THE ARROWS - Talk Talk, The Best Of The Arrows (1995)

Canadian act The Arrows were formed in 1981 by vocalist Dean McTaggart and drummer Michael Sloski. Following the Daniel Lanois (U2) produced independent EP 'Misunderstood', the band landed a deal with a major label.
Their debut '84 "Stand Back", produced, arranged and co-written by David Tyson (Alannah Myles, Jude Cole) sold well and the band gained considerable critical praise, while the single "Meet Me In The Middle" entered the top 40 chart.

After touring UK as support act, with new bassist Glen Olive they returned to the studios for the 2nd album: "The Lines Are Open" (1985).
Three singles were released and all charted in Canada, but pressures from management for an international breakout hit caused problems inside the band and they quietly went their separate ways at the end of the cross-Canada tour in 1986.

The sound of the The Arrows was basically power-pop but the approach in production and songwriting, absolutely catchy Hi-Tech / Lite AOR in the classy Canadian style.
Songs like "Say It Isn't True", "Bad Reputation", "Heart Of The City" are very close to canadians Honeymoon Suite, New Regime or Idle Eyes, "Never Be Another One", "Enough Is Never Enough" to Paul Janz, "Stand Back" and "Chains" to the more commercial Zappacosta, while "Girl In 313", "Talk Talk" or "Tell It To My Heart" sounds like the mid-eighties Rick Springfield.

In 1995, a CD compilation by the classic german label Long Island Records "Talk Talk: The Best Of The Arrows", was published in limited quantities containing their two albums minus the last track of "The Lines Are Open".
This has been the only release of Arrows music on CD, apart from the european-only release of "TLAO".

The Arrows' albums are out of print and hard to find, and leader Dean McTaggart is personally encouraging people to freely distribute this material on the net.
Good Stuff.


01 - Say It Isn't True
02 - Fallen Angel
03 - Meet Me In The Middle
04 - Never Be Another One
05 - Girl In 313
06 - Stand Back
07 - Enough Is Never Enough
08 - I Owe You
09 - Easy Street
10 - Heart Of The City
11 - Talk Talk
12 - Tell It To My Heart
13 - Bad Reputation
14 - I Can't Let Go
15 - Chains
16 - I Told You So
17 - Wild One


Dean McTaggart - vocals
Doug Macaskill - guitar
Rob Gusevs - keyboards
Earl Seymour - sax
Peter Bleakney, Howard Aye - bass (1984)
Michael Sloski - drums (1984)
David Tyson - keyboards, background vocals
Eddie Schwartz, Al Van Wart - background vocals
Glenn Olive - bass (1985)
Bobby Economou - drums (1985)
Gerald O'Brien - emulator programming (1985)
Produced by David Tyson (1984 / 85)
Mixed & Engineered by Bob Rock (1985)






THE ARROWS - Talk Talk Best Of