My Amazon Reviews: The Outfield "Big Innings/The Best of The Outfield"

5 Hits, 1 HR, multiple errors: The Outfield, 
3 Out of 5 Stars

Over the course of five albums for two labels, British trio The Outfield scored several modern rock crossover success in the late 80's. They took an all American band name and mixed it with a Police-like attack, which made for one perfect slice of power-pop in the top ten single, "Your Love." Anchored by that song, their debut "Play Deep" went multi-platinum. That success was well deserved, as Guitarist/Songwriter John Spinks fed easy to swnig at songs to vocalist Tony Lewis, whose soaring lead vocals often recalled Sting or Men at Work's Colin James Hay. Along with drummer Alan Jackman, The Outfield delivered tightly played and harmony filled songs, pushing five hits into the top 40.

"Play Deep" was the big explosion of creativity, and "Banging" was the excellent follow-up. The Outfield reached a Police-like creative peak on "Voices of Babylon," but the novelty was gone and sales were falling off. The Outfield jumped to MCA from CBS for one last gasp, the uninspired sounding "Diamond Days" and "Rockeye," down to a duo after Jackman left. The eighteen songs on "Big Innings" do a fine job of covering The Outfield, and also show one of the reason they haven't moved into the realm of such revered singles bands as The Raspberries or Badfinger. Even for a best of, there are several songs that come off as filler ("One Hot Country," "Every Time You Cry").

It's also evident that the quality was slipping towards the end, with only "Winning it All" and "For You" being the best representations of the last two albums. Then there's the matter of "Banging On My Heart" being left off, a song that got substantial radio play. Lewis' guitar playing his pretty good, yet you wind up thinking more about The Edge or Andy Summers than his own originality (especially on the song "Voices of Babylon"). Overall, "Big Innings" does The Outfield justice. The clutch of singles here makes for good 80's memorabilia, even if there's a bit too much over-stuffing.