies Bleeding," "Love on Your Side," and the big U.S. chart hit "Lies" — that all hew close to the synth-bass-and-Latin-percussion groove of "In the Name of Love." Interestingly, however, the trio also branches out to explore a variety of sonic moods, most of them considerably darker than their cartoonish new look — lead singer Tom Bailey now sported a waist-length red ponytail, and percussionist Alannah Currie had a mohawk and no eyebrows — would suggest. The highlights of these were the simply gorgeous, ghostly ballad "If You Were Here" and yet another elegy for the late Judy Garland, the bitter "Judy Do." Although the follow-up Into the Gap was an even bigger chart success [in the U.S.], Quick Step & Side Kick is the better, more consistent album."
Best tracks: "Tears", "Kamakaze", and "If You Were Here".
3. DAZZLE SHIPS by ORCHESTRAL MANOEUVRES IN THE DARK (OMD)
OMD was an English band, the core members of which were two in number and Dazzle Ships was their fourth album. The aforementioned critic Ned Raggett calls this album a Kid A (c/o Radiohead) of the 80s:
"…On its own merits, though, it is dazzling indeed, a Kid A of its time that never received a comparative level of contemporary attention and appreciation. Indeed, Radiohead's own plunge into abstract electronics and meditations on biological and technological advances seems to be echoing the themes and construction of Dazzle Ships. What else can be said when hearing the album's lead single, the soaring "Genetic Engineering," with its Speak & Spell toy vocals and an opening sequence that also sounds like the inspiration for "Fitter, Happier," for instance? Why it wasn't a hit remains a mystery, but it and the equally enjoyable, energetic "Telegraph" and "Radio Waves" are definitely the poppiest moments on the album. Conceived around visions of cryptic Cold War tension, the rise of computers in everyday life, and European and global reference points — time zone recordings and snippets of shortwave broadcasts — Dazzle Ships beats Kraftwerk at their own game, science and the future turned into surprisingly warm, evocative songs or sudden stop-start instrumental fragments. "Dazzle Ships (Parts II, III, and VII)" itself captures the alien feeling of the album best, with its distanced, echoing noises and curious rhythms, sliding into the lovely "The Romance of the Telescope." "This Is Helena" works in everything from what sounds like heavily treated and flanged string arrangements to radio announcer samples, while "Silent Running" becomes another in the line of emotional, breathtaking OMD ballads, McCluskey's voice the gripping centerpiece."
We like the tracks "International", "Telegraph", "The Romance of the Telescope", and "Genetic Engineering" best. December 21 Starbucks Plays Scrooge in Duping Shanghai ExpatriatesThe Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf—perhaps Starbucks' biggest competitor in Shanghai—promote their business by giving customers cards they can use to earn a free drink. The card has 12 squares. Each time a customer buys a drink, Coffee Bean staff will punch a square. When all 12 squares are punched, the customer can get one free small-size drink. The rules for using the card are clearly explained on the card in both English and Chinese.
About a month ago, Starbucks, in order to promote their seasonal drinks the "toffee nut latte" and the "dark cherry mocha" gave cards out to customers. Despite there being a quarter million foreigners in Shanghai and despite the fact that most of them are regular customers at Starbucks and cannot read Chinese, the rules for using the card were printed in Chinese only. There was an expiry date on the card—January 1st, 2009.
I asked Starbucks staff what would happen when all 12 squares on the cards were stamped before the expiry date. They told me I would receive a leather-bound book. They showed one of the books to me.
Like most other foreigners in the city, I had my card stamped every time I bought one of the two drinks. And a couple of weeks ago, I got my last square stamped. I showed it to the staff and asked for the book. I received an apology and was told that they would not give me one. I pointed out that it was before the expiry date. They explained that all the books were sold out.
I went to another Starbucks and showed them the card. They pointed to a notice to all customers standing on the counter. The notice, unlike the card, was printed in both Chinese and English. It offered an apology stating that all the leather-bound books were sold out and reminded customers that the cards said that books would only be awarded on a "first come, first serve" basis (while supplies lasted). I asked if they could at least give me a free drink since I had all 12 squares stamped. They said there was no way they could agree to doing that.
The questions I pose in my beef with their goof-up:
1. Why didn't they give out the same number of cards as they had books? This way, everyone who spent all that money on the drinks (RMB 348 to 420, depending on the drink sizes) would be rewarded. 2. Starbucks didn't have a problem printing their apology in English. Why didn't they have the rules for the use of the cards printed in English for their quarter of a million expatriate customers in the city? 3. Why didn't they at least have the dignity to offer customers who got all 12 squares stamped a free drink?
Well, I, for one, won't be as rash as some other cheesed off expat customers by boycotting Starbucks cafés, but I won't be buying any more of the pricey toffee nut lattes this season or any future season.
 December 15 Classic Albums of the 1980s: Part 2/4200 million Rubik's Cubes were sold around the world in the early 1980s. After a few intelligent men published formulas to solve it, and its appeal shifted from solving it to timing to solve it, the toy went out of fashion. 1982 was the year of The Falkland War, E.T. the Extraterrestrial, Britain granting Canada power to amend its own constitution, Israel turning Sinai over to Egypt and invading Lebanon, Iran invading Iraq (both nations of the former Persian Empire), a series of IRA bombs exploding in London, the freeing of Walesa, former Polish solidarity leader, western nations debating a Soviet Pipeline to western Europe, military coups in Guatemala and Bangladesh, and the first permanent artificial heart is transplanted successfully. This host of world shaking conflicts was to be mirrored in the music industry, as the two biggest bands of the 1970s released their swan songs in 1982—ABBA and Supertramp.
Three outstanding albums came out that year. One was completely ignored by radio in Canada, one received negligible airplay, and one inadequate airtime.
1. I, ASSASSIN by GARY NUMAN
 Madonna has been credited with bringing dance music back into vogue after its popularity fizzled out in 1979. She accomplished this by fusing it with new wave. But it was Gary Numan who had already accomplished this a year earlier by releasing an album which generated three Top 20 new wave – dance hits in Britain. The funky electronic noir was the shy Englishman's sixth studio album. Best tracks: "We Take Mystery to Bed", "This Is My House", "Music for Chameleons", "Noise, Noise", and "The Image Is".
2. SECURITY by PETER GABRIEL
 Security is known as Peter Gabriel 4 outside of Canada and the U.S.. It was his fourth album. Although "Shock the Monkey" was the track that received the occasional nod by non-mainstream radio, this was arguably the weakest song on the album, an album which saw the former Genesis front man in top form. Rock critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine writes, "The gloom that permeates the third album has been alleviated and while this is still decidedly sombre and serious music, it has a brighter feel, partially derived from Gabriel's dabbling in African and Latin rhythms. These are generally used as tonal coloring, enhancing the synthesizers that form the basic musical bed of the record…" More polished than his previous album and less commercialized than his breakout So album, Security opens with mesmerizing poetic rhythms, funnels into strict new wave via "I Have the Touch", and blossoms into the beautiful ballad, "Wallflower", debatably the best track. The song writing benefits not only from the creativity of Gabriel's music but also the fine lyrics, a key component of the song, which critics most often failingly overlook.
"Looking out the window
I see the red dust clear
High up on the red rock
Stands the shadow with the spear
"The land here is strong
Strong beneath my feet
it feeds on the blood
it feeds on the heat
"The rhythm is below me
The rhythm of the heat
The rhythm is around me
The rhythm has control
The rhythm is inside me
The rhythm has my soul
…
"Drawn across the plain land
To a place that is higher
Drawn into the circle
That dances round the fire
We spit into out hands
And breathe across the palms
Raising them up high
Help open to the sun
"Self-conscious, uncertain
I'm showered with the dust
The spirit enter into me
And I submit to trust"
…
("The Rhythm of the Heat")
____________
"6x6 - from wall to wall
Shutters on the windows, no light at all
Damp on the floor you got damp on the bed
They're trying to get you crazy - get you out of your head
They feed you scraps and they feed you lies
To lower your defences, no compromise
Nothing you can do, they day can be long
Your mind is working overtime, your body's not too strong
…
"They put you in a box so you can't get heard
Let your spirit stay unbroken, may you not be deterred
"…you have gambled with your own life
And you face the night alone
While the builders of the cages
Sleep with bullets, bars and stone
They do not see your road to freedom
That you build with flesh and bone
"They take you out - the light burns your eyes
To the talking room - it's no surprise
Loaded questions from clean white coats
Their eyes are all as hidden as their Hippocratic Oath
They tell you - how to behave, behave as their guest
You want to resist them, you do your best
They take you to your limits, they take you beyond
For all that they are doing, there's no way to respond"
("Wallflower")
3. THE VISITORS by ABBA
 Though not as commercially successful as their previous release, many fans consider this ABBA's best album. It is undoubtedly the quartet's most mature work, and, sadly, their last. ABBA's wholly deserved superstar success was due in large part to their being able to lean their music toward the changing trends of the times without jumping on the bandwagon completely. When folk-pop was popular in the early 70s, they tailored their music to nod to that style, similarly in the late-70s when disco was in vogue. And in the early 80s, ABBA paid homage to new wave with The Visitors, a more sombre, introspective effort with rich electronic textures pulsating behind the universally-appealing sound that is distinctively ABBA's.
Critic Bruce Eder writes: "ABBA's final album was recorded during a period of major personal shake ups, principally in the decision by Benny Andersson and Frida to follow the same route to divorce that had already been taken by Björn Ulvaeus and Agnetha Faltskog. Both male members of the group would soon remarry, but at the time, despite all of these changes in their circumstances, The Visitors was never intended as ABBA's swan song — they were to go on recording together. That may explain why, rather than a threadbare, thrown-together feel, The Visitors is a beautifully made, very sophisticated album, filled with serious but never downbeat songs, all beautifully sung and showing off some of the bold song writing efforts."
Best tracks: "The Visitors", "I Let the Music Speak", "Slipping Through My Fingers", and "When All Is Said and Done". December 13 Classic Albums of the 1980s: Part 1/4A while back I wrote about great albums of the 1970s. I'm going to continue with a follow-up: Classic Albums of the 80s. Dance music invented circa 1975 fizzled out in popularity by the turn of the decade. What overtook it was new wave, which we can simply call "wave" because it is no longer new. By the end of the 1970s, musicians were engaged in a love-affair with the electronic sounds of the synthesizer thereby giving the boot to the disco beat of the drums. The early 80s was all about two genres: electronic rock and hard rock, the latter of which came to be known as "heavy metal". Radio shut out the latter and gave the occasional nod to the former. But many of us who grew up in the eighties would testify that the best wave music was never played on the radio. In fact, many wave artists, whose music was infused with creativity in their early years, dropped their standards, shifting to a more commercial (i.e. less electronic) sound at the end of their careers in order to garner big hit singles and reel in the big bucks. This included acts like Simple Minds, Ultravox, OMD, and The Thompson Twins. Although it was Gary Numan who was the first to combine wave with dance music, thanks to his 1982 album I, Assassin, it was Madonna who popularized the form, bringing dance music back into vogue.
There were three great albums released in 1980.
1. TELEKON by GARY NUMAN
 Gary Numan continued his legacy of genuine electronic rock with Telekon. Though completely ignored by radio in the U.S. and Canada, it was a big hit in the U.K. A couple of singles were released at the same time but not included on the original album. Later, Telekon was reissued with those hit singles included. Best tracks: "We Are Glass", "I Die: You Die", "This Wreckage", "I'm an Agent", and "Remind Me to Smile". The album also includes a song in which he collaborated with Robert Palmer—"I Dream of Wires". Celebrated rock writer Steve Malins writes:
"Released in September 1980, Telekon was Gary Numan's third successive number one album in the UK. Following the stark, symmetrical style of The Pleasure Principle, the new album was densely atmospheric and opulent-sounding, incorporating a wide range of synthesizers, as well as viola, violin and Satie-like piano. … As the American magazine Rolling Stone put it – 'this is beautiful music.' The results were melancholy but strangely soothing, a very mature record for a 22-year-old, who was already obsessed with age and the transience of fame. 'Telekon is extremely dark and introspective in places,' he explains, 'and the whole album has a very doomy, almost oppressive feel to it. This was my first new album after the success, so, rather than fantasising about life as a pop star, I now wrote about it from a position of real knowledge. The reality that I found myself in was a thousand times worse than I had ever imagined. I felt battered. Scarred inside and out, I was struggling to keep it all together. The album is a clear example of a young man whose dream had turned swiftly into a nightmare, trying to make sense of it all.'"
2. SUPER TROUPER by ABBA
 ABBA was the most commercially successful pop group of the 1970s just as The Beatles were in the decade before. But their success continued into the early eighties with the release of their final two albums, the first of which was Super Trouper, a universally appealing masterpiece, captivating people of all ages, from children to seniors. Many critics consider this album to be ABBA's crowning achievement. It spawned two number one singles in the U.K. Best tracks: "Gimme, Gimme, Gimme"; "The Winner Takes It All"; "Put On Your White Sombrero"; "Super Trouper"; "Lay All Your Love On Me"; and "The Way Old Friends Do".
3. ZENYATTA MONDATTA by THE POLICE
 Britain's male trio, The Police, was to become one of the biggest bands of the 80s, thanks to their second straight number one album in their homeland, arguably the group's best effort. Its New Wave leanings and political themes, crafted into a host of catchy tunes, propelled the group from stardom to superstardom. Apparently, the band was rushed to complete the album, prompting lead vocalist Sting to comment that the album could have been better. But, as it is, it stands as one of the finest pop albums of all time. Best tracks: "Don't Stand So Close to Me"; "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da"; and "When the World Is Running Down, You Make the Best of What's Still Around". December 06 Gary Numan's Advice For Those Signing Their First Record Contract"Always look after your fans. Not trying to be creepy here but it's an obvious fact that fans are the very lifeblood of any music career and it's close to suicide to treat them badly. You are not better than them, you simply have a different job or, perhaps, have had a bit more luck. I have fans who range from all walks of life, many of them highly successful people in their own right, and I have never felt like I was superior. Don't forget, a number of today's superstar musicians were/are fans of mine so what an idiot I would have been if I'd talked down to them when they were on their way up. I doubt they would have the same respect for me as they seem to.
"Believe in what you are doing but never think you are God's gift to music. The world is full of clever people and you will never be the only talented person in the business. Enjoy what talents you have but respect those of others and try not to take it all too seriously. On no account think of yourself as original. The best we can hope to achieve is a slightly different version of what's been before and that is actually something to be proud of. Most people are simply copying what's been before.
"Don't let record companies bully you. Unless you are very lucky they will try to change you in to what potential they saw in you to begin with. Most bands think they are being signed for what they are, what they do and how they sound, but many are signed because the record company can see in them an opportunity to mould them in to what they actually want. It can be very demoralising and frustrating. I had something of a fight on my hands when I took the Tubeway Army album to Beggars Banquet as it was not popular with all sections of the label management. I was lucky that they went ahead with it but, if I hadn't stuck to my guns and had gone back to the studio and recorded the punk album they wanted, I might never have had a career in music. You may have to ask yourselves if it's worth losing the deal or bowing down and doing what they want you to do. Not an easy situation, especially for a new band.
"Finally, enjoy it. You are going to be living a life, even if huge success escapes you, that will be exciting and something that many people will only ever dream about. You could travel the world, see things and experience things you will hardly believe, for a while anyway. You will touch people's lives all over the planet and how amazing is that? Most of all, you must always remember how lucky you are. I've talked to countless bands over the years who moan about touring, moan about being in the studio, moan about signing autographs, moan about everything. They have lost sight of just how fantastic being in a band is and just what a great life they are living and they totally piss me off. I love it, I want it to last forever and I never, ever take it for granted."
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