Icicle Works “The Icicle Works” 1984. US edition (the UK edition has the track “Reaping the Rich Harvest” which was dropped for the US version and replaced with “Waterline”). Big, anthemic 80′s post-punk British new wave, Icicle Works’ debut album. I’ve always loved the desperation of “Whisper to a Scream (Birds Fly)”  – which hit #24 in the UK and #40 in the US – every time I hear it I recall the mid-80′s teen dances at our local Y where we new wavers and punks would lose our damn minds and dance ecstatically when that song came on. But the whole album is just as glorious as “Whisper to a Scream” with gigantic drums, soaring vocals and swirling vibrant guitars and keyboards on tracks like “In the Cauldron of Love,” “Nirvana,” “Chop the Tree,” “Love is a Wonderful Colour,” and “As the Dragonfly Flies” (I don’t particularly care for the twee Celtic pipes at the start of “Lover’s Day” but the rest of the song redeems itself). Allmusic says “Frankly, the members of U2 must have wished they could be so emotional and so soaring at this point in their careers.”

Below are the lyrics to “Whisper to a Scream (Birds Fly)” and I’m just now learning that the correct words are “We are but your children” and NOT “We are bizarre children” – but I kind of like mine better :)

Love comes
Down upon us ‘til you flow like water
Burning with the hope of insight
Feathered look they’re covered with a bright elation
Stolen, in the sight of love

We are we are we are but your children
Finding our way around indecision
We are we are we are ever helpless
Take us forever
A whisper to a scream

Birds fly
In the eye of the faithless daughter
Broken
At the bitter end
Wasted
Sacrifice for the new nirvana
Night time send us on our way

We are we are we are but your children
Finding our way around indecision
We are we are we are ever helpless
Take us forever
A whisper to a scream